The Arts of War and The Arts of Peace
The Arts of War and The Arts of Peace are bronze, fire-gilded statue groups on Lincoln Memorial Circle in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Commissioned in 1929 to complement the plaza constructed on the east side of the Lincoln Memorial as part of the Arlington Memorial Bridge approaches, their completion was delayed until 1939 for budgetary reasons. The models were placed into storage, and the statues not cast until 1950. They were erected in 1951, and repaired in 1974.
The Arts of War were sculpted by Leo Friedlander, an American sculptor. The Art Deco statuary group consists of two separate elements, Valor and Sacrifice, which frame the entrance to Arlington Memorial Bridge.
The Arts of Peace were sculpted by James Earle Fraser, an American sculptor. The Neoclassical statuary group consists of two separate elements, Music and Harvest and Aspiration and Literature, which frame the entrance to the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway.
The Arts of War and The Arts of Peace are contributing properties to the East and West Potomac Parks Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 30, 1973.
Arlington Memorial Bridge and Rock Creek Parkway
Congress first proposed a new bridge across the Potomac River, to be located somewhere between B Street NW and Georgetown in 1886. Designs were proposed in 1886 and 1898, but neither was built.A new location became available in 1890. When terrible floods hit the District of Columbia in 1881, Congress enacted legislation to have the channel of the Potomac River deepened to help prevent future flooding. The silt would be used to reclaim the Tiber Creek tidal inlet, building up the land south of B Street and west of the Washington Monument grounds to a height great enough to act as a levee. This work was largely complete by 1890, and designated West Potomac Park by Congress in 1897. During this same period, Columbia Island formed as an offshoot of Analostan Island. The combination of reclaimed land and the emergence of a new island meant that it was now possible to build a bridge even further south than the previously proposed locations.
In 1902, the Senate Park Commission proposed in its so-called McMillan Plan that a bridge be built from the west end of West Potomac Park across the Potomac River to Arlington National Cemetery. This bridge would be aligned with Arlington House, and act as memorial to the unification of the nation after the American Civil War.
No action was taken to implement the Senate Park Commission's proposal for 12 years. Congress finally enacted the Public Buildings Act on March 4, 1913, which, among other things, created and funded an Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission whose purpose was to design the bridge and report back to Congress. But due to the onset of World War I, Congress appropriated no money for the commission's operation and it remained inactive.
Another proposal of the McMillan Plan was the creation of a number of parkways throughout the D.C. area. Among these was the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, which the Senate Park Commission suggested extend from E Street NW through Rock Creek Park to the National Zoological Park. Congress authorized construction of the parkway in March 1913 and principal construction began in 1923.
Congress finally authorized construction of the Arlington Memorial Bridge in 1925. Major traffic jams clogged the narrow and decrepit Highway Bridge during the November 1921 dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, angering members of Congress and President Warren G. Harding. Recognizing the need for a new bridge, Congress enacted legislation in June 1922 funding at last the work of the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission. The bridge commission on April 4, 1923, chose the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White to design the structure. Architect William Mitchell Kendall was the lead designer.
Initial designs for the eastern Arlington Memorial Bridge approaches
The United States Commission of Fine Arts had the legal authority to review the design and architectural style of the bridge. Kendall submitted his first design for the structure to the CFA in May 1923. Kendall's plan envisioned a low, Neoclassical arch bridge. The eastern approaches in the District of Columbia consisted of linking the traffic circle around the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River by a granite and marble plaza and by monumental marble steps leading from the plaza to the river's edge. Two memorial columns would be erected in this plaza. The commission was especially pleased that Kendall proposed extending the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway past its planned terminus at E Street NW south to Ohio Drive SW. Kendall's plan called for the parkway to pass through the plaza to access Ohio Drive.The CFA gave its preliminary approval to the bridge design in February 1924, but withheld a decision on the eastern approaches.
With a design in hand, Congress began work to authorize construction of the proposed bridge. This legislation passed on February 20, and President Calvin Coolidge signed it into law on February 24, 1925.
Revised designs for the eastern Arlington Memorial Bridge approaches
The AMBC and CFA were not only concerned with constructing a bridge, but ensuring that the approaches to the bridge were appropriate for a grand memorial.The eastern approaches consisted of the end of the bridge, a plaza, a watergate, and the streets which approached the bridge. By November 1925, there were already some design changes as the details of Kendall's plan were worked out. The two columns for the center of the plaza were replaced with a fountain, and then the fountain, too, eliminated. For the bridge's entrance, the AMBC and CFA add two high square pylons inscribed on all four sides with images representing national unity and common purpose. The agencies also planned major changes to B Street NW, a major D.C. city street funneling traffic to the bridge. B Street would be significantly widened to turn it into a vast ceremonial avenue, and its length extended past 23rd Street NW to the shore of the Potomac River. B Street would also be connected to the Lincoln Memorial by a new road. 23rd Street NW was also to be widened to provide a more grand north-south route to the Lincoln Memorial. These roads, along with Ohio Drive SW, came together west of the Lincoln Memorial, where Kendall proposed a large granite and marble traffic plaza across which traffic would flow. A grand access to the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway was of the bridge project as well. Two high square pylons with sculpture groups clustered about their bases were planned here as well, to complement those at the bridge.
But in 1928 there was growing concern by members of the CFA that the pylons "complicated" the view toward the Lincoln Memorial from the bridge. To assist the commission in making up its mind, the Army Signal Corps produced life-size photographs of mock-ups of the pylons, and erected them on site for the CFA to view in late September 1928. Life-size photographs of shorter pylons were also viewed on-site, but the CFA concluded that both versions were too tall. Life-size photographs of equestrian statues were tried, and found to be acceptable. In early December 1928, the CFA voted to order Kendall to change the pylons to equestrian statues.
Designing the statues
Hiring Fraser and Friedlander
Kendall fought to retain the eastern terminus pylons even as the CFA continued to move ahead with plans for equestrian statuary. James Earle Fraser and Leo Friedlander were both commissioned to craft sculptures for the eastern terminus. Just how Fraser and Friedlander were chosen is unclear. Fraser's biographer, August Freundlich, and the National Park Service both say there was a competition. Freundlich puts the date of this competition as 1931, and gives no further details. This contradicts reports from the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks and Washington Post, which point to a selection process in 1929. Friedlander's biographers, however, state the artist was directly chosen in 1929. Museum curator Joel Rosenkranz says Friedlander's commission came directly from the firm of McKim, Mead & White, and mentions no competition.Winning approval for the statue designs
Government regulations required that sculptors create four versions of their work in plaster before final approval for construction could begin. These models had to be a one-sixteenth size, three-sixteenths size, half size, and full size. At least some preliminary designs for the equestrian statues were ready by June 1929. The CFA further discussed the equestrian sculptures at its meeting on December 11, 1929, and Kendall gave up on his attempt to restore the pylons by the end of the year.By early 1930, Friedlander and Fraser were in discussion with the Army Corps of Engineers about the placement, erection, and pedestals for the two equestrian groups. The Corps also worked with McKim, Mead and White to study the area and determine the correct height and placement of the statues.
Lieutenant Colonel Ulysses S. Grant III was a member of the Army Corps of Engineers as well as the Executive Officer of the AMBC. On July 1, 1930, Grant provided the CFA with a refinement of plans for the eastern approaches. At this meeting, the CFA again approved the designs for the equestrian statues..
The CFA approved yet another of Fraser and Friedlander's models in December 1930. Details about the sculptures now began to emerge. Friedlander's two statuary groups were called Valor and Call to Arms. These two groups were to frame the entrance to Arlington Memorial Bridge. Collectively, they were known as The Arts of War. Both statuary groups were in a style of Art Deco known as "Delayed Deco". Valor was based on a study Friedlander had completed in 1915–16 while a fellow at the American Academy in Rome, while Sacrifice was created especially for the bridge commission. Sacrifice, modeled in 1929, used the same figures as Valor but added the figure of a child. Because the AMBC specified that the statues were to be in white granite, Friedlander had to change his design for Valor. The sculpture was originally to be executed in bronze. But in order to support the weight of granite, a "web" of supports had to be sculpted beneath the horse.
Fraser's two statuary groups were titled Music and Harvest and Aspiration and Literature. These two groups were to frame the entrance to the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway. Collectively, they were known as The Arts of Peace. Both statuary groups were in the Neoclassical style, although they also exhibited elements of Art Moderne.
Contracts were let within a few days of the CFA's December 11, 1930, meeting.