On a sunny Friday in January 1985, I sketched this while sitting on the steps of the State House in Boston. There must have been something of a chill in the air, judging by the woman’s coat – it was, after all, January in New England. The bas-relief sculpture on the right, completed in 1897, was created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, an Irish-born American sculptor. It is called the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, in honor of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry – an all-black regiment – who were led into battle in the Civil War by Shaw, a white colonel. The sculpture also inspired the first movement (“The ‘St.-Gaudens’ in Boston Common (Col. Shaw and his Colored Regiment)”) of Charles Ives’ Three Places in New England. Too bad it didn’t inspire me so much that day. I seem to have directed a lot of my attention toward the wall and the garbage can.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Cuz // May 31, 2009 at 6:30 PM
Perhaps if you’d gone on the roof of the State House, you could have gained a fresh perspective on the bas-relief…I hear there is a great view from there!
2 spitballarmy // May 31, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Ha! I was thinking about our little excursion up there while I was writing this post. Can you imagine anybody attempting to do that today? Security must be tight as a drum now. Do you have pictures? I took Nancy up there after our pioneering trip and have pics from that…very funny seeing Nancy waving at the camera while standing on top of the Massachusetts State House!
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