"My Journey Into The Heart Of Lincoln..."

...was the way that George Grey Barnard described the more than three months he spent studying photographs of the President and the life mask that had been molded by Douglas Volk.

Abraham Lincoln, bronze on pink granite pedestal, dedicated in 1917. Lytle Park, Cincinnati, Ohio

"For one hundred days, I sought the secret of this face in the marvelous constructive work of God," he wrote in March, 1917, when his life-size bronze statue was unveiled in Cincinnati, Ohio. The statue was a gift to the city from the prominent Taft family.

"Out of the study of the life mask grew the entire poise of his figure," Barnard explained. "He must have stood as the Republic should stand, strong, simple, carrying its weight unconsciously without pride in rank or culture. His is clothed with cloth worn, the history of labor.... Tradition is, he stood "bent at the knees." This is not true. Worn, baggy trousers, forgotten, unthought of, honored their history."

William Howard Taft, himself a former President of the United States, delivered the dedication address. He commented upon the realistic portrayal of Lincoln, which had caused some controversy:

"The sculptor, in this presentment of Lincoln, which we here dedicate, portrays the unusual height, the sturdy frame, the lack of care in dress, the homely but strong face, the sad but sweet features, the intelligence and vision of our greatest American. He has with success caught in this countenance and this form the contrast between the pure soul and the commanding intellect of one who belongs to the ages, and the habit and garb of his origin and his life among the plain people - a profound lesson in democracy and its highest possibility."

Between 1910, when he received the commission for the Cincinnati statue of Lincoln, and his death more than a quarter-century later, Barnard executed study after study of Lincoln. While the Cincinnati statue was full length, most of the others were busts. The heads ranged in size from less than one foot to more than 15 feet. Most were smooth-shaven, a few displayed the traditional bearded visage of the President's later years, and at least two were portrayals of Lincoln as Christ. Of his aspect of Lincoln, Barnard wrote, "This face is infinitely nearer an expression of our Christ character than all the conventional pictures of the "Son of God." That symbolic head, with its long hair parted in the middle and features that never lived, is the creation of artists. Lincoln's face, the the triumph of God though man and of man though God. One, fancy; the other truth at labor. Lincoln, the song of democracy written by God."

Two Lincoln as Christ and other head studies on display at the Kankakee Historical Society Museum.

The Museum's collection includes the large bronze-finished head displayed at the entrance to the Barnard Gallery, two "Lincoln as Christ" busts, and several other studies executed at various times. An unusual unclothed Lincoln, approximately half life-size, is though to be a preliminary anatomical study for the Cincinnati statue.

Barnard was determined to show Lincoln as the real, rough-hewn man of the frontier that he was. "I found the many photographs retouched, so that all form was obliterated," he said. "No imitation tool of any artist's conception, but the tool God and Lincoln made - Lincoln's self - must be shown. An imaginary Lincoln is an insult to the American people, a thwarting of democracy."

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