#shaw memorial

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The Memory of the Just is Blessed

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Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Shaw Memorial. 1900. patinated plaster. 

Renee’s pick: Like Da Vinci’s Ginevra, every time Renee visits The National Gallery, she also seeks a private audience with this plaster sculpture, a version of the original bronze in Boston. The Shaw Memorial commemorates the valiant efforts of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the men of the 54th Massachusetts, the first Civil War regiment of African Americans enlisted in the North, whose saga was portrayed in the 1989 film Glory. The Tuesday Group discussed: how difficult it is to carve realistic figures–especially horses!– and how high relief is an extra challenge–could it be easier to carve in the round? Where do you stop? How do you describe the depth of field in three dimensions? It’s like drawing and carving at the same time! Alex mentioned that her partner Pat, a writer, is always interested in the historical background, the story of that piece of art, something she doesn’t tend to seek out herself. We talked about the nature of memorials–how in the past they were the best (and only?) way of remembering what had happened. We talked about the onward march of the soldiers, en route to their tragic end, and how it called to mind the classic Twilight Zone episode The Passersby, in which all the dead of the Civil War form a dirge-like procession past the porch of a southern mansion, with Abraham Lincoln himself bringing up the tail end of the grim parade. Renee hasn’t seen the original Shaw memorial, but hopes to later this year, or early next, and when she makes that pilgrimage, we wondered in what ways that larger piece, set in a park will feel different to her. 

[coltonwbrown]

The Shaw Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

[ornamentalpeasant]

Memorial Day | Commissioned from the celebrated American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and dedicated as a monument on Memorial Day 1897, the Shaw Memorial has been acclaimed as the greatest American sculpture of the 19th century.

The memorial commemorates the valiant efforts of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the men of the 54th Massachusetts, the first Civil War regiment of African Americans enlisted in the North. Saint-Gaudens first conceived the memorial as a single equestrian statue of Colonel Shaw. Shaw’s family, uncomfortable with the portrayal of their son in a fashion typically reserved for generals, urged the artist to rework his design. The sculptor revised his sketch to honor both the regiment’s famed hero and the soldiers he commanded. It shows the regiment marching off to war down Beacon Street on May 28th 1863, the arrangement of muskets and flag against the background echoes that in Velazquez's celebrated 'The Surrender of Breda' (1634-5) (Madrid, Prado).

After inaugurating the bronze Boston memorial, Saint-Gaudens continued to modify the plaster version, reworking the horse, the faces of the soldiers, and the appearance of the angel above them. The final plaster was installed at the National Gallery of Art in 1997, on long-term loan from the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, New Hampshire.

Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, American, 1848 - 1907 Shaw Memorial, 1900 patinated plaster overall (without armature or pedestal): 368.9 x 524.5 x 86.4 cm (145 1/4 x 206 1/2 x 34 in.) overall (with armature & pedestal): 419.1 x 524.5 x 109.2 cm (165 x 206 1/2 x 43 in.)

Washington D.C., National Gallery of Art, long term loan from U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, New Hampshire X.15233

[soulbrotherv2]

Civil War's First African-American Infantry Remembered In Bronze

by Andrea Shea

The Shaw Memorial, by American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, stands 11 feet by 14 feet, like a giant bronze diorama, on the corner of Boston Common. In it, 40 or so black soldiers march to war alongside their white colonel, Robert Gould Shaw, on horseback.

The statue memorializes the first African-American volunteer infantry unit of the Civil War, the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, which was crushed 150 years ago Thursday in a battle at Fort Wagner in South Carolina.

"It shows in their stance, in their eyes, their pride, and it shows them marching out of Boston for what they know is going to be a sea change in the history of their generation," says Beverly Morgan-Welch, executive director of the Museum of African-American History in Boston.  [Continue reading and listen to story at NPR.]

[soldierporn]

The Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment is a bronze relief sculpture, by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, located at 24 Beacon Street, in Boston Common. The sculpture depicts the 54th Regiment marching down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863. The monument was unveiled on May 31, 1897.

The inscription reads: (On face of relief:)

OMNIA RELINQVIT SEVARE REMPVBLICAM

Latin to English translation: "He left behind everything to save the Republic." On pedestal under the relief, lines from James Russell Lowell's poem "Memoriae Positum":

"Right in the van of the red rampart's slippery

swell with heart that beat a charge he fell

forward as fits a man: but the high soul burns

on to light men's feet where death for noble

ends makes dying sweet."

In 1982, the names of sixty-two African-American soldiers who gave their lives at Fort Wagner were inscribed on the base of the Shaw Memorial.

[Source: Wikipedia.]

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Augustus Saint Gaudens. Shaw Memorial. 1884-97.

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Today, on March 1, 1848, American sculptor and painter Augustus Saint-Gaudens was born.  He received a number of commissions to design monuments commemorating the heroes of the American Civil War. One of my favorites is The Shaw Memorial.