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1936: "WOMEN OF THE CONFEDERACY"

In 1905, E. M. Viquesney moved from Indiana to Americus, Georgia to work on the Confederate memorials at Andersonville. For nearly 15 years he remained in the South, calling Americus his "adopted hometown", and starting his American Doughboy Studios there.

It was thus no surprise that Viquesney was sympathetic to the cause of the Southern Confederacy, including in his 1936 catalog this miniature statuette tribute to its women. He must have known that it would only have limited regional appeal, but he produced it anyway.

Unfortunately, the advertising for the piece illustrates one of Viquesney's deceptive sales tactics: Notice by the wording how the reader is led assume that Viquesney was the sculptor of the large-scale marble monuments at Macon and Rome, Georgia, when in fact, he wasn't: The figures were carved by sculptor John Wolz, who died in 1922. However, a reference does state that "R. M. [sic] Viquesney" did design the monument at Rome.

This wasn't the first time Viquesney deliberately tried to confuse himself with the work of a dead competitor: See his version of "Over the Top", the title of which he blatantly stole from sculptor John Paulding the year after Paulding died.

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