Public Sculpture in America is Topic of Lecture

sherman-monument-by-saint-gaudens-photo-francis-morrone
Sherman Monument by Saint-Gaudens. Francis Morrone photo

The Greenwich Decorative Arts Society presents “The American Spirit in Public Sculpture,” a lecture by Francis Morrone, architectural historian and author, on Monday, Feb. 3 from 1:15 to 3 p.m., at The Bruce Museum. Refreshments will be served following the presentation.

In Rome, Paris, and Vienna, public sculpture – monuments and memorials, fountains, reliefs on buildings, bridges –infuses the environment with an unbridled sensuality. In America, public sculpture tends to be a great deal more restrained. Why? In this examination of the history of public sculpture in the northeastern United States, we will see that the Puritan inheritance, among other factors, led our artists in very different directions from their European counterparts, even as our artists received European training and assimilated European techniques. Francis Morrone will survey the early history of public sculpture in New York and New England, and work up to a consideration of the “Age of the Masters,” and the works of French, Saint-Gaudens, Ward, and others, and examine the American subject matter, and the American spirit, in such examples as Daniel Chester French’s “Minute Man” in Concord, Mass., Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s Robert Gould Shaw Memorial in Boston, John Quincy Adams Ward’s “Indian Hunter” in New York, among many others, and also seek for exceptions to the premise (as for instance in some of the works of Frederick MacMonnies).

Morrone is an architectural historian and the author of eleven books including Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes (W.W. Norton, 2013); The New York Public Library: The Architecture and Decoration of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (with Henry Hope Reed, W.W. Norton, 2011); and architectural guidebooks to Philadelphia and Brooklyn. As a historic preservation consultant he has written countless building histories and neighborhood surveys in New York and beyond. He worked as an art and architecture critic for the New York Sun. Collectively, his work represents one of the most comprehensive bodies of research on the built history of New York City. He has taught at NYUSPS for nineteen years, and is the recipient of the SPS Excellence in Teaching Award.

Admission for non-members of the Greenwich Decorative Arts Society is $25. Space is limited. For reservations and information, contact greenwichdecorativearts@gmail.com or visit greenwichdecorativearts.org

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