North Light Studios

In the years 2011 through 2015 the United States will be commemorating the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. With that in mind, I share with you thoughts on the Shaw Memorial, done to pay tribute to the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. Robert Gould Shaw grew up in a home of strong abolitionists. He joined the New York Seventh when the Civil War began, and rose in rank throughout infantries and battles, including the Battle of Antietam, where he was wounded. Shaw was promoted to Colonel during the Civil War and in February of 1863 was selected to lead the Massachusetts 54th , a black regiment. Accounts of the men in his troop suggest that the Colonel and his men grew to respect and admire each other over the course of a few months. In June of that same year, they sailed to Hilton Head, South Carolina to prepare to attack Fort Wagner. The 54th marched to battle the eve of July 18, 1863. Colonel Shaw was killed that night alongside other men in his regiment. Although it was a Conf...

In the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington D.C. lies the grave site of Clover Hooper Adams. This unique grave site bears an allegorical bronze sculpture representing despair and grief. It is not named, but does not ask to be named. This sculpture is the questioner. The story of Marian "Clover" Hooper Adams is complex and tragic. An outspoken, intellectual woman who was one of the earliest portrait photographers, fell into a deep depression after the death of her father in April 1885. In December of the same year in her bedroom, she drank potassium-cyanide, a poisonous chemical used in developing her photographs. To read more about Clover Adams, click here . Henry Adams, Clover's husband, traveled to Japan with La Farge in 1886 to learn about Buddhism. The next year he commissioned Augustus Saint-Gaudens to create a memorial for his wife. He was specific about the need for the sculpture to be a union of Eastern and Western spirituality . Saint-Gaudens became deeply involved ...