Augustus Saint-Gaudens in New Hampshire

Lunch: 12:00-1:00pm | Presentation: 1:00-2:30pm

Did you know that NH has a National Historic Park? Join Inez McDermott as she explores Saint-Gaudens’ enduring significance in American art and shares the story behind the creation of this unique cultural landmark. 

Augustus Saint-Gaudens was the preeminent sculptor of America’s Gilded Age, renowned for blending vibrant realism with classical references. His iconic works include monumental public sculptures such as the gilded Diana atop the tower of Madison Square Garden, Abraham Lincoln in Chicago, the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial across from the State House on Boston Common, and the Sherman Monument at Grand Army Plaza in New York City. He also designed coins, made sensitively rendered relief sculptures of Gilded Age icons, and produced numerous other public sculptures and memorials for private and public patrons. 

In the final decades of his life, Saint-Gaudens lived and worked in Cornish, New Hampshire, attracting a community of artists, writers, architects and other creative people to the area. Today, his estate is preserved as the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park and is New Hampshire’s only National Park. 

Inez McDermott is Professor Emerita of art history at New England College. She is a curator of art and history exhibitions at various museums and galleries throughout New England including, in 2023, An Enduring Presence: The Old Man of the Mountain at the Museum of the White Mountains at Plymouth State University. In 2016, she was co-curator of Mount Washington, The Crown of New England at the Currier Museum of Art. 

Inez continues to lecture on art and history topics through New Hampshire Humanities “Humanities to Go” program, as well as teaching short courses for LINEC and Osher.