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| Join us for breakfast and a discussion of Daniel Chester French's life and works April 4th 2009 |
To make a reservation for breakfast and the presentation by
Donna Hassler, please send a check made out to The Friends
of Sleepy Hollow for $30 for each reservation and send to The
Friends of Sleepy Hollow, P.O. Box 1245, Concord, MA 01742.
Reservations will be confirmed and held at the door the
morning of the event – no tickets will be issued in advance.
Details follow below.
...............................
The Friends of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery are sponsoring a breakfast event
on April 4 featuring Donna Hassler, the Director of Chesterwood, Daniel
Chester French’s Country Home in Stockbridge, MA. French’s renowned
sculpture work includes the Lincoln Memorial, and Concord’s The Minute
Man and Melvin Memorial. Hassler is a noted authority on American
sculpture and will discuss French’s life and work he created at his summer
retreat in the Berkshires.
The upcoming event represents the third annual “Concord Recollections”
breakfast held by The Friends of Sleepy Hollow. The breakfast will be on
April 4 at 8:30 a.m. at Papa Razzi in Concord on Elm Street. Cost of the
event, which includes a full breakfast, is $30 per person. Seating for the
event will be limited so reservations are necessary in advance.
French, 1850-1931, lived and worked in Concord as well as Stockbridge.
His numerous sculpture and monuments are found all across the United
States. One of his earliest commissions was by the town of Concord to
commemorate the centennial of the Battle of Lexington and Concord – The
Minute Man statue that stands at the entrance to the North Bridge.
In the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, French’s beloved
sculpture, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, has become a focal
point for the Lincoln anniversary as well as the election of America’s first
African American President, Barak Obama.
The work French is supposed to have been most proud of is the Melvin
Memorial, commissioned by Concord resident (and French boyhood friend)
James Melvin as a memorial to his three brothers who had died in the Civil
War. The main figure of the Melvin Memorial – placed in Sleepy Hollow
Cemetery – is French’s Mourning Victory.
French is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and designed his own
gravestone, a simple horizontal slab with restrained embellishment and an
inscription that reads simply “A Heritage of Beauty.”
Chesterwood, located in Stockbridge, MA is the country home, studio and
gardens of French. The buildings are furnished with American and
European decorative arts and paintings collected by the sculptor.
Woodland walks featuring mountain vistas and perennial gardens are
French's own design. The Studio has a standard-gauge railroad track used
to roll large sculpture outdoors for viewing in natural light. The museum
holds what is probably the largest single collection of work by any American
sculptor.
Hassler is an Art Historian specializing in 19th and 20th century American
art and the co-author of American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art: a Catalogue of Works by Artists Born before 1865 and American
Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Works by
Artists Born between 1865 and 1885. A marble replica of Mourning Victory
is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where Hassler also
was a Researcher and Curatorial Assistant.
Donna Hassler earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from
George Washington University in 1979 and was awarded the senior
undergraduate prize in Art History. In 1983, she completed her Master of
Arts degree in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
as well as a certificate in Museum Training from New York University and
the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In pursuit of her doctorate in Art History
from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Hassler
received a Master of Philosophy degree in Art History in 2001, having
successfully completed her course work, exams and dissertation research.
Donna Hassler, please send a check made out to The Friends
of Sleepy Hollow for $30 for each reservation and send to The
Friends of Sleepy Hollow, P.O. Box 1245, Concord, MA 01742.
Reservations will be confirmed and held at the door the
morning of the event – no tickets will be issued in advance.
Details follow below.
...............................
The Friends of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery are sponsoring a breakfast event
on April 4 featuring Donna Hassler, the Director of Chesterwood, Daniel
Chester French’s Country Home in Stockbridge, MA. French’s renowned
sculpture work includes the Lincoln Memorial, and Concord’s The Minute
Man and Melvin Memorial. Hassler is a noted authority on American
sculpture and will discuss French’s life and work he created at his summer
retreat in the Berkshires.
The upcoming event represents the third annual “Concord Recollections”
breakfast held by The Friends of Sleepy Hollow. The breakfast will be on
April 4 at 8:30 a.m. at Papa Razzi in Concord on Elm Street. Cost of the
event, which includes a full breakfast, is $30 per person. Seating for the
event will be limited so reservations are necessary in advance.
French, 1850-1931, lived and worked in Concord as well as Stockbridge.
His numerous sculpture and monuments are found all across the United
States. One of his earliest commissions was by the town of Concord to
commemorate the centennial of the Battle of Lexington and Concord – The
Minute Man statue that stands at the entrance to the North Bridge.
In the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, French’s beloved
sculpture, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, has become a focal
point for the Lincoln anniversary as well as the election of America’s first
African American President, Barak Obama.
The work French is supposed to have been most proud of is the Melvin
Memorial, commissioned by Concord resident (and French boyhood friend)
James Melvin as a memorial to his three brothers who had died in the Civil
War. The main figure of the Melvin Memorial – placed in Sleepy Hollow
Cemetery – is French’s Mourning Victory.
French is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery and designed his own
gravestone, a simple horizontal slab with restrained embellishment and an
inscription that reads simply “A Heritage of Beauty.”
Chesterwood, located in Stockbridge, MA is the country home, studio and
gardens of French. The buildings are furnished with American and
European decorative arts and paintings collected by the sculptor.
Woodland walks featuring mountain vistas and perennial gardens are
French's own design. The Studio has a standard-gauge railroad track used
to roll large sculpture outdoors for viewing in natural light. The museum
holds what is probably the largest single collection of work by any American
sculptor.
Hassler is an Art Historian specializing in 19th and 20th century American
art and the co-author of American Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art: a Catalogue of Works by Artists Born before 1865 and American
Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Works by
Artists Born between 1865 and 1885. A marble replica of Mourning Victory
is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where Hassler also
was a Researcher and Curatorial Assistant.
Donna Hassler earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History from
George Washington University in 1979 and was awarded the senior
undergraduate prize in Art History. In 1983, she completed her Master of
Arts degree in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University
as well as a certificate in Museum Training from New York University and
the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In pursuit of her doctorate in Art History
from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Hassler
received a Master of Philosophy degree in Art History in 2001, having
successfully completed her course work, exams and dissertation research.
Daniel Chester French's Mourning Victory, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery