Recently I took a vacation from current realities to study a part of our history with two qualities that are scarce today: dignity and meaning. It comforted me to find these qualities in our past, because our history never leaves us entirely. The members of past generations who tried to realize our ideals of justice and equality are with us today, if we pause to remember them.
Here is a photo story about what I found when I looked to the past:
https://johnbreithaupt.exposure.co/colonel-shaws-sword
Please share widely!
I’ve seen the 54th memorial at St. Gaudens, and the experience stands out compared to seeing it in Boston. The place itself is worth the trip, it is fully centered on St. Gaudens’ work and there is very little distraction.
His dedication to his vision is something I admire in artists and in that memorial. I must point out that public art has taken a different direction since then, becoming ever more committified in its creation. Committees have always been politically correct even before they called it that, but our current flavor, with ever-expanding additional layers of bland inclusiveness, kills art as hard as any. When my personal vision has hit Progressivism I have always had to turn away.
Seascaper, I agree — the Saint Gaudens Site in Cornish is the better place to appreciate this artist. Somehow I see Saint-Gaudens’ work as forming, with Whitman’s Civil War writings and Lincoln’s speeches, a great triptych celebrating our democratic values — now as then under the gun. Thanks for your comment.