♪ ♪ since the early 1980s artist wendy allen has made use of a variety of art styles to paint over 400 portraits of abraham lincoln, next on american history tv, using music, photographs and videos wendy allen explains her reasons tofo

weekend. the lincoln group of the district of columbia hosted this event. >> our speaker tonight is wendy allen. most people in the room know who wendy allen is. for those who don't, she's an artist. wendy allen first painted -- did her first painting of abraham lincoln in 1983. since then she's focussed on him as her subject and has made many, many paintings in many different styles. she's listen very active, been interviewed by cnn and had her paintings in the historical society along with some other people you might have heard of.

salvador dolly, norman rockwell. certainly in very good company and so were they. in addition to all this, she lives in gettysburg and has a gallery up there, lincoln into art. she's also very active with the fellowship of pennsylvania. she's on the board and a vice president to the fellowship of pennsylvania. she's also very active in the lincoln forum and a lot of us went there this past year. we had a record turn out. we're going to try to beat that record this year at the forum in november. wendy is involved in all of those. tonight she'll talk about her lincoln art and mibaybe a littl

more than that. plus at the end we'll talk about the lincoln fellowship and her "hundred night of taps" which is a program she runs in pennsylvania. please welcome wendy allen. [ applause ] >> before i begin, i would like to thank david. i made his life miserable today with this technology. >> all weekend. >> oh, all weekend. sorry. it's an entire multi-media presentation with video and i'm surprised he's still talking to me. david, thank you. thank you, john, for all your patience as well. it's an honor to be here tonight, an extreme honor. thank you for welcoming me to your event tonight. it's going to be multi-media.

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>> several years ago the renown lincoln scholar contributed an essay to a book. i found this little nugget concerning a particular photo session lincoln sat for for alexander gardener here in washington on november 8, 1863. it reads -- gardener however has traditionally received the credit for these masterpieces. those were the five pieces you just saw. few have recognized must less understood the sculptor's role in sending lincoln to the gallery there. sarah fisher reeves created none of the credit. in an article that appeared in

the newspaper, the masterpieces harold is talking about is what is the most iconic photo of abraham lincoln, the photo we call "the gettysburg portrait." when i read this, my heart nearly jumped out of my body. i thought another woman, another artist that close to lincoln working to capture that iconic face. i guess you could say i had been starving for another woman's voice. what i wouldn't have given to be a fly on the wall in that studio that day. let me be clear. i'm not out to diminish alexander gardener's genius in any way. but, i feel strongly that i most throw a spotlight on this almost

forgotten bit of history and how this obscure woman artist was responsible for one of the most iconic photos, not just of lincoln, but in the history of photography. who was sarah fisher ames? she was born in 1817 in delaware. in 1845 she married a portrait artist and they left the states to go to rome which in the mid 1800s was considered the art capital of the world. paris didn't inhereit that titl until later. women had more artistic freedom there than in the states. she studied renaissance art.

sarah and joseph came back to the states in the late 1850s and settled in boston. when the war began, sarah volunteered as a nurse and she and her husband moved to washington. by some accounts in 1862 she was put in charge of cleaning up the u.s. capitol building. this is sketchy, but there are thoughts this is where she was. that was turned into a union hospital along with some other government buildings in town. apparently when congress went on recess the soldiers moved into the building and completely trashed it. they urinated in the hall ways, spit tobacco everywhere and were swinging on chandeliers. when sarah started mucking out the building, she found meat

that had been rotting. some scholars think this is probably where sarah met and perhaps became friends with president lincoln. he was a regular visitor to the d.c. hospitals. she was still a working artist and at some point tried to persuade the president to sit for her so she could create a bust from life. lincoln was too busy. he didn't have time to sit for the sculpture. he also felt she wanted to do a classical portrait and he felt it wasn't a good idea to have a woman artist watching him probably not having clothing on top. that was not a proper way to interact. he agreed to have a series of photographic portraits taken of him at alexander gardener's studio.

on november 8, 1863 john hay escorted mrs. ames to gardener's studio. president lincoln soon arrived after them. now here there's two conflicting stories. noah brooks in 1895 describes being there. he gets the date wrong and a lot of people including myself don't believe he was there. he was recollecting much later than the time. he say that is lincoln was sitting there. if you see that photograph of lincoln sitting, there's an envelope. he said that's everett's copy of the gettysburg address. at that point, though, everett was still working on the speech.

i don't think that noah was there. there's nothing to suggest he was there, although brooks suggests he was there. anyway, lincoln and john hays soon arrive after them. the five photographs of lincoln were taken during this summer sitting. two of the photographs were paid for by mrs. ames. by paid for, i believe she retains copy right to those two images. she also obtained the copy right to both. it was hers and is discussed as being the first great modern photograph. it is true. i believe, as do others, that the photo was taken under strict direction of mrs. ames for getting exact facial measurements. she didn't have the right measurements. you know lincoln's face.

she wanting exact measurements of that face. so she asked gardener to shoot this very close photograph. i was just reading today about how gardener didn't realize how great the photograph was that he had until someone actually had a really tight crop of that beautiful photograph. originally the photograph is full, deep down his chest for mrs. ames to get the chest dimensions as well. with the aid of these two photographs sarah fisher ames went on to produce half size small scale busts that were crudely modelled and intended for purchase by middle class collectors. abraham lincoln was very intrigued by that. he thought if people had his sculpture in their houses, it

might help his campaigning. this is what she produced. they were produced in europe. they sold for between $5 and $10 a piece. harold just sold his. he had one in his collection he just recently sold. i would have loved to have seen it. they were a hit. ames acquired substantial notoriety and got more commissions. now my artist pursuit begins. i'm an artist and i paint the face of abraham lincoln. the winters of 1978 and 1979 in connecticut were two of the worst winters i can remember. i had no money and my car was pretty broken down. with little cash and hopes of a new beginning i drove out to california. my wonderful older sister who is

here today took me in while i looked for a job. i landed a job in a publishing department and found a studio that is about a quarter mile now from google. i didn't have any experience in design or publishing, but they gave me a chance. i was working with some incredibly interesting and talented artists there. they opened my eyes to the art world. i never had an art class, but i was really intrigued by everything they were doing. there was also an incredibly vibrant art scene in san francisco at the time. i was motivated. i bought some canvass and oil paint and created some really, really bad art. my paintings were awful. i had never painted or had an art class and didn't know what i

was doing. in 1992 i attended the first civil war institute. there were about 20 of us. we had a blast. it was really fun. the institute rekindled my love for lincoln as well as awakening me to the fundamental issue that i was having with modern and post modern art, that was that it lacked representation of history. i returned to the bay area and i painted my first lincoln. but an artist must innovate. elaine decuning once wrote if the artist did not desire to change all art, he would never get past his love for the artist who first inspired him and be able to paint his own pictures.

what's very cool about elaine who is finally getting recognition for her fantastic work is she was friends with john kennedy and would go down -- this was during the bay of pigs. she painted him live and during this crisis. he just loved having his -- working with her and getting his portrait. they had this show about a year ago in washington. i don't know if anybody saw that. it was an incredible show. they had this piece and it was incredible. i love elaine. i think she's just marvelous. in 2009 i had the chance to go to venice in italy which curates work from all around the world. i love modern art. you throw it, i love it. what bothers me about modern art, post modern art is it

really just lacks history. it seemed to me if contemporary artists had intentionally turned its back on history, i wondered how could they ignore the most important attribute that differentiates us from our great and grand history. at the same time i started to closely study other painters' work. i knew i had a lot of catching up to do in learning. there were a handful of artists that inspired my work, inspires me to paint. the first one was wayne tebow. he was out in san francisco. his painting applications and use of color are staggeringly beautiful. that's one of my lincolns

mimicking his style. i look at their paintings and apply it to what i want to do. another was nathan olverio. he just passed away. his human figures feel transparent to me and beautiful. this is work i've done based on his style. then there's alan mcgee. he lives in maine. i got a chance to work with alan. he does these paintings of rocks. they're gigantic enormous canvass about the size of half that wall. all he's does are paintings of rocks. every painting is the same. when i saw he had a show at the san jose museum of modern art.

i thought you can stick to one subject and do it over and over. i loved that concept. i got a lot of strength there.l. you can see the repetition of the same subject for me was very inspiring. and of course, there is andy warhol. love andy warhol. he is from pittsburgh and so am i. he loved to work with other painters and i love his sense of pop style, and i incorporate that as well. and my most favorite painter, vincent van gogh. there is a new van gogh that they have decided after five

years it is his work. it is in amsterdam. it is from when he was in the asylum. it is a new story that broke today, fascinating story. a lincoln based on van gogh. i am completely mesmerized with the female abstract expressionists --. now you can find her paintings all over. michael westbrook, her name was corinne but she changed it because she felt she would have a better chance to present if she had a masculine name. her works are amazing. people don't know much about her. she is a real innovator. really fun. her work is amazing. and that is my lincoln. i wonder how many people here know janet sobel.

she is from ukraine. she came to the states in the 1940's. she was a painter, housewife, mom. she had five children, i think five boys. and she started painting with the kids. actually her son had a paint set, and she started painting with his paint set. what she does is -- here is janet. she starts splattering paint. the date on that painting is 1945. well, peggy guggenheim discovered her, actually her son gets peggy guggenheim to her house. she paints in her living room. she then offers janet a show. janet's english is not that good. but peggy guggenheim who has a

gallery is mesmerized by her work. so she has a show in new york city. you will never believe who comes to her show but jackson pollack. this is one of my lincolns based on her style of drip painting. here are the two paintings side-by-side. janet sobel's painting in 1945. jackson pollack's first official drip painting is in 1947. he never gives her any credit. she becomes ill and moves away to retirement. she does beautiful splatter paintings. he never really mentions her or gives her credit as an influence. i don't want to take anything away from jackson pollack.

i do not think he invented the splatter painting. i think janet sobel invented the splatter painting. but he certainly borrowed it and applied it beautifully. he also was the supreme model of young, masculine strength in the 1960's helping make the country that transitioned between world war ii and the 1960's. he was exciting. people loved him. he was a real character. that is when he became almost as important as his paintings. but it is interesting. the san diego museum of art has this little janet sobel painting on display now. they claim that it is the first splatter painting. they are very adamant about it

and i am excited they have a painting. it is a little painting, about this big. it is getting of abstract expressionism. they are very excited about that. and then, of course, another influence, getting back to sarah fisher ames and one of the most iconic photos ever taken. the artist must soul search, and i do all the time. one of my most favorite authors is dr. richard selzer. he was a surgeon in new haven, practiced at yale. he is a marvelous writer. he writes wonderful essays. in a series of essays, he concludes the human soul -- and i love this -- that the human soul resides in its wounds. he said whenever he performed surgery on someone and watched them heal, he knew wherever he helped the patient overcome their wounds was where the human soul was, that persistent

thirst for life. he says the soul is shaped by the wounds it works to overcome. i love that. i apply that to searching for america's soul. according to dr. allen galzo in his book, the founding fathers established principles of liberty and democracy that over time were interpreted differently in the north and south. in the north, these fostered belief in free labor and growing mistrust in human vonage. in the south, they produced a dedication to states right and defensive posture on slavery. according to the 1860 census, there were over 4 million enslaved humans in america. compromise was impossible, and the civil war began. according to the civil war trust, union and confederate

forces collided in gettysburg on july 1, 2, 3. soldiers engaged in the battle in the small pennsylvania town. labor including up to 30,000 slaves were forced to serve the southern army. 790 captured or missing. of the wounded, approximately 14% died gruesome deaths in impromptu hospitals over the next few months. when the battle ended and the surviving soldiers retreated, the fields around gettysburg were incomplete this relation -- in complete desolation. a nurse who arrived in gettysburg from upstate new

york and found wounded men lying in the streets and feared walking around them as she passed by. they lay like trees uprooted by a tornado and their lives slowly ebbed away. she was very young and tough. there are great accounts of arguments with doctors and so on. she held her ground. she was very tough. she was in her late 20's. i visited the battleground on several occasions. and for the first time soon after the conflict when the evidence of the carnage lay on every hand, i had grown familiar with death. that is a picture of her. i had grown familiar with death in every shape, yet so close

that it touched me hung a sleeve of army blue and i could not help but feel a moment of shudder. bodies as though thrown by a giant hand in their battered and decaying condition. freshly turned earth on every hand denoted the pits. arms and hands were lifted up as pleading to be finding a earth to keep them from the glare of the date. a deep wound. november 18, 1863, president lincoln arrived in gettysburg to make a few appropriate remarks at the dedication of the newly opened national cemetery the next day. i'm going to make my own case for lincoln. i believe the exact location of america's soul can be found in

gettysburg. i believe that america's soul was defined by the wounds of the civil war, was born at the precise moment lincoln concluded his gettysburg address on november 19, 1863. the strength and character of his words, shaped the horrific battle -- ignobled the nation's sacrifice and make sure our sacred charters of freedom. the declaration of independence, the constitution. and forever changed the course of american history and world history. so, why do i obsessively paint abraham lincoln? because i am painting the exact

location of america's soul. >> we hereby resolve this nation under god shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

>> thank you. [applause] >> before i begin the second part of my talk, does anybody have any questions they would like to ask, or --

yeah? >> how many lincoln portraits have you painted? 2 there -- wendy: they are like my children. i don't put them up for sale. i didn't have a favorite until a few years ago when i painted a very large canvas, that is now in a building you can see it from the square in gettysburg. the corporation that is bought -- that is there bought the painting. that is one of my favorites, because it was very fast, very free-flowing. i love the colors. i'm very happy with that painting. how many paintings? probably close to 400 now. i do school visits. [laughter] >> i just wondered how they react, and any stories you might have of their reaction? >> they go nuts. i do k through college, and

even the young kids, i bring gigantic blowups of my paintings and turned them around, and i have the kids help me. we talk about the gettysburg address. even nursery school. it's just fun. one of my most favorite things is doing school visits. and the high school kids are really interesting, because they want to know about the business of art, so we get into that, and that is kind of fun, too. >> you do one subject, lincoln. you look at someone like monet who did one subject, the water

lilies, i don't know how many times, but always the same style. yours, you have a multitude of different styles. >> that's what i thought would be my direction, as a postmodern artist. take one subject, i do paint other things but my focus has been lincoln, take one focus and then different styles. i thought that was sort of flipping art on, you know, around. >> you went from one style to another, one style, then another, another. not all one style, then another. >> right now because it is the wintertime, and i just want to do my paintings, i have five canvases going on, different

styles, even different mediums. i've been painting a lot. most of the paintings you saw are done in oil. i've been painting in acrylic lately. i never liked it that much, until recently. it has been interesting. i like to experiment with media as well. >> i was trying to figure out how i felt, as each of those pictures went up. for almost all of them, it kept getting better and better. wow. this makes me feel right, good. i had a different reaction to the one where he was faded. now, you spoke highly of the woman's style you were trying to adapt, but seeing him almost disappear from the picture, that to me was not the lincoln that i wanted to see.

>> i am sorry. [laughter] >> but perhaps is more emblematic of what we have today, the articles i passed around, where everybody is trying to grab a piece of the guy and he is disappearing from us as a result. >> that has been a theme recently. i have been painting these paintings have lincoln on paneling, wood, then i paint over it and scratch off the paint, as if trying to find lincoln again. to your point, the one about being faded away, that painting doesn't come across really well on the screen as it does in real life when you see the painting. it was really, really hard to do, one of the most difficult paintings i'd ever done. very little difference between the color palette, but you can still tell it is lincoln. very difficult painting. >> what are you feeling, when you paint more vibrant, or less vibrant? >> when i was in high school or college, i was an athlete and they talk about being in the zone, that muscle memory feeling.

when i paint -- [laughter] once or twice here. but that same sort of feeling where you are not really thinking. you are just painting. >> you have an affection with looking at him. something about his eyes, the eyes are not symmetrical, but there is a sadness, a depth. give us your input on just capturing his eyes in all these different styles. >> i think we can all feel that way, when we look at his portraits. most of the photographs taken for artist scrap, you can't, you know, it's funny. all the stories about him being ugly, nothing could be further from the truth for me. he's one of the most human, beautiful faces i have ever seen, and yeah, that one eye that floats, well, they said he loved having his photo taken. it was once described, it was

like he was looking down the barrel of a gun. he was very good at having his photograph taken, and he loved it. but he had a stunning face. there's not a -- even though it feels very flawed, it is not flawed at all, and i think you can get a sense from those photographs of his compassion and empathy. i am maybe reading too much, but i do. a very trusting face, i think. you look at other photos taken during that time, even with the same black and white feeling, you don't get that same feeling you get from lincoln. and maybe that is because of all the great things he did. but he has a wonderful face. i am just drawn to it. it is just beautiful. a beautiful, american face. the other thing in the gallery, we get people from all over the world coming to the gallery. people love lincoln. my goodness. we had friends come from china,

visitors. they have to leave with a poster of the gettysburg address with one of my paintings. just marvelous. any other questions? i will move on to my next presentation. it is much shorter, about my 100 nights of taps. let me just get that. i might need your help. i'll first explain. my work with the lincoln scholarship -- thank you. i'm the vice president of the lincoln fellowship of pennsylvania, and we put on dedication day on november 19, every year, annually, and invite speakers.

it is a wonderful program. i am sure some of you have already been. i also have the honor of being the emcee, which i love, and it has been a real honor to do that. we also contribute to the traveling trunk that the national park service sends to schools, it is a wonderful program and we support that. we also support, you know the lincoln statue down in the square? that is our statue and we maintain that statute. even though gettysburg is the largest statue garden in the world, i think that statue in the square is probably the most photographed statue in gettysburg with tourists. then, a few years ago, this will be our fourth year, i'll just begin with the program.

100 nights of taps, gettysburg, this year will be 2020. in the summer of 2001, i visited the very special world war i battlefield in ypres, belgium. after touring the battlefield, i witnessed the most amazing ceremony, the nightly sounding of the last post of the gate at ypres, its full name is the memorial to the missing, dedicated to the british and commonwealth soldiers killed in ypres during world war i whose graves are unknown. in 1928, the year after the inauguration at the menin gate memorial, a number of prominent citizens in ypres decided there should be a way to find and express their gratitude to the belgian nation -- of the belgian nation towards those who died for its freedom and independence. they chose to honor the brave

by sounding the last post every evening at 8:00, this is fascinating, except for the occupation by the germans during world war ii when the ceremony was conducted in surrey, england, the ceremony has been carried on uninterrupted since july 1928. when the germans occupied ypres, they moved the ceremony to england. they never missed a night. the evening the polish forces liberated ypres in the second world war, the ceremony was resumed at the menin gate in spite of heavy fighting still taking place on the other side of town. in 2009, i brought the idea of this type of ceremony to the gettysburg national military park, and was graciously turned down. i know why, because i didn't have enough thought behind it, and put too much of the burden of the program on the already burdened park service.

but i carried the idea around me every day. summer 2016, i brought the idea in the form of a more fleshed out proposal to the lincoln fellowship during one of our summer retreats. i got the board's full support, and then i reached out to jeffrey spangler, then he put me in touch with mr. villanueva, probably the most renowned bugler in america, very amazing. he was in my studio the next day and gave his full support. he's retired from the united states air force, where he served 23 years as a trumpeter, drum major and staff arranger with the united states air force band in washington, d.c. he's nationally and internationally recognized as the leading expert on military bugle calls.

finally, in 2017 we launched 100 nights of taps, gettysburg. so every evening between memorial day and labor day at 7:00 p.m., you can relinquish the noise and pressures of the day by strolling through the 17 sacred acres of the gettysburg national military park ceremony to witness the sounding of taps. i've had the honor to participate in this moving ceremony almost 300 times. even though the actual ceremony stays the same, every evening is different. these gifted musicians and bugler's whose patriotism brings them to the cemetery to honor our veterans by sounding taps, a one minute call of gratitude to the interred and a one minute call for the guests in attendance. the musicians travel from all

over the nation to be there and i am overwhelmed by the love and devotion. thanks to our fellowship board members, we also honor veterans and active service members in the audience by bringing them up to the front to pose with the bugler. this should make us all feel really good. large groups of tourists, along with local regulars, make their way to the ceremony. i also witness every bugler greeting each and everyone after the ceremony. interestingly, many of the tourists are from different countries, and they are equally moved by this solemn ceremony, by the sacrifice of the brave soldiers buried here in the gettysburg national cemetery, and they are deeply moved by the words spoken by lincoln in 1863. they want to stand where he stood, and this should make us all feel really good. by late august, shade covers the spot where i stand to introduce the bugler, and i can

finally see the audience without squinting. nature in the cemetery is at rest. it is quiet, beautiful, the very definition of american elegance. calm, serene. the 17 sacred acres create a place that should make us all better people. my goal for the program is the same as last year, commitment to strengthening its core components, most notably through financing to make sure this program endures. i'm in the process of reaching out to gettysburg hotels to offer reduced rates for buglers. mcdonald's offers our buglers free meals, which is really cool. and it has meant a lot to our participants. but ultimately, i just want to get out there and fundraise. one of the most beautiful scenes to unfold at the monument occurs in late august.

this beautiful monument becomes wrapped, and by the way, this is the symbolic place where lincoln delivered the gettysburg address, the beautiful monument becomes wrapped in shade, except for the liberty statue at its top. even during my presentation, before the bugler sounds taps, i stop the ceremony and make the people in the audience look, because they are not seeing the statue, and when they see the statue i can hear an audible gasp in the audience when they see how beautiful it looks at the very top, lit up like that. a stunning sight. in its most organic display, i stand in honor of the ultimate sacrifice given for freedom by the soldiers interred here, and by the quiet light of lincoln's brief but enduring address. i give thanks to the lincoln fellowship and the taps for veterans and the gettysburg national military park for supporting this poignant ceremony and supporting the chance for all of us to come together to honor the brave in quiet light.

>> (inaudible) >> >> that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under god shall have a new birth of freedom, and a government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. ♪ ♪

>> thank you. [applause] i hope you will come and join us this summer for 100 nights of taps. thank you. thank you. [applause] >> wendy, thank you

very much. most of our meetings deal with talking about lincoln as a man of ideas. what you have shared with us tonight i found profoundly moving, in realizing how that man is portrayed, the image that he leaves is as important as supporting the words we know he left with us. the idea of the taps program bringing into current

generations, down to the last generation, the impact of his words at gettysburg, is astounding. thank you very much for what you have done, and for sharing that with us tonight. i'd like you to accept this token of our appreciation. thank you very much. [applause] is there any other business to come before us this evening? then i declare this meeting of the lincoln group of the district of columbia adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020][captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]