Harold Holzer - Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French

Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial, 191122, Washington, DC

Lets go see old Abe

Sitting in the marble and the moonlight,

Sitting lonely in the marble and the moonlight,

Quiet for ten thousand centuries, old Abe.

Quiet for a million, million years.

Quiet

And yet a voice forever

Against the

Timeless walls

Of time

Old Abe.

Lincoln Monument: Washington Langston Hughes, 1926

Id like to see what this is going to look like

a thousand years from now.

Daniel Chester French to his daughter, on seeing the Lincoln Memorial for the last time, 1929

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2019 National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States
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Editor: Nina Pick
Designer: Paula Baver

Special thanks to: Janet Behning, Abby Bussel, Benjamin English, Jan Cigliano Hartman, Susan Hershberg, Kristen Hewitt, Lia Hunt, Valerie Kamen, Jennifer Lippert, Sara McKay, Parker Menzimer, Eliana Miller, Wes Seeley, Rob Shaeffer, Sara Stemen, Marisa Tesoro, Paul Wagner, and Joseph Weston of Princeton Architectural Press
Kevin C. Lippert, publisher

Names: Holzer, Harold, author.
Title: Monument man : the life and art of Daniel Chester French / Harold Holzer.
Description: First edition. | New York : Princeton Architectural Press, 2019.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018007925 | ISBN 9781616897536 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781616898298 (epub, mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: French, Daniel Chester, 1850-1931. | SculptorsUnited StatesBiography.
Classification: LCC NB237.F7 H65 2019 | DDC 730.92 [B] dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018007925

In the long, happy process of investigating and writing this life of Daniel Chester French, I relied on the advice and encouragement of many scholars, librarians, colleagues, friends, and family, and I am delighted to acknowledge and thank them here.

Above all, for commissioning me to undertake this biography, I am indebted to Donna Hassler, executive director of Chesterwood, Daniel Chester Frenchs former home, studio, and gardens at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, now owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Donna was a steadfast and inspiring partner throughout the effort to research and produce the book, and without her hospitality and encouragement, it would not have been possible. Her irresistible invitationsnot only to dwell as an unofficial scholar-in-residence at the Meadowlark (formerly the Lower Studio, built by French and converted into a cottage by his daughter), but also to perform Lincoln-themed programs each summer at the main Chesterwood studiohave kept me in a sustained, hypnotic D. C. F. mood for years. Special thanks to Chesterwood Emeritus Council member and patron Jeannene T. Booher for her financial support for the entire project.

Heartfelt thanks go also to Chesterwood curatorial researcher Dana Pilson, a knowledgeable, patient, and tireless French scholar and onetime Metropolitan Museum curatorial department staffer who tirelessly guided me through the essential D. C. F. venues and resources. At the Chapin Library at Williams College, to which the Chesterwood Archives were transferred in 2010, Dana introduced me to Chapin librarian Wayne Hammond, whose help is gratefully acknowledged as well.

As far as I am concerned, the most knowledgeable expert on American sculpture anywhere is Thayer Tolles, the Marica F. Vilcek Curator of American Paintings, and my longtime colleague, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where I served as head of external affairs for twenty-three years. Thayer gave the original manuscript a careful and most useful reading, and offered sage advice whenever I peppered her with subsequent questions. From Cornish to the Met to the Knickerbocker Club, she has been a great friend and guiding star, and I thank her sincerely. Additional thanks go to Donald LaRocca, curator in the Mets Arms and Armor Department, for his guidance on Frenchs memorial plaque honoring the departments founding chairman, Bashford Dean; to archivist James Moske for his help in culling materials and photographs from Frenchs years as a Met trustee; and to curator Susan Stein and curator emerita H. Barbara Weinberg, for answering some perplexing questions about ImpressionistsFrench as well as American.

Gratitude goes, too, to Valerie Paley, chief historian of the New-York Historical Society, with whom I have enjoyed previous collaborations on books and exhibitions, as well as her historical society colleagues Margi Hofer and Nick Juravich. I had the honor of serving a few years ago as its Roger Hertog Fellow. Thus, thanks go as well to Mr. Hertog for that opportunity; to another former board chairman, Richard Gilder, for his longtime generosity and support; and to CEO Louise Mirrer for her long-standing encouragement.

I am also grateful to Margaret Peggy Burke, former executive director of the Concord Museum at Daniel Chester Frenchs boyhood hometown, as well as to the museums wonderful curator, David Wood; Dennis Fiori, former director of the Massachusetts Historical Society, along with his colleagues Peter Drummey and Elaine Heavey; Leslie Wilson of the Concord Free Public Library; Barbara Allen, curator of the Procter Museum & Archives of Stockbridge History at the Stockbridge Library; and Deborah Smith and Julie Swan of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Maine, all of whom supplied expert guidance and warm welcomes.

At the Library of Congress, where much of the French Family Papers are housed, I received guidancealong with vital instructions on the elusive mechanics regarding flash drives and microfilm readersfrom Jeffrey M. Flannery, head of Reference and Reader Services at the Manuscript Division. Thanks go as well to Dr. Alice L. Birney, library historian, who provided access to some original French material usually off-limits to researchers; and Library of Congress Civil War specialist Michele Krowl for her unfailing help and friendship.

At Princeton Architectural Press, I have benefitted from terrific support and a most professional expediting of this project, especially by designer Paula Baver, acquisitions editor Abby Bussel, content editor Jan Hartman, copy editor Christopher Church, and production editor Nina Pick.

I want also to thank my longtime research assistant, Avi Mowshowitz, for his resourcefulness in locating and securing copies of key documents online, as well as at both Columbia University and the New-York Historical Society. Karen Needles, whose Documents on Wheels project has unearthed and recorded troves of Lincoln-related material at the National Archives, located the complete file of government records relating to the Lincoln Memorial Commission. At the Nebraska Capitol Commission in Lincoln, important assistance was provided by Matthew G. Hansen, preservation architect. And my longtime friend and occasional coeditor, Sara Vaughn Gabbard, sent me a bulging file of newspaper clips on Frenchs Lincoln statues from the Lincoln Financial Foundation collection in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Her colleague Jane Gastineau at the Indiana Historical Society guided me to still more resources. I also enjoyed corresponding with childrens book author Linda Booth Sweeney, who shared and commented on her favorite D. C. F. letters.