Frederick Hart (sculptor)

Frederick Hart (1943 – 1999) was an American sculptor, best known for his public monuments and works of art in bronze, marble, and clear acrylic (a technique he coined as "sculpting with light").

Biography

Hart was born in Atlanta in 1943 while his father was serving in World War II. His mother died suddenly when Hart was three years old and he was subsequently cared for by his mother's family in rural South Carolina during his early childhood years. He moved to Washington, D.C. when his father remarried in the early 1950's where he attended public school. At age sixteen, he was admitted as a philosophy major to the University of South Carolina.

Hart returned to Washington, D.C. with a desire to study art and attended the Corcoran College of Art and Design and American University where he studied painting and drawing. Later, after sculpting a bust of a girlfriend, he realized that sculpture provided a form of drawing that possessed weight, volume, presence and gravity.

As his interest in sculpture began to flourish, Hart became an apprentice stone carver at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. working on gargoyles.

In 1971, while Hart was still working on the stone of the cathedral, an international competition was announced to find a sculptor for the cathedral's west facade. After three years of work and at the age of thirty-one, Hart was commissioned to create The Creation which has been described as "the most monumental commission for religious sculpture in the United States in the twentieth century." ¹ Hart converted to Catholicism late in life.

It has been said that Hart was the greatest figurative sculptor since Daniel Chester French. "He not only created works of great beauty and gravitas, he was singularly responsible for restoring to American public monuments and memorials an iconology worthy of a great nation." ²

Hart's relationship with the art establishment was mixed. During most of his lifetime, the "mainstream art world" was dominated by non-traditional movements such as Pop art; figurative sculpture was out of fashion and Hart's heroic and religious style was out of step with the art magazines and museum curators of the times. Hart never had a major museum show or retrospective during his lifetime.

Despite this, his acrylic sculptures (generally cast in limited editions of several hundred and selling for around US$ 3000) were very successful in commercial art galleries, earning him a steady and significant income. Due to his widespread popular appeal and successful public works, by the end of his lifetime Hart was rapidly gaining in recognition and his bronzes (as of 2006) sell for several hundred thousand dollars.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The contrast between Hart's popular appeal and his differences with the art establishment can also be seen in the controversy over the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

The design competition was won by Maya Lin's abstract dark stone contemporary design, chosen by a panel of eight professional artists and architects. Lin's design was very much in line with art establishment thinking; Lin stated that the design "evokes feelings, thoughts and emotions . . . it does not scream anything . . . it is different."[1]

Protest by many Vietnam veterans and several influential politicians resulted in the commissioning of a bronze piece by Hart, The Three Soldiers, to be added to the memorial complex. This piece is in Hart's far more traditional heroic figurative style than Lin's work.

Interestingly, this piece caused further controversy, embroiling Hart and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund in various legal actions; see the article on the sculpture for further details.

Notable works

• The Three Soldiers sculpture - Located at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Dedicated in 1984.
• The Creation - Located at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Dedicated in 1990.
• President James Earl Carter sculpture - Located at the Georgia State Capital building in Atlanta, Georgia.
• Senator Richard B. Russell sculpture - Located in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. Dedicated in 1996.
• The Cross of the Millennium - An acrylic sculpture presented to Pope John Paul II in 1997 in honor of 50 years of priesthood.
• Fauquier County Veterans' Memorial, Operation Desert Storm - Warrenton, VA, 40' bronze collaboration with sculptor Jay Hall Carpenter, 1991.

Awards and accolades

• In 1985 President Ronald Reagan appointed Hart to a five-year term on the Commission of Fine Arts, a seven-member committee that advises the U.S. Government on matters pertaining the arts, and guides the architectural development of the nation's capital.
• In 1987 Hart received the Henry Hering Award from the National Sculpture Society for sculpture in an architectural setting, shared with architect Philip Frohman (National Cathedral work).
• In 1988 he was the recipient of the quadrennial Presidential Design Excellence Award (Vietnam Memorial work).
• In 1993 Hart received an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of South Carolina for his "ability to create art that uplifts the human spirit, his commitment to the ideal that art must renew its moral authority by rededicating itself to life, his skill in creating works that compel attention as they embrace the concerns of mankind, and his contributions to the rich cultural heritage of our nation."

Gallery

• The Three Soldiers statue, one of Hart's best known works
  The Three Soldiers statue, one of Hart's best known works
• Daughters of Odessa statue
  Daughters of Odessa statue

See also

• Vietnam Veterans Memorial
• The Three Soldiers

External links

• The official Frederick Hart website
• The Frederick Hart Collection at Jean Stephen Galleries
• The Frederick Hart Collection at the Alan Avery Art Company in Atlanta
• National Park Service page for the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial
• Histories - The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

References

1. Tom Wolfe, Frederick Hart: Sculptor, 1995, Hudson Hills Press ISBN 1555951201
2. James Cooper, Editor and Publisher, American Arts Quarterly