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Review (2016)
Qennefer Browne, daughter of Emanuel Hahn, one of the main artists described in Alan MacLeod's book on monumental sculpture, wrote this unusually sophisticated reader's response:
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It is a wonderful accomplishment. So carefully structured and planned. There have been many books written, but you chose a certain focus, just the monuments, then also the context in each community and at least one personal detailed memoir of one of the fallen individuals being commemorated.
I appreciated especially the authorial spotlight on each sculptor in turn, to reveal their individual backgrounds and then finally to critique the mood and message conveyed by each artist's work. So many EXCELLENT photos included, to illustrate your analysis. It was especially valuable too, to have a profile of the two stone-carving companies and the bronze foundry. I have often wondered about the fabrication. To think that there was a capable foundry in Toronto in those days - many years passed before the arrival of Artcast in Georgetown, with its topnotch skills in lost-wax casting.
As a person familiar with monumental sculpture, I could readily distinguish the variation in skill and technique from one artist to another. But you went far beyond that in your analysis. The most complex and masterful sculptures did not necessarily meet your objective. Allward's melodramatic allegories and Hill's menacing warriors did not convey the spiritual message you sought from a simplistically patriotic era.
I am very grateful for the way Emanuel is given a climactic place in your procession of memorials. For one thing, I found it very helpful to see you begin with a map of Canada, the big picture, and a meticulous documentation of where all the individual monuments are. When I was a child, the Great War era had gone so far by that my parents spoke to me very little of that time in their lives. I was dimly aware of memorials but never Where. The first major book from modern times, To Mark Our Place, was quite a revelation. But it was not clear to me how many dozens of Hahn monuments there could be nor how far afield.
You have shown me with your disciplined overview that there were really only a few basic Hahn designs, beginning with an "Allward-esque"; figure with drapery instead of clothing, and ending with the mourning infantryman at his buddy's grave. I have seen some of the copied variations in towns here and there and knew they were (sometimes considerably) lesser imitations.
You have done something especially restorative for Emanuel's much more restrained version of mourning and memorial, in pointing out the human emotions he expresses and relating the background of his ostracism as a German-born Canadian. The cover with the single figure with the mountains in the distance is stunning - some of the formal municipal settings can be so rigid by comparison. I am very grateful on behalf of Emanuel to have seen him serve to bring your search to a meaningful conclusion, as you worked upward to his soldier as the pinnacle of your story.
A word about your writing - you describe yourself somewhere as an amateur, but your descriptive style is very appropriate. It is not flippantly journalistic, yet you can express colloquial opinions with uninhibited vigour. But mainly, your writing reminds me of books from that time a century ago, when authors were more poetic and classical in choice of phrasing and mood. In so many subtle ways, the book is a "compleat"; structure - every aspect contributes equally to a coherent, well-designed whole. It is a manly book about men, yet with a feminine perception of intrinsic feeling.
[letter, 2016]
>>>>>>>>
It is a wonderful accomplishment. So carefully structured and planned. There have been many books written, but you chose a certain focus, just the monuments, then also the context in each community and at least one personal detailed memoir of one of the fallen individuals being commemorated.
I appreciated especially the authorial spotlight on each sculptor in turn, to reveal their individual backgrounds and then finally to critique the mood and message conveyed by each artist's work. So many EXCELLENT photos included, to illustrate your analysis. It was especially valuable too, to have a profile of the two stone-carving companies and the bronze foundry. I have often wondered about the fabrication. To think that there was a capable foundry in Toronto in those days - many years passed before the arrival of Artcast in Georgetown, with its topnotch skills in lost-wax casting.
As a person familiar with monumental sculpture, I could readily distinguish the variation in skill and technique from one artist to another. But you went far beyond that in your analysis. The most complex and masterful sculptures did not necessarily meet your objective. Allward's melodramatic allegories and Hill's menacing warriors did not convey the spiritual message you sought from a simplistically patriotic era.
I am very grateful for the way Emanuel is given a climactic place in your procession of memorials. For one thing, I found it very helpful to see you begin with a map of Canada, the big picture, and a meticulous documentation of where all the individual monuments are. When I was a child, the Great War era had gone so far by that my parents spoke to me very little of that time in their lives. I was dimly aware of memorials but never Where. The first major book from modern times, To Mark Our Place, was quite a revelation. But it was not clear to me how many dozens of Hahn monuments there could be nor how far afield.
You have shown me with your disciplined overview that there were really only a few basic Hahn designs, beginning with an "Allward-esque"; figure with drapery instead of clothing, and ending with the mourning infantryman at his buddy's grave. I have seen some of the copied variations in towns here and there and knew they were (sometimes considerably) lesser imitations.
You have done something especially restorative for Emanuel's much more restrained version of mourning and memorial, in pointing out the human emotions he expresses and relating the background of his ostracism as a German-born Canadian. The cover with the single figure with the mountains in the distance is stunning - some of the formal municipal settings can be so rigid by comparison. I am very grateful on behalf of Emanuel to have seen him serve to bring your search to a meaningful conclusion, as you worked upward to his soldier as the pinnacle of your story.
A word about your writing - you describe yourself somewhere as an amateur, but your descriptive style is very appropriate. It is not flippantly journalistic, yet you can express colloquial opinions with uninhibited vigour. But mainly, your writing reminds me of books from that time a century ago, when authors were more poetic and classical in choice of phrasing and mood. In so many subtle ways, the book is a "compleat"; structure - every aspect contributes equally to a coherent, well-designed whole. It is a manly book about men, yet with a feminine perception of intrinsic feeling.
[letter, 2016]
Submitted on November 27, 2016 in By David.
