Evening star., 1947-02-23
News Of At and Artists
Washington Statue
Is Lawrie Triumph;
Historical Greats
Shown at National
By Florence S. Berrymon

A heroic marble statue OF George
Washington will be unveiled this
afternoon in the Cathedral Church
of st. Peter and st. Paul. This i'm
portant addition to Washington's
public art is the gift Of the Supreme
Council of the Thirty third and Last
Degree (Mother Council of the
World Ancient and Accepted Scot
tish Rite of Freemasonly OF the
Southern Jurisdiction, U. S. A., and
will be formally dedicated by the
council later in the year.
The gift is the outcome OF a sug-
gestion made several years ago by
the late Bishop Freeman, 33d degree,
that a statue of Gen. Washington, a
Freemason, could be appropriately
placed in Washington Cathedral by
Freenasons.
The figure, created by Lee Lawrie,
eminent American sculptor, Is IN
feet tail, and is carved from pure
white Vermont marble. Mr.. Lawrle
said Of it:
"I have tried to show, not the SOL
der, nor the President, but the man,
Washington, coming into the church
Christ Church at Alexandria
pausing a moment before going
down the aisle to his pew. For many
years have wanted to make a
statue Of George Washington. The
solmenity of his face, his carriage,
the contour of his body, and his re-
poseful dignity, lend themselves well
to sculpture"
In Mr.. Lawrie's opinion, the
French sculptor Houdon's finest por-
trait statue was the one made OF
Washington for Richmond. He was
fortunate to be Washington's guest
at Mount Vernon for several weeks,
and the statue, Mr.. Lawrie thinks,
shows his full realization Of the sub
ject's possibilities.
Studied Stuart Portraits
MIR. Lawrie continued, IT followed
the shape of the Houdon statues
head, the contour of the body, the
large torso and rather thin legs, and
the modelling of the plaster mask
which Houdon made of Washington's
face. I also incorporated in the
head, some of the forms that every
Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washing
ton has, and consulted and studied
the portraits by the Peales and other
artists who painted Washington from
life The Immediately recognizable
likeness of Washington, of the ac-
cepted portraits, has the rather
broad aquiline nose, the treatment
of hair and side whiskers, shown In
nearly all the Stuart pictures, and
the characteristic setting of head
and neck on the shoulders"
First submitted to the Washing
ton Cathedral Fine Arts Committee
for approval was an 8-inch sketch
in plaster. Next, study about 3
feet high was made, from which
model the full-sized statue was de-
veloped in clay, all this work having
been done in Mr.. Lawrie's studio in
Easton, Md. The clay statue was
then cast In plaster, and shipped to
Vermont, where it was roughed out
In marble The rough figure and
plaster model were then shipped to
Piccirilli Bros, New York City, to be |
pointed and cut to the points.
This firm, since 1885, has done a
tremendous amount of carving for
sculptors throughout the United
States, including, in Washington,
the figure of Lincoln in the Lincoln
Memorial, many figures in Statuary
Hall, the Capitol, and much other
work. Final development, carving
and finishing of the Washington
statue were done by Mr.. Lawrie.
Further idea of the material prob
lens involved in the creation Of al
work in sculpture may be derived
from the fact that two full-sized
blocks were quarried for this statue
and rejected because, as the work
developed black veins appeared in
the head. The accepted block
weighed about tons, more than
of which were cut away. The