Head of Victory by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
How did the careers of two preeminent sculptors of the Gilded Age intersect, and what was the significance? The Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pa., now presents “Monuments and Myths: The America of Sculptors Augustus Sant-Gaudens and Daniell Chester French,” on view through January 5.
Daniel Chester French (1850–1931) and Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) were friends and sometimes rivals who transformed sculpture in the U.S. They produced dozens of the nation’s most recognizable public artworks, including French’s Seated Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and Saint-Gaudens’s Diana, which graced the top of Madison Square Garden in New York City.
“Monuments and Myths” features approximately 70 sculptures, models, maquettes, and more drawn from the collections of the two artists’ historic homes. more