French, Daniel Chester

born April 20, 1850, Exeter, N.H., U.S.

died Oct. 7, 1931, Stockbridge, Mass.

U.S. sculptor.

He produced his first important commission for the town of Concord, Mass.

the famous statue The Minute Man (1874). He was the leading turn-of-the-century American sculptor, with studios in Boston, Concord, Washington, D.C., and New York City. His best-known work, the seated marble figure of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 1922. His other notable public monuments include the equestrian statues of Ulysses S. Grant in Philadelphia (1898) and George Washington in Paris (1900) and sculptures representing Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, in front of the New York City customhouse (1907).

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▪ American sculptor

born April 20, 1850, Exeter, N.H., U.S.

died Oct. 7, 1931, Stockbridge, Mass.

      sculptor whose work is probably more familiar to a wider American audience than that of any other native sculptor.

 French's first important commission, which came from the town of Concord, Mass., was the statue “The Minute Man” (1875), commemorating the Concord fight 100 years earlier. It became the symbol for defense bonds, stamps, and posters of World War II. French's great marble, the seated Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 1922. In the intervening 50 years he created a vast number of works on American subjects. Among these are the equestrian statues of General Ulysses S. Grant in Philadelphia and General George Washington in Paris; three pairs of bronze doors for the Boston Public Library; the “Standing Lincoln,” Lincoln, Neb.; the statue of Ralph Waldo Emerson in the public library, Concord, Mass.; the “Alma Mater” at Columbia University; and the “Four Continents” at the New York City customhouse.

 

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