The Uncle Sam Memorial Statue, (sculpture)

Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery

Object Details

sculptor
Barbarossa, Theodore Cotillo 1906-
founder
Karkadoulias, Eleftherios
Karkadoulias Bronze Art
fabricator
Woolery Stone Company
Subject
Wilson, Samuel
Carlock, Marty, "A Guide to Public Art in Greater Boston," Boston: Harvard Common Press, 1988.
Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1993.
Image on file.
Bronze Art/Cincinnati 1976 (Sculpture, under figure:) Eleftherios Karkadoulias (Sculpture, under figure's feet:) T. C. Barbarossa (Base, front above sculpture:) SAMUEL WILSON/1766-1854 (Base, front below figure:) IN HONOR OF SAMUEL WILSON/A NATIVE SON/BORN NEAR THIS SITE/ON SEPTEMBER 13, 1766/HE BECAME/OUR NATIONAL SYMBOL/UNCLE SAM (Base, bronze plaque on side of base:) UNVEILED/SEPTEMBER/11-1976/DEDICATED /APRIL-18, 1977/FREDERICK A HAUCK/A GIFT TO THE TOWN OF ARLINGTON/MASS. AND THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES THROUGH THE GENEROUS/CONTRIBUTION OF FREDERICK A. HAUCK/OF CINCINNATI, OHIO/DESIGNER-SCULPTOR T.C. BARBAROSSA/BELMONT, MASS./CAST BY ELEFTHERIOS KARKADOULIAS/CINCINNATI, OHIO/PROJECT COORDINATOR/THE ARLINGTON JAYCEES/BOARD OF SELECTMEN/ARTHUR D. SAUL, JR., CHAIRMAN/ROBERT B. WALSH ANN MAHON POWERS/MARGARET H. SPENGLER ROBERT H. MURRAY/TOWN MANAGER/DONALD R. MARQUIS/UNCLE SAM STATUE COMMITTEE/WILLIAM J. BECK JACK R. DONALSON/JAMES D. HOBBS JAMES F. LAWSON, JR./STEPHEN PEKICH FREDERICK E. PITCHER/JOHN G. PERRY WILLIAM J. SCAGLIONE signed Founder's mark appears.
The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.
Summary
A bronze portrait of Samuel Wilson, later known as Uncle Sam, is installed on a limestone base in front of a wall which rises from the back of the base. The wall is adorned with a rectangular bronze relief which depicts the life and work of Samuel Wilson in Troy and Mason, New Hampshire, and in Menotomy, Massachusetts (now known as Arlington, Massachusetts). Beside the relief is the standing portrait of Wilson carrying his top hat in the crook of his proper left arm and extending his proper right hand slightly. The relief to his proper right includes a depiction of the familiar image of the elderly "Uncle Sam" figure in top hat and tails. At the top of the relief is a butcher and a ship coming in to dock next to the word "TROY." In the middle of the relief is a pioneer couple standing behind a fence with the words "MASON N-H." At the bottom of the relief is a soldier on horseback above the work "MENOTOMY."
Cast 1976. Installed Sept. 11, 1976. Dedicated April 18, 1977
Control number
IAS 87740165
Type
Sculptures-Outdoor Sculpture
Sculptures
Medium
Sculpture: bronze; Base: Indiana limestone
Owner/Location
Administered by Town of Arlington Arlington Massachusetts
Located Massachusetts Avenue & Mystic Street Arlington Massachusetts
Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museums
Topic
Portrait male--Full length
Occupation--Vendor--Butcher
Architecture--Boat--Sailing Ship
Figure group
Occupation--Other--Pioneer
Equestrian
Occupation--Military--Soldier
Figure male--Elderly
Allegory--Place--America
Record ID
siris_ari_299764
Metadata Usage (text)
Usage conditions apply