Leonard Volk
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
. He is notable for making one of only two life masks of United States President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
. In 1857 he helped establish the Chicago Academy of Design and served as its president until 1865. He made several large monumental sculptures, including the tomb of the politician Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the Northern Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. He lost to the Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, whom he had defeated two years earlier in a Senate contest following a famed...
, and statues of American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
figures.
Biography
Volk was born at Wellstown (now WellsWells, New York
Wells is a town in Hamilton County, New York, United States. The population was 737 at the 2000 census. The town is named after Joshua Wells, a land agent, who built the first mills in the area....
), Hamilton County
Hamilton County, New York
Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is named after Alexander Hamilton, the only member of the New York State delegation who signed the United States Constitution in 1787 and later the first United States Secretary of the Treasury. Its county seat is Lake Pleasant...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to Garrett and Elizabeth (Gesner) Volk. He first followed the trade of a marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
cutter with his father in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...
, where the family moved.
Marriage and family
Before 1855 Volk married Emily Clarissa King Barlow, daughter of Honor (Douglas) and Dr. Jonathan King Barlow of Bethany, New YorkBethany, New York
Bethany is a town in Genesee County, New York, United States. The population was 1,760 at the 2000 census.The Town of Bethany lies on the south border of Genesee County...
. A maternal cousin of hers was Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the Northern Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. He lost to the Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, whom he had defeated two years earlier in a Senate contest following a famed...
, a nationally known politician who ran against Abraham Lincoln for the Republican Party presidential nomination in 1860.
Their son Stephen A. Douglas Volk
Douglas Volk
Douglas Volk, named Stephen Arnold Douglas Volk was an American portrait and landscape painter. He helped establish the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts. After 1904 he and his wife Marion created an artists' retreat at their family home, Hewnoaks, in Maine...
(1856–1935) as an adult became notable as a figure and portrait painter. He studied under Jean-Léon Gérome
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax.-Life:Jean-Léon Gérôme was born...
in Paris. Later he helped establish the Minneapolis School of Design.
Career
In 1848 Volk moved west and opened an artist's studio in St Louis, Missouri. From 1855-1857, Stephen A. DouglasStephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the Northern Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. He lost to the Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, whom he had defeated two years earlier in a Senate contest following a famed...
, his wife's cousin, supported the family's travel to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
so that Volk could pursue additional study.
Returning to the United States in 1857, Volk and his family settled in the booming city of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where he helped to establish the Chicago Academy of Design, precursor to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For eight years, he served as its director and taught numerous students, including Elbridge Ayer Burbank
Elbridge Ayer Burbank
Elbridge Ayer Burbank was an American artist who sketched and painted more than 1200 portraits of Native Americans from 125 tribes. He studied art in Chicago and in his 30s traveled to Munich, Germany for additional studies with notable German artists...
, who became noted for his more than 1200 portraits of Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
.
In 1860 Volk made a life mask
Mask
A mask is an article normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance or entertainment. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes...
of the state senator Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
. Only one other was made, by Clark Mills
Clark Mills
Clark Mills may refer to:*Clark Mills, New York*Clark Mills , American sculptor*Clark Mills , boatbuilder...
in 1865. In the early part of spring 1860, during Lincoln's visit to Chicago, Volk asked him to sit for a bust. The artist decided to start by doing a life mask. Lincoln found the process of letting wet plaster dry on his face, followed by a skin-stretching removal process, "anything but agreeable." But he maintained good humor, and was pleased with the final bust. He declared it "the animal himself." Volk later used the life mask and bust of 1860 as the basis for other versions of Lincoln, including a full-size statue. The life mask was also studied by other artists, such as Daniel Chester French
Daniel Chester French
Daniel Chester French was an American sculptor. His best-known work is the sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.-Life and career:...
.
In mid-May 1860, Volk went to Springfield to present the Lincolns with the completed cabinet bust. He had just received the nomination as presidential candidate for the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. The following day Volk asked Lincoln to allow a casting of both his hands, for use in other sculptural works. Volk wanted Lincoln to hold something to simulate grasping a document in his right hand. Lincoln came back from his tool shed with a whittled piece of broom handle. The casting for Lincoln's right hand was made as he held the broom handle. Lincoln's left hand was cast slightly closed but empty.
Principal works:
- Stephen A. Douglas TombStephen A. Douglas TombThe Stephen A. Douglas Tomb and Memorial or Stephen Douglas Monument Park is located at 636 E. 35th Street in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois , near the site of the Union Army and prisoner of war Camp Douglas...
at Chicago, Illinois - Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument at Rochester, New YorkRochester, New YorkRochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
- statues of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in the Illinois State CapitolIllinois State CapitolThe Illinois State Capitol, located in Springfield, Illinois, is the building that houses the executive and legislative branches of the government of the U.S. state of Illinois. The current building is the sixth capitol of the state since its admission as a state of the United States in 1818. The...
at Springfield, IllinoisSpringfield, IllinoisSpringfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area... - statue of General James ShieldsJames ShieldsJames Shields was an American politician and United States Army officer who was born in Altmore, County Tyrone, Ireland. Shields, a Democrat, is the only person in United States history to serve as a U.S. Senator for three different states...
in Statuary Hall, United States CapitolUnited States CapitolThe United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall... - statues of Elihu B. WashburneElihu B. WashburneElihu Benjamin Washburne was one of seven brothers who played a prominent role in the early formation of the United States Republican Party...
, Zachariah ChandlerZachariah ChandlerZachariah Chandler was Mayor of Detroit , a four-term U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan , and Secretary of the Interior under U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant .-Family:...
and David DavisDavid DavisDavid Davis may refer to:*David Davis , Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Council*David Davis , British Conservative Member of Parliament, Conservative leadership candidate in 2001 and 2005*David Davis , head of the BBC's Children's Hour*David Davis ,...
Legacy and honors
- 1880, Volk was elected to the Society of American ArtistsSociety of American ArtistsThe Society of American Artists was an American artists group. It was formed in 1877 by artists who felt the National Academy of Design did not adequately meet their needs, and was too conservative....
. - 1899, elected to the National Academy of DesignNational Academy of DesignThe National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...
in 1899.