Existing comment:
Natl Gallery of Art; West Wing; Shaw Memorial; overall
The Shaw Memorial commemorates Robert Shaw, who led a colored regiment from Boston whose members were mostly freed blacks and included two songs of Frederick Douglass. Shaw and much of the regiment was killed in an assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina in 1863. Money was raised for a memorial on Morris Island but it was never built.
In the 1880's, Augustus Saint-Gaudens was contacted about creating a memorial in Boston itself. By the end of 1883, he had produced numerous drawings and clay models and a contract was signed in Feb 1884. Originally, a free-standing equestrian statue was envisioned but Shaw's family thought that type of memorial should be reserved for officers of a higher rank. Saint-Gaudens then came up with having the troops in relief with Shaw on the horse in front, thereby reducing his importance. Saint-Gaudens took his time trying to get everything just right and the monument was dedicated in 1897. The life-size plaster version, used as the model for the bronze version, continued to evolve and was exhibited in Paris in 1898.
It was purchased in the United States in 1902 and remained on display until 1919 when it was covered by a wall. It was presented to the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in 1949 and left exposed to the elements from 1959 on. A bronze cast of the plaster was made and then the plaster was given to the National Gallery of Art on long-term loan from the National Park Service which now administers the historic site.
Here's a front-on photo of the memorial with a spectator provided for scale.
Biographies:
Robert Shaw (USA) was the son of a well-to-do Boston abolitionist. On Jan 26 1863, the Massachusettes governor John Andrew secured permission to raise black regiments. The 54th Massachusetts Colored Regiment, the first black regiment from a northern state, was formed as a result. Andrew selected Shaw, one of a small group of Union officers who believed that black troops could be trained to match the fighting quality of white soldiers. He raised the regiment and set off to South Carolina. In mid-July, 1863, Quincy Gillmore decided to attack the several Confederate forts on Morris Island that guarded the approaches to Charleston DC. Shaw's regiment attacked James Island as a diversionary assault. On July 18, the regiment was moved to Morris Island where Shaw accepted an offer to lead the Federal assault on Battery Wagner. The troops stormed the beach that night and Shaw led his troops to the parapets of the fort, at which time he was killed. The Union troops lost 1500 men in the assault, about ten times the Confederate losses. One of the blacks in the regiment would become the first African American to receive a Medal of Honor. The Confederate general ordered Shaw's body stripped of its officer's uniform and thrown into the grave with twenty of his men. The remains of the regiment participated in the seige which eventually took the fort. Several weeks later, when the fort was in Federal hands, Shaw's parents explicitly requested that their son remain buried with his men.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens was trained in the arts in Europe, making his living in commissions, mostly portraits. He returned to New York in 1875 and worked for Tiffany Studios. He created the Farragut Monument in New York city in 1881. The nation was swept up in a desire to commemorate the heroes of the Civil War and Saint-Gaudens did well in this environment. He did the standing figure of Abraham Lincoln (1884-87, Chicago), equestrian statues of Generals Logan (1897, Chicago) and Sherman (1892-1903, New York). He also did the Adams Memorial (1886-1891, Wash DC). He redesigned the US coinage in 1905. He died in 1907. |