Historical Profile: Daniel Chester French
Stockbridge, MA. - Daniel Chester French (1850 –
1931) was one of the most prolific American sculptors during the late 19th
and early 20th centuries. In
1893, French became a founding member of the National Sculpture Society. French was also a founding member of the
United States Commission of Fine Arts. In
1940, French was selected to be honored on a stamp for the U.S. Postal Service “Famous
Americans” series.
His works of art are on display throughout the
United States: most notably – the Abraham Lincoln statue (1920) at the Lincoln
Memorial; the John Harvard statue at Harvard University; bronze doors at the
Boston Public Library; the General Joseph Hooker statue at the Massachusetts
State House; the Dupont Circle fountain in Washington, D.C.; the Minute Man
statue (1875) in Concord, Massachusetts; and the Wisconsin statue (1920) on the
top of the Wisconsin State Capitol Building.
In 1931, French died at his summer home – Chesterwood in Stockbridge,
Massachusetts. Chesterwood, which was designed by architect Henry Bacon, is now a
museum dedicated to the work of Daniel Chester French. Chesterwood
is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Daniel Chester French was said: “The effect of a
monument or statue rightly placed does a great deal for the embellishment of a
square… The important thing is, not to find a site for a statue, but a statue
for a site.”
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| A model statue of Abraham Lincoln created by Daniel Chester French, at Chesterwood. |
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