#danielchesterfrench

Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Chester French, 1916, Art Institute of Chicago: American Art

Lorado Taft praised Daniel Chester French as “the dean of American sculptors.” French specialized in large-scale marble statues, private memorials, and portrait busts. Here the sculptor captured Abraham Lincoln in a difficult hour of decision, and the president’s expression is more serious and thoughtful than in French’s earlier bronze of the standing Lincoln (1984.1130). This bronze is a reduced version of the full-size statue in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., which French worked on with the architect Henry Bacon. French’s brother, William M. R. French, was the first director of the Art Institute, serving from 1879 to 1914. Bequest of Arthur Rubloff Trust Size: H.: 83.8 cm (33 in.) Medium: Bronze

Statue of the Republic, Chicago, Illinois, Elevation and Plan, Daniel Chester French, 1915, Art Institute of Chicago: Architecture and Design

Republic, a 65-foot-tall, gilt statue by Daniel Chester French was the centerpiece of the neoclassical Court of Honor at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Although the White City, as the court was popularly known, was designed to be a temporary fairground, its picturesque and monumental order helped to launch the City Beautiful movement across the United States. Reacting to the chaotic plan of early industrial cities, proponents of this movement advocated for comprehensive planning that would impart a visual order to the city, with wide, uniform boulevards leading to distinctive civic monuments, like the 1893 statue, which was reproduced at a reduced scale as a permanent monument in Jackson Park after the fair. Gift of the B.F. Ferguson Monument Fund Size: 53.5 × 40.4 cm (21 1/16 × 15 15/16 in.) Medium: Ink and ink wash or watercolor on paper

Spirit of the Waters, Daniel Chester French, 1914, HAM: Sculpture

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop Size: 82.6 x 63.5 x 31.8 cm (32 1/2 x 25 x 12 1/2 in.) Medium: Bronze

To Commemorate the Completion of the Catskill Aqueduct by Daniel Chester French, American Paintings and Sculpture

Medium: Bronze

Gift of Robert W. de Forest, 1917 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Mourning Victory from the Melvin Memorial, Daniel Chester French, 1906–8, carved 1912–15, American Paintings and Sculpture

Gift of James C. Melvin, 1912 Size: 120 1/2 x 57 1/4 x 28 3/4 in. (306.1 x 145.4 x 73 cm) Medium: Marble

Catskill Aqueduct, Daniel Chester French, 1917, American Paintings and Sculpture

Gift of the Mayor's Catskill Aqueduct Commission (through Robert W. de Forest), 1917 Size: Diam. 3 in. (7.6 cm) Medium: Silver