Figures: bronze; Shaft and base: New Hampshire granite
Type:
Sculptures-Outdoor Sculpture
Sculptures
Owner/Location:
Administered by City of Manchester Parks & Recreation Department 625 Mammoth Road Manchester New Hampshire 03104
Located Victory Park Chestnut, Amherst, Pine & Concord Streets Manchester New Hampshire
Date:
Dedicated May 30, 1929
Notes:
Save Outdoor Sculpture, New Hampshire survey, 1993.
Image on file.
The Manchester Union, May 31, 1929, pg. 1.
(Columbia figure group, lower proper left on robes:) Lucien/H. Gosselin/Sculp (Columbia figure group, lower proper right edge:) T.F. MCGANN & SONS./BOSTON MASS. (Grieving figure, lower proper left on robes:) Lucien H. Gosselin/Sculp (Grieving figure, lower proper left edge:) T.F.MCGANN & SONS CO./BOSTON MASS (On open volume held by grieving figure, incised lettering:) (within wreath:) 1918/(left page:) IN MEMORY OF/THE MANCHESTER/MEN WHO DIED IN/THE GREAT WAR-/THAT THE WORLD/BE MADE SAFE FOR/DEMOCRACY.../(right page:) IN A RIGHTEOUS/CAUSE THEY HAVE/WON IMMORTAL/GLORY AND HAVE/NOBLY SERVED/THEIR NATION IN/SERVING MANKIND signed Founder's mark appears.
The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.
Summary:
A memorial consisting of a tall granite shaft with a bronze figure of Victory at the top and two bronze figure groups at the base. Victory is depicted as a winged female, dressed in long robes, her arms raised high. In her proper right hand she holds a flagpole and in her proper left hand she holds a laurel branch. She stands on a globe and below the globe are four eagles, one on each corner of the shaft. Below Victory, at the base of the shaft, stands a female figure representing Columbia, flanked by a soldier and a sailor. Columbia wears an armored breastplate and a helmet. She holds a shield inscribed with "1917" in her proper left hand and brandishes a sword in her raised proper right hand. At her feet is a smoking cannon barrel. On her proper right is a soldier holding a rifle and on her proper left is a sailor holding a rifle.
On the back of the shaft is a grieving figure with hood draped over her head. The figure leans against a large, open book with her proper left forearm resting on the top and holding a wreath out over the front, and the proper right elbow resting on top and supporting the head. A bronze wreath adorns one side of the shaft. The memorial is set in a plaza, surrounded by walkways. A walkway leading to the front of the memorial has a short set of stairs that was once flanked by urns.
