Lincoln, The Sculpture

The portrayal of Lincoln in the current movie by Steven Spielberg is a prime topic for American Civil War history scholars. In the movie, Daniel Day Lewis has convincingly conveyed the spirit of this American President who delivered his renowned Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863.

A bronze sculpture of the sixteenth President is located outside the entrance to the visitor’s center at the memorial Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. Visitors who encounter this realistic sculpture might suspect the figure to really be a performance artist who will stand to greet you at any moment. Or perhaps, visitors will be tempted to sit on the bench alongside Lincoln for a photographic memento.  A wealth of information is available from the National Park Service at:

Gettysburg National Military Park,  Pennsylvania.  National Park Service.

http://www.nps.gov/gett/index.htm

Throughout the national battlefield, memorial sculptures are dedicated to both factions: Union and Confederate.  In 1938, a Peace Memorial with an eternal flame was added to the park in honor of reconciliation.

Abraham Lincoln. Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania

At Hanover Junction, another  Pennsylvania location, a portrait bust of Lincoln is located in a humble and discreet garden.  According to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, an on-site plaque commemorates the fact that Lincoln’s train passed through the railroad station the day before his speech at the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg. In the same year but prior to Lincoln’s speech, wounded soldiers from the Gettysburg battlefield were also transported through Hanover Junction to distant hospitals. Today, the garden adjoins the rail trail that is popularly used by bicyclists. 

Rodin in the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden

The Hirshhorn Museum features an outdoor sculpture garden which includes a nineteenth century group of figures, The Burghers of Calais, by Auguste Rodin. The sculptor reminds the viewer of the anguish experienced by a group of men in the French city of Calais during the medieval Hundred Years War that occurred between France and England.  In 1347, six burghers of Calais were to be executed as they handed over the city keys to the English King Edward III. The emotions conveyed by these heroic figures are apparent in their faces and gestures. This bronze casting was completed in 1959, even though Rodin created this group in the late nineteenth century. 

Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais.

Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais.

Auguste Rodin, The Burghers of Calais.

Rodin’s highly expressive approach to sculpture is also evident in his Monument to Balzac.  The French novelist of the post-Napoleonic period is represented in a long robe which establishes solidity of form, and provides a megalithic stature.  Rodin’s bronze sculpture is reminiscent of a menhir or one of the alignment stones in Brittany. 
The bronze casting of Balzac was completed in 1966.  Of course, additional castings of both Balzac and the Burghers are also in the permanent collection of the Rodin Museum in Paris. Two of Auguste Rodin’s most well-known sculptures are The Thinker and The Kiss.

Auguste Rodin. Monument to Balzac.

Auguste Rodin. Monument to Balzac.