The Gilded Age in American Art

Frederick MacMonnies (1863-1937) began his career in New York as a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. He spent his adult life in Paris, where he produced his most famous sculptures.

Pan of Rohallion [pronounced roh-HAL-ee-on] is a smaller copy of a life-size figure commissioned by Edward Adams as a fountain sculpture for his home called Rohallion, in New Jersey.

Visual Discussion Starters

Is the form of this sculpture open or closed?

How did MacMonnies balance this sculpture?
What material is this made from? Gilded Age artists perfected the art of bronze casting.

Why would bronze be such a valued material during the Gilded Age?
Pan is the Greek god of the forests and shepherds. In this sculpture he is not shown with his typical attributes; there are no horns or cloven hooves, and fish surround him instead of woodland creatures.

How would you know that this was Pan? What does he wear on his head?

What is the mood of this sculpture?

While MacMonnies was living in Paris, he hired a little boy to pose for the figure of Pan. How would working with a model give this sculpture a more naturalistic feel?

Cultural/Historical Discussion Starters

Consider how this work relates to the Gilded Age.

Key Points:

• Artists and wealthy patrons collaborating as never before in America
• Finely decorated homes and country estates housing newly amassed art collections
• Artist of this era perfecting bronze casting

Edward Adams was a New Jersey banker who commissioned the life-size version of this sculpture for his home Rohallion. Rohallion is a Gaelic term for "little red hill" and named after an ancient estate in Scotland. The work was the centerpiece of a fountain.

What is a patron, and what influence does a patron have over an artist?

Why would a patron desire and commission a character from Greek mythology?

Edward Adams was so pleased with Pan of Rohallion that he commissioned many bronze reductions for wedding gifts and other occasions. Such reductions of Pan and many of his larger sculptures, became a source of income for MacMonnies that lasted well into the 1920s.

Why would these bronze reductions be so popular for Gilded Age Americans?

Frederick William MacMonnies Biography

• 1863 - Born in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up he studies art under his mother, who was related to the painter Benjamin West.
• 1880 - Hired by Augustus Saint-Gaudens to help out in his studio and soon promoted to studio assistant. This begins a lifelong friendship with the acclaimed sculptor. Studies at the both the National Academy of Design and The Art Students League in New York.
• 1884 - Travels to Paris to study sculpture at the École des Beaux-Arts [pronounced: a-COL day boz-arh].
• 1887 & 1888 - Wins the Prix d'Atelier [pree day-til-ee-AY], the highest award given to foreign students.
• 1888 - Opens a studio in Paris and creates his most famous sculptures. Begins submitting work to the Paris Salon, which he continues to do throughout his lifetime. Marries artist Mary Louise Fairchild.
• 1889 - Receives an honorable mention at the Paris Salon for his life size Diana. This leads to four important American commissions, including the Nathan Hale monument for City Hall Park in New York and the decorative Pan of Rohallion. Begins a 25-year pattern of traveling to the United States to consult and returning to Paris to work on his commissions.
• 1891 - Awarded the commission for the Columbian Fountain for the 1893 World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago. This large decorative fountain piece became the focal point at the Exposition and establishes MacMonnies as one of the important sculptors of the time. Awarded a gold medal at the Paris Salon, the first given to an American sculptor.
• 1893-1903 - Moves with his wife into a spacious 17th-century home decorated with their antique collection and hires three servants to help with the entertaining. MacMonnies' bronze reductions of Nathan Hale, Diana, Bacchante and Infant Faun, and Pan of Rohallion begin touring museums in the United States and increase his popularity even more. Elected to the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor in 1896 and awarded grand prize at the Paris Exposition of 1900. This was a decade of enormous productivity and personal satisfaction.
• 1900-1904 - Launches into a new career as a painter and receives an honorable mention at the Paris Salon of 1901 for his first painting the submitted.
• 1904-1908 - Returns to sculpture.
• 1908 - Divorces Mary MacMonnies
• 1910 - Marries former student Alice Jones
• 1915 - Returns to New York and enjoys the theater, dinner parties, and New York social life. Dedicates the rest of his life to painting.
• 1937 - Dies from pneumonia on March 22.