Sculptor Hopes to Revive the Spirit of the Renaissance in America
Published: 18 September 2024
By Kenneth LaFave
via The Epoch Times newspaper website
Epoch Times header
Sculptor Sabin Howard sits with the maquette he created for "A Soldier's Journey," the sculptural component of the National World War I Memorial that was unveiled in Washington on Sept. 13, 2024. Courtesy of Sabin Howard
Sabin Howard’s latest work, the National World War I Memorial, is unveiled in Washington. He wants to create art that can inspire a connection to the divine.
Stretching across 58 feet in Washington, D.C.’s Pershing Park is a bronze frieze that portrays “A Soldier’s Journey” through the demands and dangers of World War I. From left to right, 38 life-size human figures relate the experience of a single American soldier: his departure from home, the ordeal of battle and its aftermath, and his return.
The massive work, unveiled in an illumination ceremony on September 13, was created by Italian American sculptor Sabin Howard, whose lifelong quest is to revive figurative sculpture in the great tradition of the Renaissance. The fact that he has made his case in a large-scale piece commemorating World War I is something Howard finds deeply ironic.
Howard analyzes his full size relief of “A Soldier’s Journey,” featuring 38 figures spread across 58 feet. The figures were cast in bronze for the installed memorial in Washington. Courtesy of Sabin Howard
“World War I marked the end of a philosophical thought process that the world is unified by a divine order. With the decimation of 22 million people, you move toward alienation and nihilism, the death of God and the beginning of the modern era,” Howard reflected. “That moment had a huge impact on art. The idea that the figurative is what art is all about was already starting to slide away. After World War I, the figure is no longer a part of the art world. The last moment that figure is paid attention is [during the] Art Deco [movement], and after that you move into abstract art.”
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