North Light Studios

After a long hiatus, I am returning to the blog. This post will be a short, a sort of intro to the year 2012. Here goes. This year I would like to focus on Museums. Each month I will spotlight a museum of art (or at least a museum that showcases some type of art) from somewhere on this earth. I've got a lot of museums in mind, including (but not limited to) The Hermitage, The Louvre, The Met, and some not as well known museums, including the Palace of the Legion of Honor. I'll also include occasional updates from North Light Studio. Suggestions and comments are always welcome. See you in about a week! -Penny Lane

The Four Continents was commissioned to Daniel Chester French in 1899. Originally it was supposed to be a collaborative work with August Saint-Guadens, who turned the project down due to time constraints. French therefore took on all four sculptures; Asia, America, Europe, and Africa. Today we will tackle Asia, the sculpture at the far left of the entrance of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House in New York City. We begin with a young woman, looking serene with her eyes closed, with several things in her lap, including a small diety statue, a flower (there is some argument as to whether this is a poppy, representing the opium trade the U.S. had with Asia at the time, or whether it is a lotus flower), and a coiling snake. There is also a cross behind her, which symbolizes the beginnings of Christianity in Asia. Those creepy skulls beneath her feet represent the slave trade and labor. Think slavery has only been a problem in the U.S.? It has been prevalent everywhere. A tige...

Wow, what a title. That’s the first thing I thought when I saw the title to this piece. So many things could be said by the title or by the piece itself. And what a beautiful sculpture! There’s something fantastic about French’s sculptures, something alive and haunting. Just stare at the picture for a moment. Can you imagine the impact if you were actually standing in front of the real sculpture? Imagine it. It’s fantastic. Eager to find out the why behind this sculpture, I started browsing. Martin Milmore, was another sculptor who immigrated to the United States from Ireland at the age of seven. He learned how to carve in wood and stone from his brother, Joseph. On an interesting side note, he carved a bust of Henry Wordsworth Longfellow at the age of nineteen. He died early, at thirty-eight, and his brother died three years later. This sculpture is a monument to them, and marks their gravestone in its bronze form in the Forest Hills Cemetery, Jamaica Plains, Massachusett...

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done; The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won; The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring: But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead -Walt Whitman The familiar lines have long been what I think of when I remember Abraham Lincoln and what he did. This first stanza is still my favorite; maybe because it has that same captivation that all good beginnings have. It draws you in. Daniel Chester French completed this monumental sculpture in 1922. It is fantastically done! French included every emotion he had about the man in his work on this piece. The expression on Lincoln’s face is one of contemplation; not too heavy, hinted at peaceful. Personally, I think this statue is another example of how beautiful ...

After the long delay, next week I will feature a sculpture of Michaelangelo's. I am excited, especially for the research and all the pictures I might find. Stay tuned!

Long ago Hiawatha became a spokesman for the Iroquois people under the The Great Peacemaker, a prophet of the tribe. He spoke to the different groups of people and helped convince them that they should all unite and become a peaceful people. By the end of his mission, there were Six Iroquois Nations that had banded together. When August Saint-Gaudens finished studying in Paris, he continued to Rome, Italy with another student. It was in Rome that he sculpted Hiawatha in clay, and then carved him in marble. The sculpture is based on Longfellow’s poem, The Song of Hiawatha . I have never read the poem in its entirety, but I have read pieces of it. It is inspirational. How many of us have been inspired by a song, a poem, a piece of art or a story to create another artwork from it? Music has inspired sculptors and sculptures have inspired music. Anything that is created that can give you a feeling of peace or happiness or joy is meant to be. This beautiful sculpture shows the you...

William Tecumseh Sherman was born in 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio. He attended the West Point US Military Academy and served in the Mexican War. In 1861, he became a volunteer in the Union army. He fought in Shiloh and Bull Run, and earned a Confederate surrender in 1865. He became the US General in 1869. After he retired, he sat for a portrait for Augustus Saint-Gaudens , which became the Sherman Memorial, one of the most celebrated memorials in the US today. While Saint-Gaudens worked with General Sherman, he found himself enthralled by the man's stories, and it helped him to put the best effort into his work. General Sherman died in 1891, and was never able to see the completed monument. Saint-Gaudens continued to labor over it, even when he began to fall ill. The sculpture was unveiled in 1903 on Memorial Day. It took eleven years from start to finish. I believe Saint-Gaudens at this point in time knew the value of working on a piece so diligently. It was his last signi...