Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Encyclopedia
Augustus Saint-Gaudens was the Irish-born American sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 of the Beaux-Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the "American Renaissance
American Renaissance
In the history of American architecture and the arts, the American Renaissance was the period in 1835-1880 characterized by renewed national self-confidence and a feeling that the United States was the heir to Greek democracy, Roman law, and Renaissance humanism...

". Raised in New York City, he traveled to Europe for further training and artistic study, and then returned to major critical success in the design of monuments commemorating heroes of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, many of which still stand. In addition to his famous works such as the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial on Boston Common and the outstanding grand equestrian monuments to Civil War general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

s John A. Logan
John A. Logan
John Alexander Logan was an American soldier and political leader. He served in the Mexican-American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a state senator, congressman and senator and was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President...

, atop a tumulus
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...

 in Chicago, 1894–97, and William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. He served as a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War , for which he received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched...

, at the corner of New York's Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

, 1892–1903, Saint-Gaudens also maintained an interest in numismatics
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...

 and designed the $20 "double eagle" gold piece, for the US Mint in 1905–1907, still considered the most beautiful American coin ever issued as well as the $10 "Indian Head" gold eagle
Eagle (United States coin)
The eagle is a base-unit of denomination issued only for gold coinage by the United States Mint. It has been obsolete as a circulating denomination since 1933. The eagle was the largest of the four main decimal base-units of denomination used for circulating coinage in the United States prior to...

, both of which were minted from 1907 until 1933. In his later years he founded the "Cornish Colony
Cornish Art Colony
The Cornish Art Colony was a popular art colony centered in Cornish, New Hampshire from about 1895 through the years of World War I. Attracted by the natural beauty of the area, about 100 artists, sculptors, writers, designers, and politicians lived there either full time or during the summer...

", an artistic colony that included notable painters, sculptors, writers, and architects. His brother Louis St. Gaudens
Louis St. Gaudens
Louis St. Gaudens , was a significant American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation....

 was also a well-known sculptor with whom he occasionally collaborated.

Early life and career

Born in Dublin to a French father and an Irish mother, Saint-Gaudens was raised in New York, after his parents immigrated to America when he was six months of age. He was apprenticed to a cameo-cutter but also took art classes at the Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...

 and the National Academy of Design
National Academy of Design
The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...

.

At 19, his apprenticeship completed, he traveled to Paris in 1867, where he studied in the atelier
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...

 of François Jouffroy
François Jouffroy
François Jouffroy was a French sculptor.Jouffroy was born in Dijon, the son of a baker, and attended the local drawing school before being admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1824. In 1832 he won the Prix de Rome...

 at the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...

.

In 1870, he left Paris for Rome, to study art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

 and architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

, and worked on his first commissions. There he met a deaf American art student, Augusta Fisher Homer, whose sister was Elizabeth Fisher [Homer] Nichols, whom he married on June 1, 1877.

In 1876, he won a commission for a bronze David Farragut Memorial.
He rented a studio at 49 rue Notre Dame des Champs. Stanford White
Stanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...

 designed the pedistal. It was unveiled on May 25, 1881, in Madison Square Park.

In New York, he was a member of the Tilers, a group of prominent artists and writers, including Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art....

 (his wife's fourth cousin), William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase
William Merritt Chase was an American painter known as an exponent of Impressionism and as a teacher. He is also responsible for establishing the Chase School, which later would become Parsons The New School for Design.- Early life and training :He was born in Williamsburg , Indiana, to the family...

 and Arthur Quartley
Arthur Quartley
Arthur Quartley , was an American painter known for his marine seascapes.Quartley was born in Paris and lived there to the age of twelve, when his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland. He studied drawing with his father Frederick William Quartley, who was an English engraver. His father was reputed...

.

Civil War commemorative commissions

In 1876, Saint-Gaudens received his first major commission: a monument to Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

 David Farragut
David Farragut
David Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the...

, in New York's Madison Square
Madison Square
Madison Square is formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The square was named for James Madison, fourth President of the United States and the principal author of the United States Constitution.The focus of the square is...

; his friend Stanford White
Stanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...

 designed an architectural setting for it, and when it was unveiled in 1881, its naturalism, its lack of bombast and its siting combined to make it a tremendous success, and Saint-Gaudens' reputation was established.

The commissions followed fast, including the colossal Standing Lincoln
Standing Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln: The Man is a bronze statue in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Completed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1887, it has been described as the most important sculpture of Abraham Lincoln from the nineteenth century. Abraham Lincoln II, Lincoln's only grandson, was present at the unveiling...

in Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park is an urban park in Chicago, which gave its name to the Lincoln Park, Chicago community area.Lincoln Park may also refer to:-Urban parks:*Lincoln Park , California*Lincoln Park, San Francisco, California...

, Chicago in a setting by architect White, 1884–1887, considered the finest portrait statue in the United States (a copy was placed at Lincoln's tomb in Springfield, Illinois
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...

, and another copy stands in London in front of Westminster Abbey facing Parliament Square
Parliament Square
Parliament Square is a square outside the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in London. It features a large open green area in the middle, with a group of trees to its west. It contains statues of famous statesmen and is the scene of rallies and protests, as well as being a tourist...

), and a long series of funerary monuments and busts, including the Adams Memorial
Adams Memorial (grave marker)
The Adams Memorial is a grave marker located in Section E of Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C., that features a cast bronze allegorical sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens...

, the Peter Cooper Monument, and the John A. Logan Monument.

Arguably the greatest of these funerary monuments is the bronze bas-relief that forms the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial
Robert Gould Shaw
Robert Gould Shaw was an American officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. As colonel, he commanded the all-black 54th Regiment, which entered the war in 1863. He was killed in the Second Battle of Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina...

 on Boston Common, 1884–1897, which Saint-Gaudens labored on for 14 years; even after the public version had been unveiled, he continued with further versions. Two grand equestrian monuments to Civil War general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

s are outstanding: to General John A. Logan
John A. Logan
John Alexander Logan was an American soldier and political leader. He served in the Mexican-American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a state senator, congressman and senator and was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President...

, atop a tumulus in Chicago, 1894–1897, and to General William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. He served as a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War , for which he received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched...

 at the corner of Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...

 in New York, 1892–1903, the first use of Robert Treat Paine's pointing device for the accurate mechanical enlargement of sculpture models.

For the Lincoln Centennial in 1909, Saint-Gaudens produced another statue of the president. A seated figure, Abraham Lincoln: The Head of State
Abraham Lincoln: The Head of State
Abraham Lincoln: The Head of State is a bronze statue in Grant Park, in Chicago. Created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and completed by his work shop in 1908, it was intended by the artist to to evoke the loneliness and burden of command felt by Lincoln during his presidency...

,
is in Chicago's Grant Park
Grant Park (Chicago)
Grant Park, with between the downtown Chicago Loop and Lake Michigan, offers many different attractions in its large open space. The park is generally flat. It is also crossed by large boulevards and even a bed of sunken railroad tracks...

. The statues head was used for the commemorative postage stamp issued on the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.

Other works

Saint-Gaudens also created the statue for the Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell
Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish landowner, nationalist political leader, land reform agitator, and the founder and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party...

 monument at the top of Dublin's O'Connell Street
O'Connell Street
O'Connell Street is Dublin's main thoroughfare. It measures 49 m in width at its southern end, 46 m at the north, and is 500 m in length...

, that was finally installed in 1911. In 1887, when Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....

 made his second trip to the United States, Saint-Gaudens had the opportunity to make the preliminary sketches for a five-year project of a medallion depicting Stevenson, in very poor health at the time, propped in bed writing. With minor modifications, this medallion was reproduced for the Stevenson memorial in St. Giles' Cathedral
St. Giles' Cathedral
St Giles' Cathedral, more properly termed the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is the principal place of worship of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. Its distinctive crown steeple is a prominent feature of the city skyline, at about a third of the way down the Royal Mile which runs from the Castle to...

, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

. Stevenson's cousin and biographer, Graham Balfour, deemed the work "the most satisfactory of all the portraits of Stevenson." Balfour also noted that Saint-Gaudens greatly admired Stevenson and had once said he would "gladly go a thousand miles for the sake of a sitting" with him.[2] Saint-Gaudens was also commissioned by a variety of groups to create medals including varied commemorative themes like The Women"s Auxiliary of the Massachusetts Civil Service Reform Association Presentation Medal and the World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...

 Medal. Such pieces stand testament to both his broad appeal and the respect that was given to him by his contemporaries. Today, his medals have lost none of their allure and have been sold at auction for varying sums. A statue of philanthropist Robert Randall stands in the gardens of Sailors' Snug Harbor in New York. A statue of copper king Marcus Daly
Marcus Daly
Marcus Daly redirects here, see also Marcus Daly Marcus Daly was an Irish-born American businessman known as one of the three "Copper Kings" of Butte, Montana, United States.- Early life:...

, is at the entrance of the Montana School of Mines on the west end of Park St. in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana
Butte is a city in Montana and the county seat of Silver Bow County, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. As of the 2010 census, Butte's population was 34,200...

.

Teacher and advisor

Saint-Gaudens' prominence brought him students, and he was an able and sensitive teacher. He tutored young artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

s privately, taught at the Art Students League of New York
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...

, and took on a large number of assistants. He was an artistic advisor to the World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...

 of 1893, an avid supporter of the American Academy in Rome
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...

, and part of the McMillan Commission, which brought into being L'Enfant's long-ignored master-plan for the nation's capital
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

.

Through his career Augustus Saint-Gaudens' made a specialty of intimate private portrait panels in sensitive, very low relief, which owed something to the Florentine Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

. It was felt he heavily influenced another Irish American sculptor, Jerome Connor
Jerome Connor
Jerome Connor was an Irish sculptor.-Life:...

.

Over the course of his long career Saint-Gaudens employed, and by doing so, trained, some of the next generation's finest sculptors. These included James Earle Fraser
James Earle Fraser
James Earle Fraser was an American sculptor.-Life and career:Fraser was born in Winona, Minnesota. His father, Thomas Fraser, was an engineer who worked for railroad companies as they expanded across the American West...

, Frances Grimes
Frances Grimes
Frances Grimes , American sculptor born in Braceville, Ohio.Grimes studied at the Pratt Institute in New York with Herbert Adams and worked as his assistant from 1894 to 1900. In 1900 or 1901 she became an assistant to Augustus Saint Gaudens and was to stay with him until his death in 1907...

, Henry Hering
Henry Hering
Henry Hering was an American sculptor who was born New York City on February 15, 1874 and died there on January 17, 1949.-Early career:He was a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens at Cooper Union and of Philip Martiny at the Art Students League of New York...

, Charles Keck
Charles Keck
Charles Keck was an American sculptor, born in New York City. He studied in the National Academy of Design and Art Students League with Philip Martiny and was an assistant to Augustus Saint-Gaudens from 1893 to 1898. He also attended the American Academy in Rome. He is best known for his...

, Mary Lawrence
Mary Lawrence
Mary Lawrence [Tonetti] was an American sculptor. Lawrence was born in New York City into a prominent New York family whose ancestors included John Lawrence, mayor of New York City from 1673–1675 and 1691–1692, and the War of 1812 patriot, Captain James Lawrence who died after uttering the words,...

, Frederick MacMonnies, Philip Martiny
Philip Martiny
Philip H. Martiny was a Franco-American sculptor who worked in the Paris atelier of Eugene Dock, where he became foreman before emigrating to New York in 1878— to avoid conscription in the French army, he later claimed...

, Helen Mears
Helen Farnsworth Mears
Helen Farnsworth Mears was an American sculptor.-Early life and career:Mears was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and studied at the State Normal School in Oshkosh, and art in New York City and Paris...

, Robert Paine
Robert Paine
Robert Paine may refer to:* Rob Paine, American DJ*Robert Treat Paine , signer of the United States Declaration of Independence* Robert Treat Paine, Jr. , poet and son of the signer* Robert Treat Paine , U.S...

, Alexander Phimister Proctor
Alexander Phimister Proctor
Alexander Phimister Proctor was an American sculptor with the contemporary reputation as one of the nation's foremost animaliers.-Birth and early years:...

, Louis Saint-Gaudens
Louis Saint-Gaudens
Louis Saint-Gaudens American sculptor and younger brother of Augustus Saint-Gaudens.Born in New York City, he had his early training as a cameo cutter. In 1878 he and his brother moved to Paris where they shared a studio and attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.Returning to America he settled in...

, Elsie Ward
Elsie Ward
Elsie Ward American sculptor born in Fayette, Missouri.Ward began her art studies in Denver, Colorado, studying with Preston Powers. After moving to New York she attended the Art Students League where she studied with Daniel Chester French, H. Siddons Mowbray and Augustus Saint Gaudens...

 and Adolph Alexander Weinman
Adolph Alexander Weinman
Adolph Alexander Weinman was an American sculptor, born in Karlsruhe, Germany.- Biography :Weinman arrived in the United States at the age of 10. At the age of 15, he attended evening classes at Cooper Union and later studied at the Art Students League of New York with sculptors Augustus St....

.

New York City's PS40 is named after Saint-Gaudens.

Coinage

Saint-Gaudens referred to his early relief portraits as "medallions" and took a great interest in the art of the coin
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...

: his $20 gold piece, the double eagle
Double Eagle
A Double Eagle is a gold coin of the United States with a denomination of $20. . The coins are made from a 90% gold and 10% copper alloy....

 coin he designed for the US Mint, 1905–1907, though it was adapted for minting, is still considered the most beautiful American coin ever issued.

Chosen by Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

 to redesign the coinage of the nation at the beginning of the 20th century, Saint-Gaudens produced a beautiful ultra high-relief $20 gold piece that was adapted into a flattened-down version by the United States Mint
United States Mint
The United States Mint primarily produces circulating coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint was created by Congress with the Coinage Act of 1792, and placed within the Department of State...

. The ultra high-relief coin took up to 11 strikes to bring up the details, and only 20 or so of these coins were minted in 1907. The Ultra High Reliefs did not stack properly and were deemed unfit for commerce. However, they are highly sought-after today; one sold in a 2005 auction for $2,990,000. The coin was then adapted into the High relief version, which, although required eight fewer strikes than the Ultra High Relief coins, was still deemed impractical for commerce. 12,317 of these were minted, and are currently among the most in-demand U.S. coins. The coin was finally modified to a normal-relief version, which was minted from 1907 to 1933.

The Saint-Gaudens obverse design was reused in the American Eagle gold bullion coins that were instituted in 1986. An "ultra-high relief" $20 (24 karat) gold coin was issued by the U.S. Mint in 2009.

Saint-Gaudens honored on US Postage

In 1940 the U.S. Post Office issued a series of 35 postage stamps, 'The Famous American Series' honoring America's famous artists, poets, educators, authors, scientists, composers and inventors. The renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens was among those chosen for the 'Artists' category of this series and appears on this stamp which was first issued in New York City on September 16, 1940.

Later life and the Cornish Colony


Diagnosed with cancer in 1900, Saint-Gaudens decided to live at his Federal house with barn-studio set in the handsome gardens he had made, where he and his family had been spending summers since 1885, in Cornish, New Hampshire
Cornish, New Hampshire
Cornish is a town in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,640 at the 2010 census. Cornish has three covered bridges. Each August, it is home to the Cornish Fair.-History:...

 – though not in retirement. Despite waning energy, he continued to work, producing a steady stream of reliefs and public sculpture. In 1904, he was one of the first seven chosen for membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters. That same year the large studio burned, with the irreplaceable loss of the sculptor's correspondence, his sketch books, and many works in progress.

The Cornish Art Colony
Cornish Art Colony
The Cornish Art Colony was a popular art colony centered in Cornish, New Hampshire from about 1895 through the years of World War I. Attracted by the natural beauty of the area, about 100 artists, sculptors, writers, designers, and politicians lived there either full time or during the summer...

 Saint-Gaudens and his brother Louis attracted made for a dynamic social and creative environment. The most famous included painters Maxfield Parrish
Maxfield Parrish
Maxfield Parrish was an American painter and illustrator active in the first half of the twentieth century. He is known for his distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery.-Life:...

 and Kenyon Cox
Kenyon Cox
Kenyon Cox was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, writer, and teacher. Cox was an influential and important early instructor at the Art Students League of New York...

, architect and garden designer Charles Platt, and sculptor Paul Manship
Paul Manship
Paul Howard Manship was an American sculptor.-Life:Manship began his art studies at the St. Paul School of Art in Minnesota. From there he moved to Philadelphia and continued his education at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts...

. Included were painters Thomas Dewing
Thomas Dewing
Thomas Wilmer Dewing was an American painter working at the turn of the 20th century. He was born in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts. He studied at the Académie Julian in Paris, and later settled into a studio in New York City...

, George de Forest Brush
George de Forest Brush
George de Forest Brush was an American painter. In collaboration with his friend, the artist Abbott H. Thayer, he made contributions to military camouflage, as did his wife, aviator and artist Mary Taylor Brush, and their son, the sculptor Gerome Brush.-Background:Although Brush was born in...

, dramatist Percy MacKaye
Percy MacKaye
Percy MacKaye was an American dramatist and poet.-Biography:MacKaye was born in New York City, New York. After graduating from Harvard in 1897, he traveled in Europe for three years, residing in Rome, Switzerland and London, studying at the University of Leipzig in 1899–1900...

, the American novelist Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill (novelist)
Winston Churchill was an American novelist.-Biography:Churchill was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Edward Spalding and Emma Bell Churchill. He attended Smith Academy in Missouri and the United States Naval Academy, where he graduated in 1894...

, and the sculptor Louis St. Gaudens
Louis St. Gaudens
Louis St. Gaudens , was a significant American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation....

, Augustus' brother. After his death in 1907 it slowly dissipated. His house and gardens are now preserved as the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, New Hampshire, preserves the home, gardens, and studios of Augustus Saint-Gaudens , one of America's foremost sculptors. This was his summer residence from 1885 to 1897, his permanent home from 1900 until his death in 1907, and the center of the...

.

Saint-Gaudens was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

 in 1896. In 1920, Saint-Gaudens was posthumously elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans
Hall of Fame for Great Americans
The Hall of Fame for Great Americans is the original hall of fame in the United States. "Fame" here means "renown"...

. In 1940, his image appeared on a U.S. postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...

 in the "Famous Americans" series.

Saint-Gaudens and his wife figure prominently in the 2011 book The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by historian David McCullough
David McCullough
David Gaub McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award....

. In interviews upon the book's release McCullough said the letters of Augusta Saint-Gaudens to her friends and family in the United States were among the richest primary sources he discovered in years of research into the lives of the American community in Paris in the late 19th century.

Legacy

  • New York City's PS40 is named after Saint-Gaudens.
  • Among the public collections holding works by Augustus Saint-Gaudens are:


  • Addison Gallery of American Art
    Addison Gallery of American Art
    The Addison Gallery of American Art, as a department of Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, is an academic museum dedicated to collecting American art...

     (Andover, Massachusetts
    Andover, Massachusetts
    Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...

    )
  • Amon Carter Museum
    Amon Carter Museum
    The Amon Carter Museum of American Art is located in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established by Amon G. Carter to house his collection of paintings and sculpture by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. Carter’s will provided a museum in Fort Worth devoted to American art.When the museum opened...

     (Texas)
  • Memorial Art Gallery
    Memorial Art Gallery
    The Memorial Art Gallery is the civic art museum of Rochester, New York. Founded in 1913, it is part of the University of Rochester and occupies the southern half of the University's former Prince Street campus...

     of the University of Rochester (New York)
  • Brigham Young University Museum of Art
    Brigham Young University Museum of Art
    The Brigham Young University Museum of Art, located in Provo, Utah, is the university's primary art museum and is one of the best attended university-campus art museums in the United States. The museum, which had been discussed for more than fifty years, opened in a space in October 1993 with a...

     (Utah)
  • Brooklyn Museum of Art (New York City)
  • Carnegie Museum of Art
    Carnegie Museum of Art
    The Carnegie Museum of Art, located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an art museum founded in 1895 by the Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie...

     (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
  • Cincinnati Art Museum
    Cincinnati Art Museum
    The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of the oldest art museums in the United States. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies. Its collection of over 60,000 works make it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Midwest.Museum founders debated locating...

  • Courtauld Institute of Art
    Courtauld Institute of Art
    The Courtauld Institute of Art is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art. The Courtauld is one of the premier centres for the teaching of art history in the world; it was the only History of Art department in the UK to be awarded a top...

     (London)
  • Currier Museum of Art
    Currier Museum of Art
    The Currier Museum of Art is an art museum in Manchester, New Hampshire, USA, featuring European and American paintings, decorative arts, photographs and sculpture. The permanent collection includes works by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, O'Keeffe, Calder, Scheier and Goldsmith, John Singer Sargent,...

     (New Hampshire)
  • Delaware Art Museum
    Delaware Art Museum
    The Delaware Art Museum is an art museum located on the Kentmere Parkway in Wilmington, Delaware, which holds a collection of more than 12,000 works. The museum, was founded in 1912 as the Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts in honor of the artist Howard Pyle and is now celebrating its centennial...

  • Detroit Institute of Arts
    Detroit Institute of Arts
    The Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...

  • Honolulu Academy of Arts
    Honolulu Academy of Arts
    The Honolulu Academy of Arts is an art museum in Honolulu in the state of Hawaii. Since its founding in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke and opening April 8, 1927, its collections have grown to over 40,000 works of art.-Description:...

  • Lincoln Park Conservatory
    Lincoln Park Conservatory
    The Lincoln Park Conservatory is a conservatory and botanical garden in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. The conservatory is situated at 2391 North Stockton Drive just south of Fullerton Avenue, west of Lake Shore Drive, and part of the Lincoln Park, Chicago community area. Positioned near the...

     (Chicago, IL)
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art
    Los Angeles County Museum of Art
    The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....

  • Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art
    Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art
    The Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art is an independent, non-profit art museum located in Shawnee, OK. It is affiliated with St. Gregory's Abbey. It is on the campus of St. Gregory's University. The museum works under the belief that art enriches individual lives and enhances the entire community....

    , (Shawnee, OK)
  • Mead Art Museum
    Mead Art Museum
    Mead Art Museum is an art museum associated with Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts and is a member of Museums10.The Mead Art Museum has a wide ranging collection of over 16,000 items, with a particular strength in American art, including notable works of the Hudson River School and woodcut...

     (Amherst College, Massachusetts)
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Metropolitan Museum of Art
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...

  • Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design
    Rhode Island School of Design Museum
    Rhode Island School of Design Museum is a prominent art museum in Providence, Rhode Island affiliated with the well-known Rhode Island School of Design...


  • Montclair Art Museum
    Montclair Art Museum
    The Montclair Art Museum is located in Montclair, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States.-Collection:The Montclair Art Museum is one of the few museums in the United States devoted to American art and Native American art forms. The collection consists of more than 12,000 works...

     (New Jersey)
  • Musée d'Orsay
    Musée d'Orsay
    The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the left bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, an impressive Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture,...

     (Paris)
  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
    Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
    The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...

  • National Academy of Design
    National Academy of Design
    The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...

     (New York City)
  • National Gallery of Art
    National Gallery of Art
    The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...

     (Washington D.C.)
  • National Portrait Gallery (London)
  • North Carolina Museum of Art
    North Carolina Museum of Art
    The North Carolina Museum of Art is an art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina, featuring paintings and sculpture representing 5,000 years of artistic work from antiquity to the present. The museum features more than 40 galleries as well as more than a dozen works of art in its Museum Park...

  • Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
    Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
    Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, New Hampshire, preserves the home, gardens, and studios of Augustus Saint-Gaudens , one of America's foremost sculptors. This was his summer residence from 1885 to 1897, his permanent home from 1900 until his death in 1907, and the center of the...

     (New Hampshire)
  • Newark Museum
    Newark Museum
    The Newark Museum is the largest museum in New Jersey, USA. It holds fine collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the ancient world...

     (New Jersey)
  • Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
    Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
    The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is a museum and art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1805 and is the oldest art museum and school in the United States. The academy's museum is internationally known for its collections of 19th and 20th century American paintings,...

  • Philadelphia Museum of Art
    Philadelphia Museum of Art
    The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year...

  • Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery
    Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery
    The Sheldon Museum of Art is located at 12 & R Streets in Lincoln, Nebraska, on the city campus of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The Sheldon houses both the Sheldon Art Association collection , and the University of Nebraska collection, initiated in 1929. Together they comprise more than...

     (Lincoln, Nebraska)
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum
    Smithsonian American Art Museum
    The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...

     (Washington D.C.)
  • Tate Gallery
    Tate Gallery
    The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...

     (London)
  • Toledo Museum of Art
    Toledo Museum of Art
    The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio, United States. The museum was founded by Toledo glassmaker Edward Drummond Libbey in 1901, and moved to its present location, a Greek revival building designed by Edward B....

     (Ohio)
  • United States Senate
    United States Senate
    The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

     Art Collection


See also

  • Society of American Artists
    Society of American Artists
    The Society of American Artists was an American artists group. It was formed in 1877 by artists who felt the National Academy of Design did not adequately meet their needs, and was too conservative....

  • Art Students League
    Art Students League of New York
    The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...


External links


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