Saturday, May 7, 2022

Exhibition about Lincoln Memorial Opens at NRM

Daniel Chester French in his studio

The Norman Rockwell Museum has opened an exhibition about Daniel Chester French and the Lincoln Memorial.

John C. Johansen (Danish-American, 1876-1964) Daniel Chester French in the Chesterwood Studio, 1926

The Museum partnered with nearby Chesterwood, the home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French, to assemble a trove of sculptural maquettes and artwork that detail how the memorial was conceived and executed.

John Russell Pope (1874-1937) Design proposal for a Monument to Abraham Lincoln 
(Mayan temple style), 1912.

One of the initial ideas for the building to house the memorial shows a stepped pyramid at the end of the Mall.


Among the artists attending were Shawn Fields, who illustrated a children's book called Monument Maker Daniel Chester French and the Lincoln Memorial, and Garin Baker, who created a massive mural about the making of the Monument called "28 Blocks." 


I'm represented by a grisaille sketch I did at the location, the first time I saw the impressive monument.

The other rooms of the museum are filled with extraordinary paintings by Norman Rockwell.

Norman Rockwell Museum

3 comments:

  1. How cool! I grew up not fear from there and went at least once a year to visit the Lincoln memorial, it is a profound place.

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  2. A bit of trivia. Daniel Chester French's father was Henry Flagg French - an interesting character. Polymath and the inventor of the French Drain.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_F._French

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  3. Shawn Fields actually introduced me to Gurney Journey, so I am really excited to see him featured here. I need to pick up a copy of that book!

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