The Spirit of the American Doughboy
| The Spirit of the American Doughboy | |
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| The statue in January 2010 | |
| Details | |
| material | Figure: bronze , foundation: marble |
| Location | Elgin , Illinois |
| Artist | EM Viquesney |
The Spirit of the American Doughboy is a pressed copper statue designed by EM Viquesney to commemorate the victims and veterans of the First World War . In the 1920s and 1930s, the sculpture was mass-produced and displayed across the United States. The "Doughboy", as the statue is often called colloquially, has also been sold as a miniature over the years and copied by other artists.
origin
Doughboy (in German: " Teigjunge ") is a colloquial and outdated term for an infantryman in the United States Army . It is unclear where exactly the name comes from. It is believed that it stems from the fact that infantrymen in the Mexican-American War were covered with chalky dust from marching in dry terrain in northern Mexico. The infantryman was called "Doughboy" because covered with dust resembled unbaked dough.
Data on the artist
Ernest Moore Viquesney was born on August 5, 1876, the only son of Alfred Paul and Jane (formerly Lehman) Viquesney in Spencer, Indiana. Already in his youth he learned sculpture, engraving and carving from his father. He was also active as a portrait artist at an early age. Viquesney served in the Spanish-American War and was stationed in Pensacola, Florida. Until his death he was in command of the "Spencer Spanish American War Veterans". In 1904 he married Cora Barnes. For the next 16 years, the couple lived in Americus, Georgia. In Americus he took jobs at Clark's Monumental Works and Schneider's Marble Company. There he also met Gutzon Borglum , whose greatest work is the Mount Rushmore National Memorial . The American Doughboy also originated in Americus. In 1936 he married Betty Sadler. When she died in August 1946, his grief over her loss was so great that he killed himself by suffocating in his car in the garage on October 4, 1946.
Description of the statue
The Smithsonian American Art Museum lists 159 locations that have The Spirit of the American Doughboy. Of these, 134 original works and many others have been confirmed as copies by other artists.
The Spirit of the American Doughboy statue depicts a man wearing a WWI army uniform. The infantryman is holding a grenade in his right hand, which is raised triumphantly. He is holding a rifle and bayonet in his left hand. All doughboys stand on a base made of stone or brick. Places where they stand are, for example, town or village squares, cemeteries, in parks and on squares in front of public authorities.
The Spirit of the American Doughboy was one of the first mass-produced statues. Before the First World War, a complicated process was necessary to erect a memorial at all. First, the permission of the town hall or the owner of the place on which the statue was to be erected had to be obtained. In addition, a memorial committee had to be convened, an artist had to be hired and, in many cases, money had to be collected for the construction. EM Viquesney began working on his sculpture right after the end of the First World War in 1918. Returned soldiers, who were fully uniformed and modeled for him in the familiar pose, served as models. He chose the triumphant pose because it is reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty. In 1920 he applied for a patent for the design as he planned to mass-sell the statue. In order to make the statue more affordable, each one was not carved out of marble, but a mold was produced into which liquid copper or zinc was poured. After the statue was exposed from the mold, it was covered with bronze. The production costs came to only $ 1,500 (converted to the present day about $ 20,000 or about 16,000 euros), instead of the several 10,000 dollars that were common at the time. In addition, smaller versions of the Doughboy were made and those sold as lamps. So everyone could have their doughboy at home.
criticism
Due to Viquesney's PR campaigns (he designed posters and advertised the statue with the fact that 300 pieces were already sold) and that the number of pieces of this statue was so high, some critics dismissed it as unimportant. That even led to that doughboy in Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin, does not appear on the National Historic Place Register. Nonetheless, the memorial is one of the most important memorials to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the First World War. Viquesney said in 1927:
"This statue, this child of my greatest and most sincere effort, is dedicated to you, to America, to the World ... that he may be a constant reminder of all of what real Americanism is, what it does and how it safeguards our homes and our country. "
“This statue, the child of my greatest and most sincere aspiration, is dedicated to you and America and the whole world. That he [the Doughboy] is a constant reminder of real Americanism, what it [the army] does and how they protect our homes and our country. "
Web links
- The EM Viquesney Doughboy Database listing of all statues in the American states
- Emmitsburg Area Historical Society The History Behind the Doughboy
- Atlas Obscura Why Do So Many US Towns Have the Same WWI Soldier Statue?
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e The EM Viquesney Dougboy Database The Spirit of the American Doughboy
- ^ Smithsonian American Art Museum . Art Inventories Catalog: Viquesney, E. M
- ↑ a b Atlas Obscura Why Do So Many US Towns Have the Same WWI Soldier Statue?
