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DANIEL CHESTER FRENCH

AMERICAN SCULPTOR

The Lincoln Memorial in the US is a famous tourist attraction that attracts more than eight million visitors annually. Despite the monument's success, the sculptor who created it, Daniel Chester French, has been mostly overlooked and forgotten.

French was a prominent artist during the American Renaissance, creating over two-hundred monuments in public space across the Northeastern US. Although the film director Montes-Bradley highlights French's work, he also highlights other individuals who played a significant role in creating public monuments, such as Italian artisans who brought the artists' designs to life by translating the small plaster and clay models onto marble and stone.

The film focuses on several of French's notable works, including The Lafayette Memorial in Brooklyn, allegorical representations of Brooklyn and Manhattan in front of the Brooklyn Museum, The Four Continents on the façade of the US Customs House in Battery Park, The Millmore Memorial in Boston, and the Melvin Memorial in Concord, Mass. Finally, the film explores French's best-known work, the seated Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial, a collaboration with architect Henry Bacon and the Piccirilli family of sculptors. HD | 60 minutes 

 A film made possible with the support of the

NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION

Executive Producers

Donna HASSLER

Eduardo MONTES-BRADLEY

 

Richard Guy WILSON Michael RICHMAN Harold HOLZER 

Thayer TOLLES Adrian Michele BOGART BENEPE William SHERMAN

Eve KAHN David DEARINGER Judith SHEA Daniel PRESTON

Significant support for this film has come from

THE MORRIS AND ALMA SCHAPIRO FUND 

Written, Edited and Directed by

Eduardo MONTES-BRADLEY

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