Museum Without Walls

• Bronze, on granite pedestal.
• Height 19'6''.
• Kelly Drive, south of Girard Avenue Bridge; across from Samuel Memorial.

Following the assassination of James A. Garfield, the 20th President of the United States, the Fairmount Park Art Association established a fund to create a fitting memorial. The second monument to be commissioned by the Association, it proved a challenge. Garfield had not been a colorful president during this short term, nor outstanding as a soldier, congressman, or teacher.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was selected for the commission in 1889. The artist came to America with his family from Dublin in 1848. He apprenticed to a stone cameo cutter at 13 and took evening classes in art and drawing. In 1867 he entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and supported himself by continuing to cut cameos. He spent three years in Rome before returning to New York, where he established a studio.

Early sketches indicate that the Art Association’s committee wanted a standing figure on a pedestal, but Saint-Gaudens preferred to bring the scale of the work down to the viewer and to its “natural environment.” Working with his long-time associate, the architect Stanford White, the artist selected the site on East River Drive. The unveiling was accompanied by parades, a flotilla, and naval and military ceremonies.

Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).