Two bronze relief sculptures by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney have found a new home at The Breakers, her family’s former mansion in Newport.
Whitney (1875-1942) was a noted sculptor and founder of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. These two reliefs are smaller casts of her panels on a 1919 Victory Arch in New York’s Madison Square. The arch was built of plaster and wood, triumphantly soared over several parades of World War I soldiers, then was torn down.
The bronze reliefs were kept at Whitney’s Long Island studio for decades until last year, when the Preservation Society of Newport County purchased them from her estate. The Preservation Society owns, maintains and operates The Breakers and 10 other historic properties that are open for tours.
The larger piece, “America at War,” is 5 feet long and weighs more than 300 pounds. It depicts soldiers engaged in a chaotic battle. The smaller piece, “Blinded,” features a soldier blinded by poison gas being assisted by a comrade. These figures formed the central group on a larger panel from the Victory Arch.
The sculptures were installed Thursday, September 5, in the circular service area of The Breakers where visitors exit the house after their tour.
The public display of these commemorative works coincides with the installation of a monumental new sculpture at the National WWI Memorial in Pershing Park, Washington, D.C. The 58-foot bronze relief by Sabin Howard, titled “A Soldier’s Journey,” will be unveiled on Friday, September 13, by the United States World War One Centennial Commission.
Whitney was one of the few American sculptors with firsthand experience of World War I. She traveled to France in 1914 and founded a hospital for wounded soldiers in the town of Juilly. There she comforted wounded men and made drawings that she later used when designing her public memorials. Another famous commission was her 20-foot-high sculpture for the American Expeditionary Forces Memorial in Saint-Nazaire, France, with its figure of a “doughboy” standing with his arms outstretched atop a giant eagle. A maquette, or study, of that memorial is displayed in her bedroom in The Breakers.
The Preservation Society of Newport County, Rhode Island, is a nonprofit organization accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. It is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the area’s historic architecture, landscapes, decorative arts and social history. Its 11 historic properties – seven of them National Historic Landmarks – span more than 250 years of American architectural and social development.
For more information, please visit www.NewportMansions.org.
