WikiDwarfBOT: robot: add new article

2023-07-22T11:20:42Z

robot: add new article

New page

{{distinguish|Young Mr. Lincoln|The Young Lincoln|text=[[Young Mr. Lincoln]] (film) and 1939 statue [[The Young Lincoln]]}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image_file = Brads Photos and Abe Lincoln 565.jpg
| painting_alignment = right
| image_size = 300px
| title = Young Abe Lincoln
| alt =
| other_language_1 =
| other_title_1 =
| other_language_2 =
| other_title_2 =
| artist = [[David K. Rubins]]
| year = {{Start date|1962}}
| type = Bronze sculpture
| height_metric = 274.32
| width_metric = 76.20
| length_metric = 97.79
| height_imperial = 108
| width_imperial = 30
| length_imperial = 38.5
| diameter__metric =
| diameter_imperial =
| imperial_unit = in
| metric_unit = cm
| city = Indianapolis
| museum = Indiana Statehouse
| coordinates = {{coord|39|46|6.74|N|86|9|54.65|W|region:US}}
| owner = Indiana Statehouse
}}

'''''Young Abe Lincoln''''', is a 1962 [[public art]]work by American artist [[David K. Rubins]], located outside of the government center near the [[Indiana State House]], in [[Indianapolis]], [[Indiana]], US. This [[bronze]] sculpture is a depiction of a young [[Abraham Lincoln]], an Abraham Lincoln that spent the majority of his formative years in Indiana.<ref name="State Office Building Art">{{cite news
| author = Indiana Architect
| title = State Office Building Art
| date = October 1961
| pages = 13–14
}}</ref>

==Description==
''Young Abe Lincoln'' is an oversized, rough style <ref name="David K Rubins video">{{cite video
| people = William Ashby (Director)
| title = Portrait of David Rubins (interviewed by Lois Davis)
| medium = VHS
| publisher = Indianapolis Art League
| date = July 7, 1982}}</ref> bronze sculpture of an adolescent Abraham Lincoln. He wears a shirt, pants raised above the ankle and is barefoot. His left hand holds a book with the index finger holding his place.<ref name="Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog">{{cite web
| last = The Smithsonian Institution
| title = Art Institute Inventory: Young Abe Lincoln
| url = http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=G1I98048Q3397.39158&menu=search&aspect=Keyword&npp=50&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=ariall&ri=&term=&index=.GW&aspect=Keyword&term=&index=.AW&term=&index=.TW&term=&index=.SW&term=&index=.FW&term=&index=.OW&term=%20IN000878&index=.NW&x=9&y=10#focus
| access-date = 28 November 2010}}</ref> The sculpture sits outside of the [[Indiana Government Center]] in Indianapolis, which is adjacent to the Indiana Statehouse. The sculpture measures 108 inches in height by 30 inches in width by 38 1/2 in depth and sits upon a red [[granite]] tripartite [[pedestal]] that measures 74 inches in height by 82 inches in width by 92 inches in depth.<ref name="Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog"/> It weighs over 1,500 pounds.<ref name="State Office Building Art"/> A foundry mark can be seen on the front of the pedestal MODERN/ART/FDRY/N.Y. The artist signature (D.K. Rubins) and copyright date (1962) can be seen on the rear, [[proper right]] side base of the sculpture.<ref name="Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog"/>

Based on a forty six inch [[plaster]] mold, a three-dimensional [[pantograph]] was used to create a rough, hollow framework of the full-size model of the sculpture from [[wood]]. The surface layer of this framework was coated with a layer of oil-base non-hardening [[clay]] called plastelene and then the detail work of the sculpture was done by hand.<ref name="State Office Building Art"/>

A plaster mold was placed over the finished clay framework and allowed to dry. The mold was then removed, creating a positive [[plaster cast]] of the framework. This cast is a replica of the clay covered framework.<ref name="State Office Building Art"/>

The [[lost-wax casting]] method was then used to create the actual bronze sculpture. This process took over five months to complete.<ref name="State Office Building Art"/>

[[File:Young Abe Lincoln placard.jpg|thumb|right|Placard in front of ''Young Abe Lincoln'' sculpture]]

{{quote|text=The thoughts that concerned me most in making this statue were the necessities of representing a vital energy, lean physical strength, and a tree-like growth suggestive of the strong roots of character that were growing and manifest as early as his Indiana years. In the rather knotty and active forms of the body, I have tried to express that, as well as the rough warmth of his frontier humanity and the ungainliness of his bony frame.

In the simple but rough-surfaced pedestal, and in the quiet shadowed, thoughtful head, I wanted to suggest the very simple, classic character of his mind - as well as the loneliness and tragedy of his life.

In the hair, I tried for boyishness and humor. I felt it unimportant to invent a purely imaginary portrait of how Lincoln might have looked at twenty-one years. Our knowledge of his appearance, on which the popular symbol of Lincoln is based, is from photographs taken after his fortieth year; my face, therefore, is a compromise between the unknown Indiana youth and the pre-presidential Illinois lawyer.

The true look of Lincoln during his Indiana years is as unimportant as the historical accuracy of his clothing. In favor of representing his character and his contemporary significance to the best advantage, I have subordinated every literal element except the book. In the light of Lincoln's whole life, the axe is unimportant as the book.

The placement of the figure was chosen for two reasons: I felt that Lincoln should be placed back among the trees on the plaza, since the forest was his Indiana experience; and it would be difficult to compete in scale with the open plaza and building were the figure to be placed in the open. Too large a figure in sculpture produces an inhuman and unreal effect.|sign=David K. Rubins|source=<ref name="State Office Building Art"/>}}

In 1992, [[Save Outdoor Sculpture!]] surveyed this piece and found it to be well maintained.<ref name="Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog"/>

==Historical information==
This sculpture was created as a [[Commission (art)|commissioned]] piece for winning a competition to decorate the Indiana State Office Building, The Indiana Employment Security Building, or the Adjacent Plaza in Indianapolis, Indiana. As part of the competition, which was conducted in 1959, the artist was free to choose his own subject matter, location, size of work and whatever material deemed necessary. There were the following suggestions however:

# Lincoln was an appropriate theme for the Indiana Government area because Indiana was where he had spent a lot of his youth and where he later visited.
# The [[Seals of the U.S. states|Seal of the State]] be used somewhere and that Indiana be recognizable in the piece.
# A possible location be the square area extending into the northeast corner of the [[reflecting pool]].
# The interior of the entrance lobby of the State Office Building is also another option for placement of an appropriate [[relief]] of free-standing sculpture.
# The piece should have a contemporary feel to it, suitable to the times and architecture of the two buildings.<ref name="Letter sent to prospective artists">{{cite journal
|last = Whitehead
|first = John A.
|title = Prosptectus Letter
|date = August 10, 1959}}</ref>

As part of the competition each artist was to deliver a small [[scale model|scale]] plaster model or sketch of their work and letter of explanation to the Indiana State Office Building Commission located on the third floor of the building located at 309 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, Indiana by no later than Tuesday, December 1, 1959. Below is a list of artists that an invitation was sent to:

*Anthony Lauck, University of Notre Dame
*Ivan Meštrović, University of Notre Dame
*Robert Laurent, Indiana University, Department of Fine Arts
*Harry Engel, Indiana University, Department of Fine Arts
*Rudy Pozzatti, Indiana University, Department of Fine Arts
*[[Garo Antreasian]], John Herron Art Institute
*David Rubins, John Herron Art Institute
*Donald Mattison, John Herron Art Institute
*Robert Weaver
*James Snodgrass, Contemporary Art Workshop
*Will Lamm
*Harold Elgar
*Richard Peeler
*Adolph Wolter
*Walter Lohman
*Warner Williams, Culver Military Academy
*Henrik Wueberkrop <ref name="Letter sent to prospective artists"/>

The pieces were judged by a [[jury]], chosen by the State Office Building Commission, composed of Wilbur D. Peat (Director of the John Herron Art Museum), Henry Hope (Chairman of the Art Department at Indiana University), A. Reid Winsey (Chairman of the Art Department of DePauw University), representatives of the architectural firms who designed the office building (Graham, Anderson, Probst & White and Raymond S. Kastendieck & Associates), and representatives of Associated Indiana Architects and architects for the Employment Security Building.<ref name="State Office Building Art"/> The chosen pieces were given a $500 [[Retainer agreement|retainer]] to present a larger finished model for a second judging.<ref name="Letter sent to prospective artists"/>

David K. Rubins submitted a 12-inch high model in sculptor's parlance originally and then created a forty six inch plaster model which was selected by the jury as the official sculpture winner.<ref name="State Office Building Art"/> Rubins was then given $32,700 and two years to create the actual statue.<ref name="Papers Signed in Art Dispute">{{cite news
|last = Franzen
|first = Dick
|title = Papers Signed in Art Dispute
|newspaper = Indianapolis News
|location = Indianapolis
|date = May 9, 1961}}</ref>
On September 26, 1963, Rubins' Young Abe was dedicated to great enthusiasm.<ref name="Herron Chronicles">{{cite news
|last = Warkel, Krause, Berry, Herron School of Art
|title = The Herron Chronicle
|location = Indianapolis
|year = 2003}}</ref>
Garo Z. Antreasian was selected as the official mural winner.<ref name="Choice of Building Art by State Draws Fire">{{cite news
|last = Watson
|first = David
|title = Choice of Building Art by State Draws Fire
|newspaper = Indianapolis Star
|location = Indianapolis
|date = December 15, 1959}}</ref>

===Controversy===
The creation of this sculpture was postponed several times due to [[controversy]] dealing with funding for this piece and because there were arguments of [[Crime|foul play]] when the winners of the competition were finally chosen.

Many citizens of Indianapolis were upset because their tax money was being used to commission this piece. Many thought the money allocated for this artwork could be used for other things, such as helping the [[mentally handicapped]]. It was thought that there were already enough [[memorials]] commemorating Lincoln in the state of Indiana. $100,000 was allocated for the creation of both the sculpture and the [[mural]] in the construction budget of the building.<ref name="Statue for State Building is Shelved">{{cite news
|last = Moses
|first = Earl
|title = Statue for State Building is Shelved
|newspaper = Indianapolis News
|location = Indianapolis
|date = December 19, 1960}}</ref> Wilbur D. Peat, Director of the Herron Art Museum in 1960, thought:

{{quote|text=Art has a place in this building. It will not be a needless luxury or waste of public funds. I don't think the public is so lacking in appreciation that it wants public buildings bare and unadorned.<ref name="Statue for State Building is Shelved"/>}}

Will Lamm, an entrant in the competition, claimed that the judging committee accepted entrants after the official [[Time limit|deadline]] of December 7, 1959 had passed. He also claimed that at least one member of the committee telephoned the artist, David K. Rubins, after the deadline urging him to submit an entry. Rubins did not submit his entry until December 8, 1959 when the committee meeting to decide the winners was held. It was also added by Lamm that three of the seven judges on the committee were absent when the winners were chosen and the original sculpture idea turned in by Rubins was not created in plaster, as stated in the invitation letter to the artists.<ref name="Choice of Building Art by State Draws Fire"/>

Lamm was told by a committee member that his idea might have won had they not accepted the late entry. Many people, including Wilbur D. Peat, Director of the John Herron Art Museum and chairman of the selection committee, brushed Lamm's accusations off as him being a [[sore loser]].<ref name="Choice of Building Art by State Draws Fire"/>

John A. Whitehead, Director of the State Office Building Commission, rejected the notion that late entries were accepted. He stated that several of the artists were contacted on the day of judging to determine whether their expected entries would be turned in. Some artists had asked for extensions. He also said it didn't make a difference whether the sculptures were entered in plaster or of another material.<ref name="Choice of Building Art by State Draws Fire"/>

It was also controversial that throughout the judging process [[photography]] of the potential artworks were banned.<ref name="Choice of Building Art by State Draws Fire"/>

Lamm's entry was a sculpture portraying Lincoln's departure from his family to going off on his own. It included a group of seven figures.<ref name="Choice of Building Art by State Draws Fire"/>

Indiana Governor Matthew E. Welsh recommended that new State Office Building Commission urge the Virginia Engineering Co., the building's general contractor, to send Rubin a letter postponing the creation of the sculpture.<ref name="Rubins Pushes Statue Plan">{{cite news
|last = unknown
|title = Rubins Pushes Statue Plant
|newspaper = Indianapolis News
|location = Indianapolis
|date = June 2, 1961}}</ref> Welsh was an advocate of the art finances being used for the state's program for mentally handicapped.<ref name="Papers Signed in Art Dispute"/> Rubin answered this letter by stating his continuation of the project and that he was going to go ahead and draw up a contract with the architects. He already had a signed contract from the Virginia Engineering Co. after the former commission approved the expenditures for the statue and mural at $68,000.<ref name="Rubins Pushes Statue Plan"/>

===Location history===
There were several suggestions for the location of this statue on or around the Indiana Statehouse grounds. The Orchard Area, the upper terrace outside the lobby and the center line of the walkway which extends south towards the Indiana Employment Security Building were some suggestions.<ref name="Letter about location">{{cite journal
|last = Wickstead
|first = George W.
|title = Location Letter to Mr. Whitehead
|date = March 8, 1961}}</ref>

Created to reside in the state office building plaza,<ref name="State Office Building Art"/> the sculpture was originally located about half a block east of its present location, facing Senate Avenue. It was moved outside of the Government Center off of West Street and Robert D. Orr Ave in 1992.<ref name="Smithsonian Art Inventories Catalog"/>

==Artist==
{{Main|David K. Rubins}}

David K. Rubins, a native of Minneapolis, studied at the [[Beaux Arts Institute of Design]] in [[New York City|New York]] and the [[Académie Julian]] and the [[École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts]] in Paris.<ref name="David K. Rubins">{{cite news
|last = Benning Stewart
|first = Loyts
|title = Hoosier Artists: David K. Rubins
|newspaper = Indianapolis Star
|location = Indianapolis
|date = October 21, 1962}}</ref> Rubins worked closely with [[James Earle Fraser (sculptor)|James Earle Fraser]], designer of the [[Buffalo nickel]] and ''[[End of the Trail (Wisconsin)|End of the Trail]]'', for seven years in New York. His awards include the Paris Prize in Sculpture (1924), the [[Prix de Rome]] (1928), Fellow in Sculpture Award from the [[American Academy in Rome]] and the Grant and Sculpture Award from the [[National Institute of Arts and Letters]].<ref name="David Rubins">{{cite news
|last = Garmel
|first = Marion Simon
|title = David Rubins
|newspaper = Indianapolis News
|location = Indianapolis
|date = April 12, 1978}}</ref>

Rubins moved to Indianapolis, Indiana in 1935 to join the faculty at the John Herron Art Institute where he taught until 1967 and then an additional three years after the Herron Art Institute merged with [[Indiana University]].<ref name="David Rubins"/> He held the [[chairmanship]] of the sculpture department from 1935 to 1968.<ref name="David K. Rubins"/> In 1970, Rubins retired and became an [[artist-in-residence]] at Herron.<ref name="David Rubins"/> In 1954, Rubins book, ''The Human Figure, an Anatomy for Artists'', was published. Other Indianapolis works of art Rubins is known for is the bust of late Indiana Governor [[Henry Schricker]], the [[Eli Lilly]] monument in [[Crown Hill Cemetery]], and a bust of Evans Wollens Sr.<ref name="David K. Rubins"/>

Rubins' work has been exhibited at the [[Minneapolis Institute of Art]], [[National Academy of Design]], [[Indianapolis Museum of Art]], [[Architectural League of New York]], and the "American Sculpture Today" show at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in New York.<ref name="David Rubins"/>

Rubins' inspiration for ''Young Abe Lincoln'' came after reading several books on Lincoln and his life, as well as looking at other sculptures of Lincoln. Some of these others sculptures included the ''[[Abraham Lincoln (Lincoln Memorial)|Abraham Lincoln]]'' statue at the [[Lincoln Memorial]] in Washington, D.C., the [[Mount Rushmore]] depiction by [[Gutzon Borglum]], and the Lincoln sculpture by [[Henry Hering]] in Indianapolis' University Park.<ref name="David K. Rubins"/>

==See also==
* [[List of statues of Abraham Lincoln]]
* [[Henry F. Schricker Bust]]
* ''[[Here I Grew Up]]''
* [[James Earle Fraser (sculptor)|James Earle Fraser]]
* [[Lincoln Memorial]]
* [[Mount Rushmore]]
* [[Gutzon Borglum]]
* [[Henry Hering]]
* [[List of sculptures of presidents of the United States]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.flickr.com/groups/indiana_statehouse/ View more photos of this piece and other artwork found at the Indiana Statehouse on Flickr]
*[http://www.heritagepreservation.org/programs/sos/finding.html/ Save Outdoor Sculpture! and SIRIS Database]
*[http://www.in.gov/idoa/2371.htm/ Indiana Statehouse Tour Office]
*[http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/indianapolis/indianastatehouse.htm/ The National Park Service: Indiana Statehouse]

{{Abraham Lincoln}}
{{IndianaStateHousePublicArt}}
{{Monuments in Indianapolis}}

[[Category:1962 sculptures]]
[[Category:Bronze sculptures in Indiana]]
[[Category:Monuments and memorials in Indiana]]
[[Category:Outdoor sculptures in Indianapolis]]
[[Category:Indiana Statehouse Public Art Collection]]
[[Category:Statues of Abraham Lincoln]]
[[Category:Statues in Indianapolis]]
[[Category:1962 establishments in Indiana]]
[[Category:Sculptures of men in Indiana]]
[[Category:Monuments and memorials to Abraham Lincoln in the United States]]

Young Abe Lincoln - Revision history

WikiDwarfBOT: robot: add new article