Atrium of the New Gallery

The New Gallery and Atrium at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park stands on the grounds of the first studio built by Augustus Saint-Gaudens after he decided to live in Cornish, New Hampshire, year-round in 1900. Called the Large Studio, it burned down in October 1904, resulting in the loss of all ongoing projects and many of Saint-Gaudens’ personal items. In its place, an even larger studio was built called the Studio of the Caryatids, named for two statues of Caryatids—a draped, Greek-style female figure that usually serves as a support column for a building—that stood on either side of the entrance. Saint-Gaudens sculpted the Caryatids for the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, and apparently cast two extras for himself. The New Gallery originated as a shed located next to the studio.

When Saint-Gaudens’ wife, Augusta, died in 1926, the house and property were opened to the public, and the Studio of the Caryatids was used as an art gallery where some of Saint-Gaudens’ larger sculptures were displayed. Unfortunately, the studio burned down in 1944, destroying everything inside. The adjacent shed and an adjacent chicken coop, today’s Picture Gallery, were left untouched, and between 1946 and 1948 these buildings were remodeled and enlarged to create art galleries. The Atrium was constructed at this time as well to join the two buildings together.

Guests of Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park can visit the New Gallery and Atrium on their own or as part of a guided tour given by park Rangers. Inside is a collection of Saint-Gaudens’ bas-relief portraits, cameos (small bas-relief portrait medallions usually carved in stone or shell), busts, and the 1907 coins he designed. There is also an 8-minute film about the coins that is shown on a small TV and is started with the push of a button. There are no seats, so you must stand up to watch it.

Saint-Gaudens was commissioned in 1905 by the United States government at the urging of President Theodore Roosevelt to design a new $20, $10, $5, and $2 ½ gold piece, making him the first artist given the privilege and setting a precedent of having prominent American artists design coins up through the 1950s. Saint-Gaudens was suffering from cancer at the time, so the coins were some of the last projects he worked on before his death in 1907. In fact, he only completed the $20 and $10 coins, and he died before seeing them enter circulation.

Saint-Gaudens’ $20 Gold Piece (photo by Money Metals)

Saint-Gaudens’ original designs were done with a high bas-relief, much too high to mass produce. The coins took nine strikes of the die—a typical coin in circulation takes one—giving them an appearance more like medallions than coins. Less than two dozen were minted.

The design was amended, this time allowing a coin to be produced with only three strikes of the die. Twelve thousand were minted in 1907, but these too were not suitable for mass production. A one-strike coin, or business strike, was also minted in 1907. Over 361,000 of these low-relief coins were put into circulation along with the high-relief coins. Other than the apparent degree of relief, the coins can be told apart by the date: the high-relief coins have a Roman numeral date and the low-relief have an Arabic numeral date.

Saint-Gaudens’ $20 and $10 gold pieces remained in production from 1907 to 1933. Starting in 1986, the obverse side (front side) of the $20 coin was revived to adorned the American Gold Eagle, the official gold bullion coin of the United States.

The following photo is of $20 coins on display at the Field Museum in Chicago. The coin on the left is a high-relief 1907 version, whereas the coin on the right is a standard business strike from 1924. The bottom is the reverse side of a coin. In God We Trust was not printed on the coins for the first few years. (Coins are also on display at the New Studio, but my photos didn’t turn out well.)

High-relief vs. low-relief coins (photo by James Hennigan)

If you visited Saint-Gaudens’ house, Aspet, you may have seen a portrait of Augusta and Homer Saint-Gaudens (wife and son) by John Singer Sargent. This was done in exchange for Saint-Gaudens doing a bas-relief portrait of Sargent’s sister, Violet. The original artwork is now on display in the New Gallery.

Violet Sargent

Another bas-relief portrait on display is of Charles Beaman, the man who brought Saint-Gaudens to Cornish and helped establish the Cornish Artist Colony. Beaman was a big art lover and felt that if he could get his friend to start coming to Cornish for the summers that other artists would soon follow. He purchased what is now Aspet in 1884 and rented it to Saint-Gaudens each summer until the famed sculptor purchased the property in 1891. Beaman also owned much of the surrounding land and rented it to artists as the Cornish Colony grew. At the peak of its popularity, approximately two hundred artists lived in Cornish and other nearby towns.

Charles Beaman

There are also busts on display that would go on to become part of larger sculptures. In the Atrium is a bust of Abraham Lincoln that was also used on his Standing Lincoln sculpture for Chicago’s Lincoln Park (a casting is located outdoors on the grounds of Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park). This bust was cast in 1911, but only installed in the Atrium in 1967. It replaced a plaster casting of the same bust.

Bust of Abraham Lincoln on display in the Atrium

The bust of Diana was used on the 13-foot version of a sculpture erected at the top of the second Madison Square Garden building. A six-foot version can be seen in the Little Studio. The model for the face was Davida Clark, Saint-Gaudens’ mistress. The two had a son together, Louis.

Bust used on Saint-Gaudens’ Diana sculpture for Madison Square Garden

There is also an early version of the bust used for the Marion Adams Memorial. A casting of the final sculpture can also be seen on the park grounds.

Version of the face used on Saint-Gaudens’ Adams Memorial

A fourth bust of interest is that of General William Sherman. This was used on a memorial now standing in Grand Army Plaza in Manhattan. Unlike the other three above-mentioned busts, there is no version of the larger sculpture at Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park.

Bust of General William Sherman

One of the largest pieces on display in the New Gallery is a bas-relief portrait in plaster of author Robert Lewis Stevenson that was done in 1893. The original was actually a round, portrait-size relief that depicted Stevenson writing in bed while holding a cigarette (and was cropped at the knees). This was cast in bronze for the writer, and numerous other castings were commissioned by various museums and private individuals. The plaster casting on display is the third version. This was commissioned in 1900 by the Saint Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland (Stevenson was from Edinburgh). In a bit of forward thinking, the church insisted that the cigarette be changed to a pen.

Bas-relief portrait of Robert Lewis Stevenson

A personal favorite of mine is The Puritan. This was commissioned in 1881 by railroad tycoon and congressman Chester Chapin, who wanted a memorial for one of his ancestors, Deacon Samuel Chapin, a founder of Springfield, Massachusetts. There was no known photo of the deacon, so Saint-Gaudens was asked to create something that represented the man. The original sculpture, which is full size, was unveiled in 1887 in Springfield’s Stearns Square; it was moved to Merrick Park in 1899. In 1894, Saint-Gaudens began making reductions of the sculpture due to its popularity. Around forty were made, and these are now in museums and private collections.

The Puritan

Saint-Gaudens was a big admirer of Abraham Lincoln, and he created two large sculptures of him, one being the aforementioned Standing Lincoln. In 1897 he was commissioned by the executors of the will of John Crerar, who left money for a Lincoln memorial sculpture to be placed at a library for which he also left money, the John Crerar Library in Chicago’s Grant Park. All of Saint-Gaudens’ current projects were destroyed in the 1904 Large Studio fire, including work on what would become the Sitting Lincoln. He was, however, able to complete the design before his death in 1907, though the final casting was finished by his assistants in 1908. By this time construction on the library had been halted by a lawsuit, so the sculpture was displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the World’s Fair in San Francisco before being put into storage. It wasn’t until 1926 that the Sitting Lincoln was finally installed at Grant Park. On display inside the New Gallery is a reduction casting of the sculpture.

Reduction casting of Saint-Gaudens’ Sitting Lincoln

A wood, bronze, ivory, and marble bas-relief called Ceres represents the fall season. This was commissioned by Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1881. Vanderbilt commissioned similar works for each season, each by a different artist.

Ceres, commissioned by Cornelius Vanderbilt

One final exhibit of note is a collection of interim working models for Saint-Gaudens’ Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the Fifty-Fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry Memorial. The original casting now resides in Boston Common. Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park also has a casting of a second version out on the lawn area of Aspet.

Collection of sketches and early busts for Saint-Gaudens’ Shaw Memorial

Depending on your interest in art, allow 15 to 30 minutes for a visit to the New Gallery and Atrium.

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