Existing comment:
A New Appreciation for American Sculpture:
The blossoming of Saint-Gaudens' career coincided with a public call for American Civil War monuments and memorials. In collaboration with several well-known architects, such as Stanford White, he completed a number of important works including the Farragut Monument in New York City and the Standing Lincoln in Chicago. These sculptured helped to rebuild national identify and establish American sculpture as a successful and popular art form.
While his reputation grew from his public sculpture, Saint-Gaudens also excelled in a more intimate sculptural form: relief portraiture. Inspired by early Renaissance reliefs and a suggestion by artist John LaFarge to paint in bas-relief, Saint-Gaudens created popular portraits of close friends, patrons, and notable figures. |