New-York tribune., 1920-02-29
A New Plastic
Portrait of Lincoln

A New Plastic
Portrait Of Lincoln
Just q year ago there was installed
in the Metropolitan Museum the statue
OF Memory" which will in all proba-
bility rank as the masterpiece Of Dan
lei Chester French. It Is his finest
work In the treatment Of the nude and
it Is his most imaginative contribution
to American sculpture. an achievement
in true creative art. But distinction
IN the field to which this marble be-
longs is. of course, In no wise incom-
patible with distinction In another,
and, indeed, we are not sure but that
Mr. French's repute will be even more
widely extended by the statue of Lin
coin, which he has modelled for the
great memorial building designed by
Henry Bacon at Washington. The
Memory" can make no such national
appeal as must be made by this por-
trait, set up at the focus of American
life. It Is q beautiful invention in
the sphere Of general ideas, where the
new statue essays to interpret a char
acter and career whose intensely hu-
man traits find their immortality not
only in the minds but in the hearts of
men.
The test Of the Lincoln statue will
come when the memorial is dedicated
some months hence and the people of
| the United States begin to troop
through the solemn temple on the Po-
tomac. Many Of them will be curious
in matters of the sculptor's technique
But more of them will ask if he has
realized the spirit Of the man por-
trayed. 1t is difficult to surmise with
any precision before the statue Is un-
veiled what the answer will be. The
seated figure is about twenty feet high,
set upon a seven-foot pedestal. It is
carved out of white Georgia marble
and is placed against background Of
creamy Indiana limestone Its position
is at the center Of the long rear wall
Of the building, directly facing the en-
trance. Under the lofty ceiling with its
{
BILE through which the light is softly
filtered, imagination can vizualize the
statue, looming in q kind Of ghostly
grandeur. A monument built on such
heroic lines would seem certain to have,
in such circumstances, a heroic effect.
During the process Of its recent erec-
tion and the removal of the scaffolding
the anxieties of The sculptor have CEN
tered chiefly upon the question Of scale,
That question will count enormously, by
itself, in the impression 1t makes. Yet
other indispensable qualities in work
of the sort are discernible in a reduced
cast, even in the photograph which we
reproduce.
Mr.. French has made one other Lin
coin, the standing figure in the grounds
Of the State Capitol of Nebraska. In
that his aim was to portray the states
man Of the long conflict, carrying it's
strain upon his shoulders, disclosing in
attitude and expression the tragic
weight of a war still to be won With
| the happiest of inspirations he has
chosen to express, rather, in the later
monument, the statesman more at rest,
seated in deep revery over the dawning
Of q peaceful day. The whole atmos-
phere Of the memorial building is one Of
august serenity. That is the key to the
architects majestic conception. Mr..
French follows 1t In the broad lines of
his composition. The left hand is par
TALLY clenched, It Is true, and on tho
face tho traces Of struggle are clearly
marked. But essentially this is a por-
trait Of Lincoln relaxed in meditative
thought, the man of action pondering
on his fateful course, strong, as he was
always strong, but with the gentleness
and tenderness of his deep nature we'll
ing forth in sympathy with his country
men. 1t is the Lincoln of Lowell's un-
forgettable lines:
Here was type Of the true elder race,
And one Of Plutarch's men talked with US
face to face.
Face to face. There is the phrase
indicating what we feel to be most
impressive in Mr. French's noble work
He has risen to the high, monumental
plane Of his opportunity. The pres
ence of Lincoln is enveloped in subtle,
indefnable suggestions Of the powers
and the sorrows which were his con-
secration. At the same time it Is
brought homo to US in friendly wise.
Somehow, the multtudes for whom it