Daniel Chester French French, a Lawyer, Assistant U.S

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French was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, to Henry Flagg Daniel Chester French French, a lawyer, Assistant U.S. Treasury Secretary and Sculptor ( 1850 – 1931 ) author of a book that described the French drain. Young French was a neighbor and friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the Alcott family, and his decision to pursue sculpting was influenced by Louisa May Alcott’s sister, May Alcott. After a year at MIT, French worked on his father’s farm. While visiting relatives in Brooklyn, he spent a month in the studio of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS WARD, then at age 23, he received a commission from the town of Concord, Mas- sachusetts. His well-known statue The Minute Man, was unveiled April 19, 1875 on the centenary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. In 1893, French was a founding member of the National Sculpture Society, and he became a member of the Ameri- can Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also became a member of the Century (1894), the National Academy of Design (1901), the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Architectural League, and the Accademia di San Luca, of Rome. In collaboration with Edward Clark Potter he modeled the George Washington statue, presented to France by the Daughters of the American Revolution; the General Grant in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, and the General Joseph Hooker statue in Boston. Potter, his assistant, later designed the lion statues at the New York Public Library. In 1917, he designed the Pulitzer Prize gold medal presented to laureates. In 1922, the Lincoln Memorial, designed by HENRY BACON, was opened to the public in Washington. French’s statue of the reclining Lincoln was an instant success and remains his most popular work. The 175-ton statue took four years to carve and is 19-feet high. French died in Stockbridge in 1931 at the age of 81. Ches- terwood, his summer home, studio, (designed by frequent collaborator HENRY BACON) and garden is now a museum..

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The Arch and Colonnade of the Manhattan Bridge Approach and the Proposed Designation of the Related Landmark Site (Item No
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Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and Twitter, Facebook, on us Follow www.concordmuseum.org • 978.369.9763 • www.concordmuseum.org www.chesterwood.org • 413.298.3579 • www.chesterwood.org gardens of Daniel Chester French. Chester Daniel of gardens Chesterwood is the country home, studio, and and studio, home, country the is Chesterwood where he lived and worked. and lived he where Located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Stockbridge, in Located French. Photo by Sara Lundberg. Sara by Photo French. about the artist and the town town the and artist the about Minute Man by Daniel Chester Chester Daniel by Man Minute sites in Concord to learn more more learn to Concord in sites in twenty-one states. Visit the the Visit states. twenty-one in on exhibition in public places places public in exhibition on French’s major works remain remain works major French’s to the renowned sculptor. sculptor. renowned the to in collaboration with collaboration in resources in Concord related related Concord in resources in historic Concord, Massachusetts Concord, historic in the various historic sites and and sites historic various the on exhibit at the Concord Museum Museum Concord the at exhibit on helpful gateway for exploring exploring for gateway helpful Concord Museum, provides a a provides Museum, Concord French Trail, created by the the by created Trail, French - March 23, 2014 23, March - 2013 11, October Concord’s Daniel Chester Chester Daniel Concord’s F C D TRAIL H C REN HESTER ANIEL CONCORD’S #1 Concord Museum • 53 Cambridge Turnpike #2 Ralph Waldo Emerson House The Concord Museum is a gateway to 28 Cambridge Turnpike historic Concord’s revolutionary and In 1879, the young sculptor Daniel Chester French literary past.
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