Henry Augustus Lukeman

Henry Augustus Lukeman (January 28, 1871 – April 3, 1935) was an American sculptor, specializing in historical monuments. Noted among his works are the World War I monument in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, the Kit Carson Monument in Trinidad, Colorado and the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial in Georgia.

Biography

Early life and education

Henry Augustus Lukeman was born on January 28, 1871,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in Richmond, Virginia,<ref name="NIE1915">Colby, Frank Moore & Talcott Williams, eds. (1915). "Lukeman, Henry Augustus (1870–)". New International Encyclopedia (2nd ed.), Vol. 14, p. 461, New York: Dodd, Mead, available at [1], accessed 12 September 2015.</ref><ref>McGlauflin, Alice Coe, ed. (1937), Who’s Who in American Art: Volume II, 1938-1939, The Washington D.C.: American Federation of Arts.Template:Page needed</ref>Template:Page needed and was raised in New York City.<ref name="Dearinger04">David Bernard Dearinger, ed. (2004) Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826-1925 (Volume 1), pp. 123f, New York, NY: Hudson Hills, Template:ISBN, see [2] and [3], accessed 12 September 2015.</ref> He is "said to have begun lessons at the National Academy and the Cooper Union School at age eleven," though a National Academy of Design source notes that the school's "registration records do not bear… out" this historical supposition.<ref name = Dearinger04/> It is also reportedTemplate:By whom that he began sculpting at age 10 at a boys' club miniature workshop, working in clay and wood from ages 10 to 13.Template:Citation needed

At a young age he became a studio assistant of Launt Thompson,<ref name = Dearinger04/><ref name=NIE1915/> an Irish-American sculptor and National Academician,<ref name=EB11thLaunt>Template:Cite EB1911</ref> and, like Launt,<ref name=EB11thLaunt/> pursued medically related studies (anatomy)—Lukeman at New York's Bellevue Hospital (for two year prior to 1890).<ref name = Dearinger04/> He remained with Launt until age 16.<ref>National Sculpture Society (1929), ‘’Contemporary American Sculpture: The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Lincoln Park, San Francisco, April to October MCMXXIX" [catalog], p. 152, New York, NY: Kalkhoff Co.Template:Verification needed Quote: "Issued for the exhibition held by the National [S]culpture [S]ociety in co-operation with the trustees of the California [P]alace of the Legion of [H]onor." See entry 2724 at [4], accessed 12 September 2015.</ref>Template:Verification needed There is report,Template:By whom potentially conflicting with other sources regarding his early training, that has him involved in an apprenticeship at the foundry of Jno. Williams, Inc. until he was 19.Template:Citation needed Likewise regarding a further report:Template:By whom that Lukeman studied terra cotta and architectural modeling for building and exterior decorations for several years,Template:When while in the evening studying life drawing (at the Cooper Union in New York).Template:Citation needed Lukeman is known to have attended classes at the National Academy for Design beginning in 1890, where records exist for his registration for the antique school (for two years),<ref name = Dearinger04/> and to have followed this with study at Columbia University.<ref name = Dearinger04/> Following that he went to Europe for 6 months and worked under Jean-Alexandre-Joseph Falguiere, at the Beaux Arts, in Paris.<ref name = Dearinger04/><ref name=NIE1915/><ref>National Sculpture Society (1929), ‘’Contemporary American Sculpture,’’ p. 213, National Sculpture Society: New York, NY.Template:Verification needed</ref>Template:Verification needed

When Lukeman returned to New York, he became an assistant to Daniel Chester French, a commitment that would last for a decade and a half, during which time he would also begin to execute his own commissions,<ref name = Dearinger04/><ref name=NIE1915/> eventually opening his own studio in New York.Template:WhenTemplate:Citation needed When construction of the World's Columbian Exposition began in 1893, Lukeman would superintend enlarging some important works for French,Template:Citation needed for instance, the Statue of the Republic.<ref name=NIE1915/>

American works

File:Hebrew Psalmist.jpg

Hebrew Psalmist, on the facade of the Brooklyn Museum, New York.

Lukeman's independent work began in this new studio, and included the monuments in which he would come to specialize,<ref name = Dearinger04/> as well as "portrait busts and statues, bas-reliefs, ornamental sculpture,"<ref name=NIE1915/><ref name = Dearinger04/> which have been described as being "architecturally effective and often remarkable in conception."<ref name=NIE1915/> Notable works in New York state from his early independent work include figures for the Customs Building in Columbus,<ref name = Dearinger04/>Template:Citation needed on the Appellate Court House in Manhattan,<ref name = Dearinger04/><ref name=NIE1915/> and on the facade of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences.<ref name = Dearinger04/><ref name="Anon10MuseumNews">Anon. (1910), "The Museum Statues," in The Museum News, Vol. 6, no. 3 (December), pp. 34-36, Brooklyn, NY: Museum of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, see [5], accessed 12 September 2015.</ref><ref name=NIE1915/> A further more complete list of his American and Canadian commissions and other important public sculpture works is given below.

A seminal work of Lukeman—proceeding from his earlier work on "several grandiose memorials"<ref name = Dearinger04/>—was to complete the execution of the enormously scaled Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial. This mountain carving depicted the confederacy's president, Jefferson Davis, and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (and their respective horses Blackjack, Traveller, and Little Sorrel), in DeKalb County, Georgia, near Atlanta;<ref name = Dearinger04/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> there, Lukeman designed and supervised sculpting of the monument after removing the earlier work of Gutzon Borglum<ref>Template:Cite report</ref> (the original commissionee, who had resigned<ref name = Dearinger04/>). David Dearinger notes that "Lukeman was criticized for taking over another artist's work,"<ref name = Dearinger04/> and that "he used Borglum's existing scheme," though altering it to be a bas-relief whose figures would ultimately be over 150 feet tall.<ref name = Dearinger04/>

When funding ran out in the advent of the Great Depression, Lukeman would continue to pay the craftsmen until his own means were exhausted,Template:Citation needed after which the carving would remain incomplete for decades (until Walker Hancock and Roy Faulkner completed an edited version of the Lukeman design in 1970).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Located Template:Convert above ground, and lacking the originally intended legs on the horses, the Lukeman-Hancock-Faulkner sculpture ultimately measured Template:Convert,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and is recessed Template:Convert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Lukeman died in New York on April 3, 1935, aged 63,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> leaving his wife, formerly, Helen Bidwell Blodgett.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Honors and awards

Template:Expand section Lukeman's work was recognized by the Henry Street Settlement,Template:WhenTemplate:Citation needed and he was given an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Dickinson College.Template:WhenTemplate:Citation needed

Influences, and those influenced

Template:Expand section Two significant influences were those whose training he extensively received, Launt Thompson and Daniel Chester French.Template:Citation needed In addition, Lukeman was known to have kept a small nude study executed by Kenyon Cox,Template:Verification needed one which "Cox considered among his best,"<ref name = Dearinger04/> and is therefore considered as one of Lukeman's possible artistic influences.

Public sculptures

Dated entries

The following entries, whose dates of execution are known, are ordered according to date, earliest to latest:

• Manu, the Law Giver of India, 1899, on the Appellate Division Courthouse of New York State, New York City.<ref name=NIE1915/>
• Music (Festival Hall) and another decorative sculpture (Electrical Building), at the Saint Louis Exposition, 1904, Saint Louis, Missouri;<ref name=NIE1915/> awarded a medal.Template:ClarifyTemplate:Citation needed
• The Hebrew Law Giver, Psalmist, Apostle, and Prophet (4 figures, facade),<ref name=Anon10MuseumNews/><ref name=NIE1915/> 1907–1909,Template:Citation needed the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, New York.
• The Straus Memorial in Straus Park, Manhattan, New York City, 1915;Template:Citation needed dedicated to Ida and Isidor Straus, who lost their lives on the RMS Titanic.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Better source needed
• Pulitzer Prize gold medal (with Daniel Chester French), 1918.<ref>The Pulitzer Prize Board (2015). "The Medal: Pulitzer Gold," see [6], accessed 12 September 2015.</ref>
• The Prospect Park Memorial, 1921, a World War I monument, in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.<ref>NYC Parks (2015), "Prospect Park: Prospect Park War Memorial," see [7], accessed 12 September 2015.</ref>
• Major General David McMurtrie Gregg, 1922, Reading, Pennsylvania.
• The Soldiers and Sailors Monument, 1923, Pittsfield, Massachusetts;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> refurbished, with presentation, Memorial Day 2010.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial, DeKalb County, Georgia, near Atlanta, 1925–1928;Template:Citation needed preceded in this project by Gutzon Borglum,Template:Citation needed and followed by Walker Hancock.Template:Citation needed

File:Stone Mountain Carving 2.jpg

Confederate Memorial Carving, Stone Mountain, as executed by Lukeman, Walker Hancock, and Roy Faulkner.Template:Citation needed

Fuller E. Callaway, 1929, textile magnate portrait bust, Hills & Dales Estate, LaGrange, Georgia<ref>Signed marble bust on display in visitor center.</ref>

Undated entries

File:Equestrian statue of Kit Carson.jpg

Kit Carson equestrian statue, Trinidad, Colorado (with Frederick Roth).

File:Statue of Elisha Yale, Gloversville.jpg

Statue of Rev. Elisha Yale in Gloversville, NY

The following entries, whose dates of execution are unknown, are ordered alphabetically by the subjects surname or place name:

• Francis Asbury Equestrian Sculpture, Washington, D.C.Template:Citation needed
• Francis Asbury Statue, Madison, New Jersey.Template:Citation needed
• Daniel Boone bas-relief portrait, Paris, Kentucky.Template:Citation needed
• Kit Carson Monument in Trinidad, Colorado;<ref name=NIE1915/> figure of Carson; sculptor Frederick Roth executed the horse.Template:Citation needed
• Lieutenant Cushing, on the Dewey Arch, New York, New York.Template:Citation needed
• Customs Building, Columbus, New York.<ref name = Dearinger04/>Template:Citation needed
• Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, San Diego, California.Template:Citation needed
• Joseph Henry, professor, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey.<ref name=NIE1915/>
• Robert Livingston, Saint Louis, Michigan.<ref name=NIE1915/>
• President William McKinley Statue, Adams, Massachusetts.<ref name=NIE1915/>
• President William McKinley Statue, Toledo, Ohio.Template:Citation needed
• Memorial to the Women of the Confederacy, Raleigh, North Carolina.Template:Citation needed
• National Sculpture Society Seal.Template:Citation needed
• Pan-American Exposition sculpture, in Buffalo, New York.Template:Citation needed
• James K. Patterson, early president of the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.Template:Citation needed
• President Franklin Pierce, New Hampshire State Capitol, Concord, New Hampshire.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Royal Bank of Canada headquarters, four colossal statues, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.<ref name=NIE1915/>
• General William Shepard, Westfield, Massachusetts.Template:Citation needed
• Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Public Square, Watertown, New York.Template:Citation needed
• Soldiers' Monument, Somerville, Massachusetts.<ref name=NIE1915/>
• Elisha Yale, at Gloversville, New York.<ref>Eagle Archives, June 11, 1932: Berkshire's present and past linked by statue, Jeannie Maschino, June 11, 2021</ref>

References

Template:New International Encyclopedia, as reflected by the inline references to Colby & Williams, (1915), New International Encyclopedia (2nd ed.), op. cit.

Further reading

• David Bernard Dearinger, ed. (2004) Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826-1925 (Volume 1), pp. 123f, New York, NY: Hudson Hills, Template:ISBN, see [8] and [9], accessed 12 September 2015.
• Anon. (1935), "Obituary: [Henry Augustus] Lukeman is Dead, A Noted Sculptor; Succeeded Borglum as Designer of Stone Mountain Memorial to Confederacy," The New York Times (online), Thursday April 4, 1935, see [10], accessed 12 September 2015.^{[Subscription required]}
• The Smithsonian (2015), "Research Collections, L: Henry Augustus Lukeman papers, circa 1891-1935 (summary)," Smithsonian Archives of American Art, (online), see [11], accessed 12 September 2015. Collection size, 0.50 linear feet (0.15 m), Full access at the Washington, D.C., Research Center.
• The Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, May 10, 1903.Template:Full citation needed

External links

• Template:Internet Archive author