Studio: international art (55.1912)

Daniel Chester French

“AMERICA” (NEW YORK CUSTOMS HOUSE). BY DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH

I come now to Mr. French’s more
recent creations, and first among these
I will refer to twoimportant works com-
pleted in 1910—the statue of General
Oglethorpe, erected in Savannah,
Georgia, and the Melvin Memorial.
Oglethorpe, who was Governor of the
State, is represented in the military cos-
tume of the early eighteenth century,
standing firmly planted on his feet in a
commanding attitude. The modelling
is free and vigorous, the treatment
most natural, contrasting with the
conventional and somewhat uncon-
vincing lions at the four corners of
the pediment.

The Melvin Memorial, erected in
the same year, in that Sleepy Hollow
cemetery at Concord where Emerson,
Hawthorne, Louisa Allcott, and others
who made the town famous are buried,
takes the form of a Mourning Victory,
of which an illustration is given. This
I consider to be one of the master’s
finest creations. It was erected in
memory of three brothers who lost

treats the nude
that it is in-
teresting to
note that here
he handles it
with absolute
mastery. N o-

thing could be
more superb
than his treat-
ment of this
torso, which re-
calls in its sug-
gestion of the
passivity of
deep slumber,
as well as its
handling and
choice of type,
that famous
Notte (Night)
which Michel-
angelo carved
within the
sacristy of S.

Lorenzo. “africa” (new york customs house) by daniel Chester french

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