WOMEN WHO MODELED FOR AMERICAN SCULPTURE

 

Get to know Audrey Munson and Hettie Anderson, two of Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Daniel Chester French's favorite models. These women carved a living for themselves out of an emerging and competitive field at a time when women were only just beginning to find work outside the home. Although the final sculptures largely depict allegorical figures and goddesses, its these all too real women whose faces decorate American civic spaces. Join us as Rebecca McCarron, Michener Registrar, brings the models' names and identities to the forefront.

This is a two-part program that requires separate registration for each event.

Virtual Program via Zoom
Wednesday, October 23 / 7 p.m.
Pay what you wish (free/$10/$20)

The first program will be virtual held online via Zoom on October 23 at 7pm. The link to access the event will be sent to the email address used during the pay-what-you-wish registration. You will receive the link on the morning of October 23. Please double-check your spam/junk folder if you do not receive the confirmation email. If you encounter any difficulties in registering or accessing the Zoom link after registering, please email jmchugh@michenerartmuseum.org. The event will be recorded and shared if you are unable to attend live.

Gallery Talk at Michener Art Museum
Wednesday, December 4 / 1 p.m.
$10 Member/$20 Non-Member/$5 Student

The second program will be a gallery talk. On December 4, Rebecca will lead the group through the exhibit, Monuments and Myths: The America of Sculptors Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Daniel Chester French. Gallery Talks provide the guest with the opportunity to hear from different voices at the museum and view the pieces from a new perspective. The smaller group provides a more personal way to learn about our exhibitions and collection.

For more information, or to register, see:
Nameless No More: Meet the Real-Life Women Who Modeled for American Sculpture (https://www.michenerartmuseum.org/event/virtual-nameless-no-more-meet-the-real-life-women-who-modeled-for-american-sculpture/)

Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) and Daniel Chester French (1850–1931) were the preeminent American sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As friendly rivals, they transformed sculpture in the United States, producing some of the country's most recognizable public artworks, including French's Seated Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and Saint-Gaudens's Diana, which graced the top of Madison Square Garden in New York. With an aesthetic of remarkable formal elegance, Gaudens and French created a picture of national ambition rooted in conceptions of liberty, grandeur, and common cause. These narratives of an ascendant America, however, reflect only a partial vision of the nation. Rife with the potential for multiple meanings and contested histories, the artworks in this exhibition encourage us to question the stories that public art tells and to explore what—and whose—histories remain hidden from view. 

Drawn primarily from the collections of the artists' historic homes and studios, Monuments and Myths is the first exhibition to bring together Saint-Gaudens and French in this way, probing their intersecting biographies and examining the affinities that made both of them leaders in their field. As we collectively refocus our attention on the role and meaning of historic monuments, it is a timely moment to ponder the continuing power of these artists' sculptures and to examine how it has shaped—and continues to inform—our understanding of America. 

Monuments and Myths: The America of Sculptors Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Daniel Chester French is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts, Chesterwood, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Saint-Gaudens Memorial in partnership with Saint-Gaudens National Historic Park.

For more information, see:
https://www.michenerartmuseum.org/mam_exhibitions/monuments-and-myths-the-america-of-sculptors-augustus-saint-gaudens-and-daniel-chester-french/
https://www.michenerartmuseum.org/

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