Existing comment:
Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919 (Farnham bas-relief):
Jacob Riis, the noted journalist and advocate for New York City's underprivileged tenement population at the turn of the twentieth century, commissioned this bas-relief of his friend Theodore Roosevelt. When Roosevelt was a city police commissioner (1895-97), Riis was a valuable source of information because he understood the reforms needed in the police department, as well as the evils of the slums. In 1906, Riis opened the Henry Street Settlement House and had this bas-relief, sculpted by Sally James Farnham, placed in the gymnasium. Farnham got the chance to sketch Roosevelt, by then president, at an informal cabinet meeting. The settlement house was sold in 1952, and the bas-relief was later acquired by the National Portrait Gallery.
Sally James Farnham, c 1906 |