Explore the Historical information of this artwork.
Abraham Lincoln came to Milwaukee on September 30, 1859. He spoke at Wisconsin Agricultural Society, as well as to a group at the Newhall House. In 1916 the Lincoln Memorial Association, a group organized by Mayor Daniel Hoan, decided to commission a sculpture to commemorate the 60th anniversary of this event. A public subscription campaign raised $23,000 for the sculpture. This money was donated by schoolchildren, the business community, and members of the E.B Wolcott Post of the G.A.R.Unfortunately, the sculpture was not able to be built right away as the United States became involved in World War I. In 1932 the Lincoln Memorial Association hosted a national competition for the Abraham Lincoln sculpture's design. Gaetano Cecere, a sculptor from New York City, won. He designed a sculpture that showed a young beardless Lincoln, standing up with his hands at his sides. The sculptor decided to portray the President without his famous beard because Lincoln did not grow a beard until he was 52. Pencil Points, an architecture magazine, asserted that Cecere's depiction of Lincoln represented one of the best of the hundreds that had been sculpted of the Emancipator." The red granite pedestal was designed by Ferdinand Eisman.The sculpture's dedication ceremony took place on September 15, 1934.
World War I Gaetano Cecere United States Daniel Hoan Abraham Lincoln Milwaukee Lincoln Memorial