The Freedman at Amon Carter Museum of American Art

myminifactory

This model is a remix of another model in our profile https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-the-freed-man-at-the-amon-carter-museum-in-fort-worth-texas-14978 The version housed at Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth is considered to be "an important early cast of 'The Freedman,' a bronze statuette by the 19th-century sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward (1830--1910), one of the first artists to produce bronze sculpture in America. Ward's 'The Freedman,' modeled in 1863, has always been considered one of the most important sculptural works in 19th-century American art. Coming at the time of the Emancipation Proclamation (1862--63), it is a heroic image of a slave, his chains broken and his manacles loosened. But this particular version, heretofore unknown to scholars, is singularly important. Unlike any of the other extant versions, this cast has a working manacle, representing the still unresolved issue of slavery in America at the time Ward produced it."  The working key sits in the glass enclosure along with the bronze statue, which stands 45.5 cm tall. "The manacle also bears a memorial tribute to the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, the first black troops recruited in America during the Civil War. With their young commander, Robert Gould Shaw, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers were massacred at Fort Wagner, S.C., on July 18, 1863, and this cast of 'The Freedman' is perhaps the earliest tribute to their memory. The museum's cast of this celebrated work is quite possibly the first of the six casts of the piece Ward is said to have produced in his lifetime." Sentences in quotes taken from Amon Carter's press release announcing the acquisition, released June 13, 2001.