October Legends and Americana Ending November 14th
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/15/2015
(1) Program Signed “Theodore Roosevelt” on front cover board beneath engraved “Ceremony / of the / Unveiling / of the / Lincoln Monument / Van Horn Bequest / Newark, New Jersey / May 30th 1911.” Cover boards, eight page insert, 6.25” x 9”, tied together with ribbon. Minor flaw at top edge of cover, scattered light soiling. Fine condition. Accompanied by the original 10” x 6.5” mailing envelope to Miss Westerberg in Roselle, New Jersey, postmarked Newark, N.J., May 30, 1911.
“The New York Times” reported the ceremony the next day. Headed “40,000 Cheer Roosevelt / Ovation for the Colonel at the Lincoln / Statue Unveiling in Newark.” In part, “Col. Theodore Roosevelt participated in the unveiling of the bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln yesterday in Newark in the presence of about 40,000 persons. The dedication ceremony was on the plaza of the Essex County Court House. The speaker got a noisy welcome. He held his silk hat high above his head and bowed vigorously. In the course of his speech, the Colonel proclaimed the need of Lincoln’s progressive spirit in the legislation of the day. ‘The greed of conscienceless wealth must be checked,’ he said, ‘and the Anarchist must be repressed. We must stand for clean politics and clean business or prove recreant to the spirit of Lincoln …”
The ceremonies included the recital of “O Captain! My Captain!” written by Walt Whitman in 1865 after the death of President Lincoln. The text of the poem is printed in this program opposite the “Order of Ceremonies” which began with the playing of the “Star Spangled Banner,” ending with “America.” Listed on the program is “Acceptance of the Statue, and Its Presentation to the Mayor and Common / Council of the City of Newark for Perpetual Care. / Hon. Theodore Roosevelt / Ex-President of the United States.”
A photograph of the Lincoln Statue, “Seated Lincoln,” is depicted in the program signed in facsimile in the plate by the sculptor “Sincerely yours / Gutzon Borglum.” Borglum’s head of Lincoln, carved from a six-ton block of marble, was in the White House in 1908 during Roosevelt’s presidency before it was sent for permanent display in the U.S. Capitol building. His best known Lincoln sculpture was carved on Mount Rushmore (1927-1941) along with the faces of Washington, Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt.
"I think it is the most extraordinarily good portrait of my father I have ever seen."
(2) Bronze casting of Gutzon Borglum's "Abraham Lincoln's Bust" - one of only 35 in this Limited Edition. The original Lincoln Bust carved in 1908 by Borglum before his work on Mount Rushmore, was donated to the Congress by Eugene Meyer, Jr., and accepted by the Joint Committee on the Library in the same year. The pedestal was specially designed by the sculptor and installed in 1911. The bust and pedestal were on display in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol for many years. In 1979, after a rearrangement of the sculptures in the Rotunda, they were placed on the floor below, in the Crypt at the center of the Capitol. The original sculpture is 40 inches high and weighs about 375 pounds. Borglum carved the bust directly from the block of marble rather than creating a copy of a plaster cast made from a clay model.
Bronze casts of the bust are in the collections of the White House, the Chicago Historical Society, the College of the City of New York, the Tomb of Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, and the University of California, Berkeley.
Before Gutzon Borglum sculpted the bust, he carved a half-size study in marble. This half-size marble version is in the collection of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, Maryland. For decades, the original plaster bust of the study was stored in the archives of the Rushmore Borglum Historical Center in Keystone, South Dakota. To commemorate the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln in 2009, the Center allowed use of the original plaster for the creation of 35 bronzes.
The one here offered is numbered 5 of 35. It is 18 inches high and weighs 75 pounds and is mounted on a 5 inch high black granite base. Engraved at the base of the bust, on Lincoln's left, is "RUSHMORE BORGLUM / HISTORICAL CENTER / © 2009 5/35" and, on Lincoln's right, "GUTZON / BORGLUM / 1908," exactly as he signed the original. This is a sold out edition at $12,500 but we have seen them sell for more.
Robert T. Lincoln, the President’s son, praised the bust in a letter to the artist on February 6, 1908: "I think it is the most extraordinarily good portrait of my father I have ever seen, and it impressed me deeply as a work of art which speaks for itself in the most wonderful manner." Comes with letter of authenticity from University Archives.
This lot has a Reserve Price that has not been met.