|
 Abraham Lincoln has been on Martin Leo Pyle’s mind for years.
Now the Overland Park artist is honoring the man he admires in a lasting way.
Pyle received a commission from the Lincoln Statue of Leavenworth Committee in Leavenworth, Kan., to sculpt an 8-foot statue of Lincoln. The statue, Pyle’s first major art piece, will be erected near Leavenworth
City Hall and unveiled Dec. 3.
“I’ve always liked Lincoln,” Pyle said. “It’s the rags to riches.”
Pyle said he admires Lincoln’s humble beginnings and success in emancipating the slaves.
“That’s pretty cool,” he said.
Pyle, district manager of Great American Opportunities, made a serendipitous sales call in fall 2007 to Carol Dark Ayres, director of foundation and grant writer with the Leavenworth school district. Her office art sparked a conversation.
“She had two paintings of Lincoln and two small busts,” Pyle said.
Pyle told Ayres he had always admired Lincoln and was ready to sculpt a small bust of the president. He asked Ayres about her connection with Lincoln and learned they held a mutual passion for the man who first campaigned in Leavenworth. Ayres said she published a book titled “Lincoln and Kansas: A Partnership for Freedom.”
“I always had in the back of my mind that we should have some kind of visual reminder,” Ayres said. “No one knew that Lincoln gave his first campaign speech here.”
Ayres wanted to find a way to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s historic Dec. 3, 1859, campaign speech in Leavenworth and the bicentennial of his birthday. She organized The Lincoln Statue of Leavenworth Committee in December 2007, which set out soliciting Kansas artists to compete for the commission of a bronze Abraham Lincoln for the city.
Ayres then remembered Pyle’s interest in sculpting and in Lincoln.
“I was totally thrilled,” Pyle said when he received an invitation to compete for the commission.
The committee required each artist to submit a sketch, resume and works.
Pyle, who had been sculpting for only two months, wanted his portrayal to be historically accurate so he conducted research about Lincoln. To create his sketches, Pyle found a model with Lincoln’s body type to pose in 1850s-era clothing.
“Most models look heroic,” Pyle said. “I wanted it to be natural.”
Pyle learned Lincoln read a lot and always carried a newspaper or book. He created his sketches and maquette, a 20-inch clay model, with Lincoln holding the Dec. 3, 1859, Leavenworth newspaper in one hand and a hat in the other.
Nine other Kansas sculptors also vied for the commission, many of them internationally recognized, but Pyle’s work created excitement among members of the Lincoln Statue Committee
“Marty’s work was so fresh,” Ayres said. “He captured what we thought Lincoln looked like when he came to Leavenworth.”
Ayres said the committee asked candidates to provide a landscape design and they weighed the artist’s congeniality.
“He blew us away in the interview,” Ayres said of Pyle. “He came so prepared. He came with a whole design. He spent a lot of time.”
Since receiving the commission last spring, Pyle continues to fine-tune his 8-foot clay sculpture of Lincoln. He sculpts at Imago Dei, Friends of Christianity and the Arts, Kansas City, Kan. Pyle uses the lost wax method, sculpting the piece in clay, which provides an impression for later molds, and then bronzing. Pyle’s sculpture will go to the foundry this summer for bronzing.
Pyle’s mother, Musa Pyle, said her son tackled Lincoln like he does almost everything.
“He’s passionate about everything – Lincoln, artwork and life.”
Trackback(0)
Comments 
Write comment
|
TrackBack URI for this entry