Seventh Regiment Memorial: Difference between revisions

Seventh Regiment Memorial
Seventh Regiment Memorial
	The sculpture in 2011
Artist	John Quincy Adams Ward
Year	1869
Type	Sculpture
Medium	Bronze
Location	New York City, New York, United States
	40°46′26″N 73°58′35″W / 40.77377°N 73.97640°W

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Seventh Regiment Memorial is an outdoor bronze sculpture honoring the members of that regiment whose lives were forfeited during the Civil War. The statue was created by John Quincy Adams Ward and the base was designed by Richard Morris Hunt. Although the statue is dated 1869 the monument was not unveiled until June 22, 1874.

Description and history

Ward likely received the commission in 1867, with funds to be provided by the Seventh Regiment Monument Association. He finished a model by the spring of 1868. Initially Hunt had envisioned and designed a much larger monument, one with at least five figures, seen as being a part of a "Warrior Gate" to Central Park. However the park's architects, Olmsted and Vaux, had already clashed with Hunt over matters of aesthetics^[1] with the result that Hunt's grand scheme of a series of showy Beaux-Arts entrances to the park was reduced to the Seventh Regiment Memorial.^[2]

The art historian E. Wayne Craven considers the work "a failure", even thought it is a work of art, stating,"neither the 'Shakespeare' nor the 'Seventh Regiment Soldier' were portrait statues in the usual sense, and therein lies the explanation for their failures. Ward often lacked the vision to create a successful imaginary portrait, and his images of men who could actually stand before him were, as a rule, much stronger as works of art."^[3] The soldier in the monument was modeled by actor, and veteran of the Regiment Steele MacKaye, who wore his own uniform to pose in.^[4]

References

^ Hall, Lee, Olmsted's America: An "Unpractical Man and His Vision of Civilization, A Bulfinch Press Book, Little Brown and Company, Boston, 1995 p. 94.
^ Stein, Susan R., editor, The Architecture of Richard Morris Hunt, Lewis I. Sharp, Richard Morris Hunt and His Influence on American Beaux-Arts Sculpture, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1986, pp. 126–128.
^ Craven, Wayne, Sculpture in America, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York 1968 p. 250.
^ Sharp, Lewis I., John Quincy Adams Ward: Dean of American Sculpture, with Catalogue Raisonné, University of Delaware Press, Newark, 1985 p. 177.

[1] Hall, Lee, Olmsted's America: An "Unpractical Man and His Vision of Civilization, A Bulfinch Press Book, Little Brown and Company, Boston, 1995 p. 94.

[2] Stein, Susan R., editor, The Architecture of Richard Morris Hunt, Lewis I. Sharp, Richard Morris Hunt and His Influence on American Beaux-Arts Sculpture, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1986, pp. 126–128.

[3] Craven, Wayne, Sculpture in America, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York 1968 p. 250.

[4] Sharp, Lewis I., John Quincy Adams Ward: Dean of American Sculpture, with Catalogue Raisonné, University of Delaware Press, Newark, 1985 p. 177.

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 ==Description and history==
-Ward likely received the commission in 1867, the rest of funding by the Seventh Regiment Monument Association, and by the spring of 1868 he had model prepared.  Initially Hunt had envisioned and designed a much larger monument, one with at least five figures, seen as being a part of a "Warrior Gate" to [[Central Park]].  However the park's architects, [[Frederick Law Olmsted|Olmsted]] and [[Calvert Vaux|Vaux]], had already clashed with Hunt over matters of aesthetics<ref>Hall, Lee, Olmsted's America: An "Unpractical Man and His Vision of Civilization, A Bulfinch Press Book, Little Brown and Company, Boston, 1995 p. 94.</ref> with the result that Hunt's grand scheme of a series of showy [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]] entrances to the park was reduced to the Seventh Regiment Memorial.<ref>Stein, Susan R., editor, The Architecture of Richard Morris Hunt, Lewis I. Sharp, Richard Morris Hunt and His Influence on American Beaux-Arts Sculpture, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1986, pp. 126–128.</ref>
+Ward likely received the commission in 1867, with funds to be provided by the Seventh Regiment Monument Association. He finished a model by the spring of 1868.  Initially Hunt had envisioned and designed a much larger monument, one with at least five figures, seen as being a part of a "Warrior Gate" to [[Central Park]].  However the park's architects, [[Frederick Law Olmsted|Olmsted]] and [[Calvert Vaux|Vaux]], had already clashed with Hunt over matters of aesthetics<ref>Hall, Lee, Olmsted's America: An "Unpractical Man and His Vision of Civilization, A Bulfinch Press Book, Little Brown and Company, Boston, 1995 p. 94.</ref> with the result that Hunt's grand scheme of a series of showy [[Beaux-Arts architecture|Beaux-Arts]] entrances to the park was reduced to the Seventh Regiment Memorial.<ref>Stein, Susan R., editor, The Architecture of Richard Morris Hunt, Lewis I. Sharp, Richard Morris Hunt and His Influence on American Beaux-Arts Sculpture, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1986, pp. 126–128.</ref>
 The art historian [[E. Wayne Craven]] considers the work "a failure", even thought it is a work of art, stating,"neither the 'Shakespeare' nor the 'Seventh Regiment Soldier' were portrait statues in the usual sense, and therein lies the explanation for their failures. Ward often lacked the vision to create a successful imaginary portrait, and his images of men who could actually stand before him were, as a rule, much stronger as works of art."<ref>Craven, Wayne, Sculpture in America, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York 1968 p. 250.</ref> The soldier in the monument was modeled by actor, and veteran of the Regiment [[Steele MacKaye]], who wore his own uniform to pose in.<ref>Sharp, Lewis I., John Quincy Adams Ward: Dean of American Sculpture, with Catalogue Raisonné, University of Delaware Press, Newark, 1985 p. 177.</ref>