Adolph Alexander Weinman (December 11, 1870 – August 8, 1952) was a

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

-born American sculptor and

architectural sculptor Architectural sculpture is the use of sculptural techniques by an architect and/or sculptor in the design of a building, bridge, mausoleum or other such project. The sculpture is usually integrated with the structure, but freestanding works that a ...

Early life and education

Adolph Alexander Weinman by Anthony de Francisci

Adolph Alexander Weinman was born December 11, 1870 at Durmersheim, near

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the German States of Germany, state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital o ...

, Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1885 at the age of 14. At the age of 15, he attended evening classes at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

and later studied at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stud ...

with sculptors

Augustus Saint-Gaudens Augustus Saint-Gaudens (; March 1, 1848 – August 3, 1907) was an American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who embodied the ideals of the American Renaissance. From a French-Irish family, Saint-Gaudens was raised in New York City, he tra ...

and

Philip Martiny Philip H. Martiny (May 19, 1858 – June 26, 1927) was a French-American sculptor who worked in the Paris atelier of Eugene Dock, where he became foreman before emigrating to New York in 1878—to avoid conscription in the French army, he later ...

Career

He worked as an assistant to the sculptors Charles Niehaus, Olin Warner, and

Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture '' The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monu ...

before opening his own studio in 1904. Although Weinman is now best remembered as a

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

ist, he considered himself to be an

. His steadiest income was derived from the sale of small bronze reproductions of his larger works, such as ''Descending Night'', originally commissioned for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915. Weinman was a member of the

National Sculpture Society Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society (NSS) was the first organization of professional sculptors formed in the United States. The purpose of the organization was to promote the welfare of American sculptors, although its founding members ...

and served as its president from 1927 to 1930. His work was also part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

. He served on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 1929 to 1933. He was also a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headq ...

, the National Institute of Arts and Letters, the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

, and the New York City Art Commission, among other organizations.

Death

Weinman died in

Port Chester, New York Port Chester is a village in the U.S. state of New York and the largest part of the town of Rye in Westchester County by population. At the 2010 U.S. census, the village of Port Chester had a population of 28,967 and was the fifth-most popul ...

, on August 8, 1952. Following a mass at

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

's St. Patrick's Cathedral, he was buried at Calvary Cemetery in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. Weinman's papers are at the Smithsonian

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

. His son Robert Weinman was also a sculptor. His son Howard Weinman designed the Long Island Tercentenary half dollar commemorative coin.

Works

Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC 2012

Despite his objections, Weinman is still best remembered as the designer of the Walking Liberty Half Dollar, a design now used for the obverse of the American Silver Eagle one-ounce bullion coin, and the "Mercury" dime along with various medals for the Armed Services of the United States. Among these are the identical reverses of the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and the

American Campaign Medal The American Campaign Medal is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was first created on November 6, 1942, by issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The medal was intended to recognize those military members who had perf ...

. Weinman was one of many sculptors and artists who employed

Audrey Munson Audrey Marie Munson (June 8, 1891 – February 20, 1996) was an American artist's model and film actress, considered to be "America's first supermodel." In her time, she was variously known as "Miss Manhattan", the "Panama–Pacific Girl", the ...

as a model. Weinman's work as an architectural sculptor can be found on the

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, and

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

state capitols. He became the sculptor of choice for the architecture firm

McKim, Mead, and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wi ...

and designed sculpture for their

Manhattan Municipal Building The David N. Dinkins Municipal Building (originally the Municipal Building and later known as the Manhattan Municipal Building) is a 40-story, building at 1 Centre Street, east of Chambers Street, in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhatt ...

, Madison Square Presbyterian Church (completed 1906 and demolished 1919),

Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument The Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument is a war memorial at Fort Greene Park, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It commemorates more than 11,500 American prisoners of war who died in captivity aboard sixteen British prison ships during the ...

, and Pennsylvania Railroad Station (completed 1910 and demolished 1963), all in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. A photograph of one of his angels, ''Day'', in a landfill in New Jersey is one of the saddest reminders of the destruction of Penn Station in 1963, but two of his eagles were retained as trophies outside the entrance to the new subterranean Penn Station. Elsewhere he created the dramatic frieze on the Elks National Veterans Memorial in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and executed sculpture for the Post Office Department Building, the

Jefferson Memorial The Jefferson Memorial is a Presidential memorials in the United States, presidential memorial built in Washington, D.C. between 1939 and 1943 in honor of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, ...

, and the interior of the U.S. Supreme Court, all in Washington, D.C. Weinman's non-architectural works include the Macomb and the Maybury monuments in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. Another example of his non-architectural work is his Abraham Lincoln Statue (Kentucky) located in the center of

Hodgenville, Kentucky Hodgenville is a home rule-class city in LaRue County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. Hodgenville sits along the North Fork of the Nolin River. The population was 3,206 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Elizabeth ...

. Weinman was one of 250 sculptors who exhibited in the

3rd Sculpture International 3rd Sculpture International was a 1949 exhibition of contemporary sculpture held inside and outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It featured works by 250 sculptors from around the world, and ran from May 15 ...

held at the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin F ...

in the summer of 1949. Weinman's works are mostly executed in a lyrical

neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

. His figures typically wear classical drapery, but there is a fluidity found in his work that is a harbinger of the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

style that was to follow him. His bronze statuette ''The Nude Golfer'' epitomizes this style. This work evokes classical sculpture in its attention to anatomy and movement and the nude status of the athlete while the subject, a modern

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

er, provides a modern twist. Weinman also taught; among his pupils was

Eleanor Mary Mellon Eleanor Mary Mellon (1894–1979) was an American sculptor. A native of Narberth, Pennsylvania, Mellon studied with Robert Ingersoll Aitken, Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, Charles Grafly, Edward McCartan, Victor Salvatore, and Adolph Alexande ...

Selected works

Sculpture

*'' General Alexander Macomb'' (1906–1908), Detroit, Michigan. *'' Union Soldiers and Sailors Monument'' (1909), Wyman Park, Baltimore, Maryland. *''

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

'' (1909), Hodgenville, Kentucky. A replica of this is at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

. *''

Alexander Johnston Cassatt Alexander Johnston Cassatt (December 8, 1839 – December 28, 1906) was the seventh president of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), serving from June 9, 1899, to December 28, 1906. Family and early life Alexander Cassatt was born on December 8, ...

'', (1910),

Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...

, New York City. *''

'' (1911),

Kentucky State Capitol The Kentucky State Capitol is located in Frankfort and is the house of the three branches (executive, legislative, judicial) of the state government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic ...

, Frankfort, Kentucky. *William Cotter Maybury Memorial (1912),

Grand Circus Park The Grand Circus Park Historic District contains the Grand Circus Park in Downtown Detroit, Michigan that connects the theatre district with its financial district. It is bisected by Woodward Avenue, four blocks north of Campus Martius Park ...

, Detroit, Michigan. *''Rising Sun'' (1914–15), Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California. *''Descending Night'' (1914–15) (model,

), Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California. *''Samuel Rea'' (1926),

, New York City. *'' Fountain of the Centaurs'' (ca. 1926),

Missouri State Capitol The Missouri State Capitol is the home of the Missouri General Assembly and the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Missouri. Located in Jefferson City at 201 West Capitol Avenue, it is the third capitol to be built in the city. ...

, Jefferson City, Missouri. *Pair of ''Lions'' (1929–30),

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of ...

, Baltimore, Maryland. *''Dewitt Clinton'' (1941) and ''Alexander Hamilton'' (1941),

Museum of the City of New York A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

, New York City. *''Riders of the Dawn'' (ca. 1942),

Brookgreen Gardens Brookgreen Gardens is a sculpture garden and wildlife preserve, located just south of Murrells Inlet, in South Carolina. The property includes several themed gardens featuring American figurative sculptures, the Lowcountry Zoo, and trails thro ...

, Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina. File:Macomb statue in detroit.jpg, '' General Alexander Macomb'' (1906–1908),

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

File:Baltimore Soldiers Sailors.jpg, '' Union Soldiers and Sailors Monument'' (1909), Wyman Park

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

File:Lincoln Heritage Scenic Highway - Adolph Weinman's Abraham Lincoln Statue - NARA - 7720071 (cropped).jpg, ''

'' (1909)

File:Alexander Cassatt statue by Weinman at RMP.jpg, ''

'' (1910),

New York City File:Statue of William C. Maybury.jpg, William Cotter Maybury Memorial (1912),

,
Detroit, Michigan File:Civic Fame.jpg, ''Civic Fame'' (1913), atop

,
New York City File:DescendingNightAAW.jpg, ''Descending Night'' (1914–15), Panama-Pacific International Exposition,
San Francisco File:Samuel Rea Pennsta jeh.jpg, ''Samuel Rea'' (1926),

,
New York City. File:Missouri State Capitol and Fountain of the Centaurs-20150920-157.jpg, '' Fountain of the Centaurs'' (ca. 1926),

Jefferson City, Missouri Jefferson City, informally Jeff City, is the capital of Missouri, United States. It had a population of 43,228 at the 2020 census, ranking as the 15th most populous city in the state. It is also the county seat of Cole County and the princip ...

File:Urchin_Fountain_of_the_centaurs,_AA_Weinman,_sculptor.jpg, '' Fountain of the Centaurs'', detail (ca. 1926),

File:Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture12.jpg, ''Riders of the Dawn'' (ca. 1942),

,
Murrells Inlet, South Carolina File:Adolph Weinman eagle.JPG, One of the four Adolf Weinman eagles of the

File:Eagle by Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument.jpg, One of four bronze eagle sculptures surrounding the

in the Fort Greene Historic District

Architectural sculpture

*Architectural sculpture (1903–04),

McKim, Mead and White McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wi ...

, architects, (demolished 1964). Salvaged pieces of statuary survive in multiple locations. *Architectural sculpture (1904–1906), Madison Square Presbyterian Church, New York City,

, architects, (demolished 1919). *Architectural sculpture (1908),

Fort Greene Park Fort Greene Park is a city-owned and -operated park in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York City. The park was originally named after the fort formerly located there, Fort Putnam, which itself was named for Rufus Putnam, George Washington's ...

, Brooklyn, New York City,

, architects. *Masonic Sphinxes: ''Power'' and ''Wisdom'' (1911–1915), House of the Temple, Washington, D.C.,

John Russell Pope John Russell Pope (April 24, 1874 – August 27, 1937) was an American architecture, architect whose firm is widely known for designing major public buildings, including the National Archives and Records Administration building (completed in 19 ...

, architect. *Architectural sculpture (1913–1915),

, New York City,

, architects. *Bronze doors (1921–1923),

administration building, West 155th Street, Audubon Terrace, Manhattan, New York City. *Architectural sculpture (1924–1926), Elks National Veterans Memorial, Chicago, Illinois. *Architectural sculpture: South Pediment (ca. 1926),

, Jefferson City, Missouri. *Architectural sculpture: ''Destiny'' Pediment (1935),

National Archives Building The National Archives Building, known informally as Archives I, is the headquarters of the United States National Archives and Records Administration. It is located north of the National Mall at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest, Washington ...

, Washington, D.C. *''Drafting the Declaration of Independence'' (1939–1943), pedimental sculpture honoring the

Committee of Five '' The Committee of Five of the Second Continental Congress was a group of five members who drafted and presented to the full Congress in Pennsylvania State House what would become the United States Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776. T ...

on the

, Washington, D.C. File:NYP LOC4.jpg,

, New York City (1903–04, demolished 1964) File:Eagle Scout Memorial Fountain Kansas City MO.jpg, Eagle Scout Memorial Fountain (1968), Kansas City, Missouri. Salvaged pieces from

File:Eagle Statue - National Zoo - Washington, DC.jpg, ''Eagle'', National Zoo, Washington, D.C. Salvaged from

,
New York City File:Adolph Weinman eagle.JPG, ''Eagle'' (1908), one of four that decorated the

Brooklyn, New York City Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also t ...

File:Weinman-Sphinx-WashingtonDC.jpg, ''Wisdom'' Sphinx (1911–1915), House of the Temple,
Washington, D.C. File:Audubon Terrace American Academy of Arts and Letters West 155th Street entrance detail 2.jpg, Detail, bronze doors,

West 155th Street entrance, (1921–1923)
New York City File:Weinman in Davenport.jpg,

Spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

figure (1923), First National Bank Building,
Davenport, Iowa File:Elks memorial Chicago.jpg, ''The Glory of Peace'' Frieze (1924–1926), Elks National Veterans Memorial,

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

File:Destiny (pediment).JPG, ''Destiny'' Pediment (1935),

,
Washington, D.C. File:Jefferson Memorial DC.jpg, ''Drafting the Declaration of Independence'' Pediment (1939–1943),

,
Washington, D.C.

U.S. coins and medals

Mercury dime The Mercury dime is a ten-cent coin struck by the United States Mint from late 1916 to 1945. Designed by Adolph Weinman and also referred to as the Winged Liberty Head dime, it gained its common name because the obverse depiction of a young L ...

(1916–1945). More than two billion Mercury dimes were minted before it was replaced by the Roosevelt dime in 1946.Lange, David W. ''A Complete Guide Book to Mercury Dimes'' (Virginia Beach, Va.: DLRC Press, 1993). . The design is now used as the obverse of the American Palladium Eagle coin, which has been produced since 2017. * Walking Liberty half dollar (1916–1947). Replaced by the Franklin half dollar (1948). Weinman's carving is now used as the obverse of the American Silver Eagle coin, which has been produced since 1986. *

J. Sanford Saltus Medal Award The J. Sanford Saltus Medal Award is an annual award made to artists "for lifetime achievement in medallic art". It is administered by the American Numismatic Society. The award was first awarded in 1913 on the initiative of J. Sanford Saltus to re ...

– awarded by the

American Numismatic Society The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is a New York City-based organization dedicated to the study of coins, money, medals, tokens, and related objects. Founded in 1858, it is the only American museum devoted exclusively to their preservation ...

. Weinman was the second recipient of this medal.

References

Notes Bibliography * Kvaran and Lockley, ''A Guide to the Architectural Sculpture of America'', unpublished manuscript

External links

*
Adolph A. Weinman Papers at the Smithsonian Archives of American ArtA.A. Weinman (1870-1952) at the R. W. Norton Art Gallery
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weinman, Adolph Alexander 1870 births 1952 deaths Artists from Karlsruhe German emigrants to the United States American architectural sculptors American male sculptors Art Students League of New York alumni 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists National Sculpture Society members Sculptors from New York (state) American currency designers Coin designers Olympic competitors in art competitions