The E. M. Viquesney "Spirit of the American Doughboy" Database
"THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN NAVY"
"A Companion to the Doughboy"
The variant version at
Palatka, Florida.
Palatka, Florida.
Six years after his success with "The Spirit of the American Doughboy", a new Viquesney World War I tribute, "The Spirit of the American Navy" was first installed at Clearwater and Palatka, Florida on November 11, 1927. The sculpture occurs in three versions: two of metal, one of stone. The one pictured above is the most common, and is constructed in the same stamped sheet copper method as most of Viquesney's metal Doughboys.
First appearing as an illustration in a 1926 foundry catalog, the sculpture at Palatka (left), also of sheet copper, is the only one posed differently from the rest. Perhaps because of an amusing silhouette that can be viewed around sunset, this version didn't sell more than one copy; Palatka's is the only one like it in existence, all the others being posed like the one above. Meant to be a companion to "The Spirit of the American Doughboy", it sold poorly, occurring in only seven locations: Kingman, Arizona; Clearwater and Palatka, Florida; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Granite and Hobart, Oklahoma; and Crowell, Texas. The last is also unique in being the only stone version.
"The Spirit of the American Navy" at Kingman, Arizona is the only example of this piece known to be standing on the same base with "The Spirit of the American Doughboy"; all the other six are displayed very nearby a copy of it. There are no known examples of "The Spirit of the American Navy" standing alone without his Doughboy "buddy" within sight.
The piece was available in miniature, but like the full-size monuments, it, too, didn't sell nearly as well as the miniature Doughboys.
First appearing as an illustration in a 1926 foundry catalog, the sculpture at Palatka (left), also of sheet copper, is the only one posed differently from the rest. Perhaps because of an amusing silhouette that can be viewed around sunset, this version didn't sell more than one copy; Palatka's is the only one like it in existence, all the others being posed like the one above. Meant to be a companion to "The Spirit of the American Doughboy", it sold poorly, occurring in only seven locations: Kingman, Arizona; Clearwater and Palatka, Florida; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Granite and Hobart, Oklahoma; and Crowell, Texas. The last is also unique in being the only stone version.
"The Spirit of the American Navy" at Kingman, Arizona is the only example of this piece known to be standing on the same base with "The Spirit of the American Doughboy"; all the other six are displayed very nearby a copy of it. There are no known examples of "The Spirit of the American Navy" standing alone without his Doughboy "buddy" within sight.
The piece was available in miniature, but like the full-size monuments, it, too, didn't sell nearly as well as the miniature Doughboys.
 ''The Spirit of the American Navy'' in miniature. Right: The piece as described in a Viquesney brochure. |
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