Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park

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"Aspet", Saint-Gaudens' house

Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park is a memorial of the National Park Service in New Hampshire that to the life and work of the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens recalls.

history

Relief portrait Charles Cotesworth Beaman 1894
Saint-Gauden's first summer in Cornish 1885

The National Historical Park includes the house, gardens and various studios of the important American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907).

Augustus Saint-Gaudens first came to Cornish in 1885. He rented an old inn for the summer from his friend and lawyer, Charles C. Beaman. He adapted the building to his needs and converted a hay barn into a studio.

Saint-Gaudens began to appreciate the place more and more and finally bought the property in 1891. For the house and 80 acres of land he paid Beaman $ 2,400 with the promise of making a relief portrait of it. The family continued to spend the summer months there until 1900. After 1900 it became her year-round residence. Saint-Gaudens named the property “Aspet” after his father's birthplace in France. Over the years he changed the area with the creation of gardens, hedges, recreational areas, including a swimming pond, bowling lawn and 9-hole golf course. The house, built around 1800, was completely redesigned; A dignified, curved staircase was added to the main hall and new bedrooms, a sun room, skylights and a wide, columned porch were created.

As Saint-Gaudens' notoriety grew and he received more and more commissions, Saint-Gaudens built a large studio in which his assistants could work. Saint-Gaudens' role became that of "senior producer" who designed the concept and original model for a sculpture and then directed his staff to complete the work.

Saint-Gaudens house and studio in Cornish 1906

In 1904 a fire in the large studio destroyed the sculptor's correspondence, his sketch pads and many works that were still in the making. A revised construction called the "Studio of the Caryatids" was quickly built, but this too burned down in 1944.

Many famous artists followed Saint-Gaudens to Cornish and formed the “Cornish Colony” there. These included the painters Maxfield Parrish , Thomas Dewing , George de Forest Bush , Lucia Fuller and Kenyon Cox , the dramaturge Percy MacKaye (who wrote the mask play "Saint Gaudens Masque-Prologue" in 1909), the American novelist Winston Churchill , the architect Charles A. Platt and the sculptors Paul Manship , Herbert Adams, and Louis St.-Gaudens (Augustus' brother). These artists formed a dynamic social environment centered around Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

In 1905, members of the local artist colony produced the play "A Masque of Ours: The Gods and the Golden Bowl" to celebrate Saint-Gaudens' 25th year in Cornish. The stage in the shape of a Greek temple was later rebuilt from marble and is now the final resting place for Saint-Gaudens and his family.

After Saint-Gaudens' death on August 3, 1907, his wife Augusta and their son Homer continued to spend the summers in Aspet. The artists' colony gradually dispersed. In 1919 they founded the "Saint-Gaudens Memorial", an organization that is dedicated to preserving the site as historical evidence. In 1965, the Saint-Gaudens Memorial donated the property to the National Park Service.

The place was protected under the name Augustus Saint-Gaudens Memorial on June 13, 1962 as a National Historic Landmark . On August 31, 1964, the establishment of a National Historic Site (NHS) took place by resolution of the President of the United States and legislation of Congress the following year, this was opened on May 30, 1977. In the following decades until 2000, the area of ​​the NHS was expanded several times to include adjacent areas and the Historic Site also became the Historic District. In October 2013 the Historic District was expanded. In March 2019, the 116th United States Congress declared the site a National Historical Park .

Saint-Gaudens today

A total of over 100 copies and originals of various works by Saint-Gaudens are on display on the grounds and in the buildings of the park. The house, which has been preserved with its original furnishings, as well as several studios can be visited. A visitor center is available for information and shows a video film about the life of the artist on request. A hiking trail leads through adjacent forest areas.

See also

literature

  • Judith Q. Sullivan: Aspet and Little Studio . Historic Structures Report. National Park Service, Lowell, Massachusetts 2007 ( PDF Download )

Web links

Commons : Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Guide to the Saint-Gaudens Estate in Cornish, New Hampshire By George Kelly - New Hampshire Magazine, June 2013
  2. ^ Caryatids in the Lexicon
  3. ^ The papers of Augustus Saint-Gaudens in the special collections of Rauner Library at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
  4. ^ George de Forest Brush: The Indian Paintings in the National Gallery of Art
  5. ^ Charles Platt , Self-trained as an architect and landscape architect
  6. ^ Paul Manship Sculptor in: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
  7. ^ Herbert Adams in: 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
  8. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: New Hampshire. National Park Service , accessed August 17, 2019.
  9. ↑ Marion Pressley, Cynthia Zaitzevsky: Cultural Landscape Report for Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site. Volume 1, Site History and Conditions. National Park Service, Boston (Massachusetts) 1993, p. 155; Digitized version accessed 19 May 2017.
  10. ^ National Park Service: National Park System Birthdays ; Retrieved May 18, 2017.
  11. ↑ Jenny Fields Scofield, Kristen Heitert, Virginia H. Adams, Blake McDonald: National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site Historic District (PDF) , National Park Service 2012, p. 3; accessed May 20, 2017.
  12. ^ Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site Historic District in the National Register Information System. National Park Service , accessed November 7, 2019.
  13. ↑ 116th Congress (2019-2020), p. 47. on congress.gov.

Coordinates: 43 ° 30 ′ 2.1 ″  N , 72 ° 22 ′ 8.1 ″  W.