>> located by the u.s. capitol reflecting pool at the base of capitol hill, the u.s. grant 1922,al was dedicated in and hundreds of elderly civil war veterans attended the ceremony. next, architect of the capitol, curator michelle cohen discusses the history and construction of the grand memorial and the ongoing project to restore deteriorating sculptures and pedestals. posted by the u.s. capital historical [applause] >> thank you very much for inviting me. it is lovely to see all of you here. i'm hoping that you will come away with some mental images because the color will really be visible in these images. i'm hoping it actually going to inspire you to go and take a personal tour grant. what it is totally

unveil again and we're finished with the conservation. yet any questions about images please speak up. i really did conceive this is a visual presentation. go about it by writing a formal paper, i thought it would be more exciting and more engaging to think about it in that visual way. it's a little daunting to realize that my visual aid is not working as well as i would like. -- sorry about, that. 1922, the7, centennial of ulysses s. grant's washday, the grand memorial dedicated at the foot of the capital. ineral offices were closed terms of visitors gathered to watch the military parade that

made its way down pennsylvania avenue from the white house to memorial site. thousands of military men rticipated including hundreds of civil war veterans. among them even some former confederate soldiers. at the time of its unveiling critics celebrated this memorial considered to be one of washington dc's most notable public sculptures and a masterpiece. in a city that bus over 500 open-air sculptures, the grand memorial still ranks among the city's best. in 2011 the national park service transfer sensibility for the care of the grand memorial to the architect of the capitol and in the spring of 2015, the aoc launched the conservation project. today i will provide an overview of the conservation, but i also see this as an opportunity to re-examine the monuments history

meaning, and the role it has played in shaping public space in the symbolic core of the capital. situated in all we now reverse to his union square, at the ends of the reflecting full against the backdrop of the capital the bronze and marble of the memorial honors the civil war commander of the union army it was also president. it marks the eastern end of the national mall and faces the lincoln memorial almost two miles to the west symbolically linking the president and the general who fought to save the union. one thing i learned that i was not really cognizant of is that both of these memorials were dedicated in the same year a month apart. in april of that here

the grant was dedicated and and may the lincoln. i would argue that the way that these mine you men -- monuments were placed did mark the re-conception of the capital ceremonial core. now it was really about national unity after the civil war. the overall form of the memorial can be compared to an outdoor room area it is 252 feet long by 71 feet wide and 44 feet high and actually i wonder about these dimensions because i measured it myself. the secondered to be largest equestrian monument in the world dwarfed by the one in rome. casey, the architect perhaps does not get enough credit for the conception of this memorial.

he really did create an architectural setting that was intended to function as both the reviews page and as appears today after several redesigns it is a plaza. the architecture creates a unified setting for the forming sculptural groupings. his is not my day. it worked before. ok, thanks. nope. we will try another one. thanks. here we have a central equestrian statue of grant, then there are four recumbent liens you can see them all here.

then we have the cavalry and the artillery. which are groups to the north and south respectively. ensembleex sculptural contains 12 horses for liens and the enormous equestrian of general grant. notice this image on the bottom here. i think we forget what the site originally looks like. soons the grand memorial after was installed. it would really be hard to call

this larger site union square. parts very much a reflecting its origin of the botanic gardens. it's only over time that this profile has been further defined as union square has gone through several redesigns. at the time of his installation the idea of its was sort of the centerpiece of union square. it was more of a conceptual idea i would argue that really a physical reality. know the reason it was placed there -- that was not even the original location was really because of two converging goals. they came together and decided that this place which was conceived as union square would

be the ideal location for this new grand memorial. originally the idea was that there would be a central equestrian grant flanked by two -- there wasl inspired by the plots of concorde. there were the parcels around the central equestrian. this never happened. what did happen is the artist were conceiving this monument the original idea. the fact that the grand memorial consists of these are very parks ofvery much an outcome understanding the original concept of union square. not shortly after the memorial was installed, it was joined by

another monument honoring another union general and some of you may know this monument is no longer in the original location which really would have off the screen. it would be in the area where the reflecting is now. reinforce thep idea of union square and what it meant in terms of the union after the civil war. it's really sort of piecemeal. it was eventually relocated. i think we would all agree that the grand memorial really is a remark chief men. alternate little formal

training. it took him 20 years to translate this vision. a two and one half times life-size grant forms the monuments apex. standing on a pedestal that is four recumbentgh liens guarding the flags of the army and united date he came up with two designs of alliance and they are paired in the diagonal. these are identical and easter are identical. demarcate the corners of an they are pyramid complementary. they encircle the in groups. it invites viewers to set up close to the monuments and

really get lost in the action. viewers are sitting around movie theater. realistic detail that i level including military trappings in uniforms rocky trains and battled a very musculature. the monument is an essay on opposite contrasting stillness of amount of grants with the turbulence of the charging cavalry and artillery. who were the designers behind this memorial? and remind sure it was only 31 years old at the time that he won this commission. where does he come from? it's one of those interesting stories from public art. ideaury will go to this

you have that person is somewhat untried. he had started school columbia and never completed law school. he did not scolding the time he was recovering from illness. he was always interested in drawing painting and sculpture. his very first opportunity to do anything that was monumental was under the tutelage of carl charge of was in sculptural production for the 1901 pan-american exhibition about low. bitter probably gave him training that he would get from the professional. shortly thereafter, he won the

commission to create an equestrian portrait of george washington from brooklyn bridge. but that was not even finished at the time he was awarded the grant commission. his collaborator edward pierce casey was a more experienced partner. inwas trains in paris and 1892 he replaced paul peltz is the architect of the library of congress. his father was the engineer who completed the washington monument. yet a lot of credibility. to give you an understanding of how remarkable it really is that he was elected, i want to show you some early work that he did. these are the kinds of things that he was doing.

he created small editions of these. he took two of these. these were large for the certificate. he is coming from a very different orientation. in addition he also does culture of a battery moving into action.

he went ahead and started modeling alliance. don't think he realized it would be another 20 years before this monument would be finished. in a contract that originally said he would be finished in five years it was signed in 1903 and he was supposed to deliver the completed monument in 1908. he got 10 extensions. the argued on creating 20 monuments for you.

here's another view from the side. the other thing that's kind of interesting with his conception. in many ways it's reckless of the original model. plaster, plaster model -- he did not make dramatic changes as this project involved. but he did change the liens. he wrote a letter that the one

in the sketch was knowledge what could be improved. the next element to be completed was the artillery. to develop of the artillery he was an artist so committed to nationalism that he needed to actually transit. it was not from the point of view.

he was an artist first. i have a perfect right to put this anywhere please. that's part of what makes this a remarkable sculpture. although it had so many realistic details. it never looks fluffy.

he able to balance these two conflicting -- the desire to be so real. at the time the artillery was class, it was the largest bronze sculpture ever to be custom united states. he nearly had to engineer how he was going to create the different parts and how they were going to be connected. it wasn't just the artistic conception there was a lot of engineering associated with it.

can see even in a small sculpture forces are elevated. as if they're floating over the ground plane. there have to be a way to surety and bertelli the next can cavalry. modeled several elements.

modeled on himself. seven horsemen of the colored squad of the calorie regimen are stampeding of the battle they all merged into a riveting visual narrative. it was completed in 19 19. the actual cast, it was not installed until 1921. toarently it took six weeks actually place it on the pedestal. we came in pieces. parts of the horse or severed from the bottom of the horse.

elected photographs and also consulted the death mask of grant in the smithsonian. surety was unable to complete their pedestals. he done sketches but they were not fully articulated or developed sketches. his assistance carried out the completion of the panels.

there were quite a few letters from his wife who pleaded with the committee and said please just eliminate these infantry panels. were thed felt they overall memorial. i think you please let us eliminate them. they really were committed to having a full conception realized. you can really see that the quality of the casting is not the same level as quality of the casting in other parts of the monument. but was the process? when you look at public art you wonder who was on the committee that selected the artist.

who also many designs? what were the parameters? i think we start asking those questions you start abouttanding a lot more the intent of the artist who were selected. as you look at this competition you also discover that just like any other public art project this was not -- this one did not escape controversy. the problem is that at the time there were several important commemorative trees.

the trees themselves are commemorating the civil war. that have to be resolved. i still would like to confirm those trees are still alive. i'm not sure about that. that controversy died down after about eight months. he was certainly a more senior

artist and had done many public projects. he was really well known in the field of american sculpture. in a little more modest conception below. in the end training casey prevailed. they were selected. it was the largest federal commission today. this's $50,000 was time so many americans cultures were working abroad or recasting increases in london or paris.

that was the technological constraint. certainly surety came through. the other competitors and there documents,otographic they were trying to stress this idea of unification of the country. that we make this idea of progress after the trigger really came at this from a very different angle.

the question emerges for me how is it is graphic depiction of men in battle was excepted? wouldn't this inflame feelings? when it's that the american when this open old wounds? you don't see many, the focus is on the individual soldiers and their inner psychology. they are rushing toward the supporting grants. the monument to the whole consummate the center, by the purpose of the monuments say that it was in the center of union square facing lincoln across the mall was meant to convey the idea of unification of the civil war, wouldn't is graphic images of battle have been a wound?

ready the american public to accept this? in searching for better understanding of the grand memorial, i read the 1987 and in from think he makes a very convincing argument. in many ways, the grand memorial was more about what's happening in america then actually about the civil war. it was important to show that america had this war. it was an important concept. also reinforces this idea that monuments are so often about the present than about the events they commemorate. mantegna race at the beginning

of the 20th century new monuments of the civil war contain figures that were not only recognized to be american but also true to the american spirit. dynamism.t was one by when you look at this monuments and you release laura visually, you realize it is so much about the individual experiencing pain and suffering depending on the soldier next to for survival, the conflicting having this determination to move forward. i cannot help but think about how is monument was received in

1922 just four years after the end of world war i. the grand memorial as he itseded i think transcends historical specificity. i have all these trappings of ,ivil war uniforms and weaponry the focus on these individual really makes it about men in battle at any time area in many ways, is to fiction is more real than an actual photograph. for those of you might be difficult to the captions, the goingaph on the right is to action in fredericksburg.

in thinking about the memorial deformed and consider other memorials around completed that honor grant. i just want to quickly show you where some of these monuments were too created them. this is the one in st. louis. this is bye chicago lewis ruby so. -- these are not artists that have -- these are more regional artists. they are not the artist that have national reputations. in new york we have grant's tomb in manhattan. and the portrait from 1896 you can see the taciturn/figure with a hat mccain.

and other artists as well. then we have this collaborative piece. this was more typical one sculpture working on a figure and out of poverty was quite adept at his sculpture often would do the equestrian amount. surety tackle the entire grand memorial. he had no collaborators other than his assistance they completed it upon his death. we are moving into our next phase. which i wanted to rent you just present to you in a review of the conservation. when you begin a project to think about your project is what you're hoping to achieve.

i think we felt we had a study before there is a lot of technical information. in the end you have; mind. there is an aesthetic objectives. we needed to that remove all the wax coatings and corrosion so that the sculptural form could be appreciated. they are so complicated and so rich that the piece needed to be -- to approximate as closely as possible the original finish based on photographs research and other sculptures by the artist. we also determined we needed to protect this effort so we apply the dust protective coating to prevent corrosion and readily occurring and to ensure the long-term preservation of the monument. fabricate close to 100 missing bronze pieces sorts of scabbards and buckles and belts.

a tremendous amount of detail that over the years has either been picked off through vandalism or has failed because of corrosion. tremendous amount of effort has to go to documenting to understand almost every square inch of the grand memorial to recognize how it looked originally and to identify what might be missing today. there's a picture. that's how the grants memorial looks now. i want to take you behind the to get a bit more i listen personal view. this is the beginning of the project. we formed the committee inviting people from the national gallery and from the smithsonian to work and other experts to have studied the monument to

come to a consensus about the best way proceed. i found it to be a stimulating and informative approach. i'm really grateful for the college that work in us. they gave of their time. concern inrimary this first phase of the conservation is removing a tremendous amount of staining that you see on all the marvel. the photographs to reveal that this staining occurred relatively early in the life of the memorial. it indicates that it may not have been coded or properly coded so this has been going on for almost a hundred years. wasfirst thing we did mockup the various approaches to cleaning. we did test cleaning of three primary approaches on the left

is the edith which is counting carbonates suspended in water. it's a very fine sand. those there there removes surface corrosion. another approach was using laser technology and the third was using media pressure water jets. here you can see some of these techniques in action. here's the united states laser and this is the water. now we're applying this approach to the actual monument. like surety we started with alliance. it made a lot of sense because they were the smaller more accessible elements. the lionre seeing

partially cleaned. group this artillery is a very contemporary view. they pretty much have finished cleaning now the artillery. before any repair nation has occurred. one of the problems that emerges the weight of water pools on the monument. one almost thinks that he wanted to have actual puddles to even hang the realism in the drama but in terms of long-term preservation it's not a good idea to have water sitting on bronze. if you have a better way to remediate that situation, one is to drill we poles but then you have to ask where is the water draining to and are those we to youo fill it

regarding greater worth problem? it's been a case-by-case decision. here's an example of some missing pieces. thise missing part of draft. some of the missing pieces are not obvious that times they are where you're missing half of the band at or your missing half of the bridal. moreing to learn a lot about civil war military trappings that i knew before. was almost aally scholar and the sense of his desire to be so accurate. this shows you the process of

replicating some of the missing from his. workers are at the memorial creating a mold taken directly from the sculpture. here you can see people -- pieces in the foundry some of them on the wax cast, some of them are the iron templates that were on the monument which can also be used to replicate missing pieces. here you see some of the bronze castings -- what i would describe as well bronze. not yet been seen it. one of the most interesting aspects of the project was thinking about the patina. what color should this monument be and how to make an informed decision to mark one of the things we discovered in our research was the very iteresting foster model

shows a plaster that is tempted to simulate a particular finish than an artist might consider for the finished bronze. that was one of our clues. is an image showing patina here is a very recent view of the southwest ym after an initial code. the test you have to consider how your going to

here's a reminder of how lines looked before we began the conservation. to us now. there's one more. hero get us back to where we were. of the time that the

commissioned, it was really seen as a tremendous accomplishment. boths really celebrated publications newspapers in an artistic circles. it has continued to captivate viewers by its dramatic power. today continues to communicate that empower and drama and i think is really become a fixture in popular culture. probably knows coming. >> i always find this

mesmerizing. there we have the grant. you can see them from all these different angles which i love.

thank you very much for your attention. if you have any questions or be happy to answer them area excellent question. the process that the process is calculated. i think by next spring we will be complete without phase. as those portions are completed the conservator or will be removing the scaffold from each element. the way it's been erected its around each part. eventually walk in a pleasant

now you just can't actually see beyond the screens. >> how this conversation took place between the folks that worked on freedom triumphant on the capital and you? it looks like it was kind of the same problem. plus a lot of conversation took place. it was actually a very fluid process. it happened originally on freedom and 93 and it has been protected and we have renewed it all these years. we kept it in good shape. as a will do to the grand memorial as well.

>> some of the same conservators consulted. >> [indiscernible] >> i'm not aware that the plaster model is still extent. what we have located is a bronze that's if artillery think is one 20th the scale in wyoming. it's actually in the collection of the metropolitan museum of art and loans to the buffalo bills museum. other than that we've not found other plaster models. one of his grandchildren contacted us and she had a bronze head of one of the horses from artillery and we look at

that. and there was another one that was recently part of an exhibition and we looked at that. and there are smaller pieces that are on view in the national gallery. if you find a plaster model i love to see a. >> maybe we will wrap up with that. >> and you all. [applause] >> i want to make a quick plug for the people who have the specifications were reported. you can find them all. hours will be on tv on saturday. the other thing, the archives on the website. check them out. be sure to come back in a few thes for the top on

managing architect of the capitol don't restoration. you will shows that. >> i've learned you can do anything you want to. i have to do what a first lady as those to do. you can do anything you want to. it's such a great soapbox. such a great opportunity. i would advise any first lady to do what she wanted to do. you'll be criticize no matter what you do.

quest she was her husband's political partner from their first campaign. jimmyst lady she attended carter's cabinet meetings. she championed women's sites -- rosalynn carter. this sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span's original series first ladies influence an image. examining the public and private lives of women as first ladies. someday at eight you start on american tv.