Photo: Mark Roloson, Endicott, NY.
VESTAL, NEW YORK
N 42° 05.964 / W 075° 58.850
Copyright version 1920, pressed copper, likely copy by George F. Yostel.
Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Number: NO ENTRY.
Copyright version 1920, pressed copper, likely copy by George F. Yostel.
Smithsonian Art Inventory Control Number: NO ENTRY.
In Vestal Hills Memorial Park, 3997 Vestal Road, Vestal, New York, near Binghamton University.
No plaques or inscriptions other than the title, "Spirit of Our Heroes".
Found in March, 2005 by Geocacher "Team Ferret", this sculpture was first thought not to be Viquesney's "Spirit of the American Doughboy", but the head, torso and legs are identical to the 1920 version, as are the tops of the two shortened tree stumps on the base. According to Vestal Hills Cemetery officials, the statue was damaged in the past, and the arms were "restored" in their unusual positions (note the odd-looking proper right shoulder that looks like it once pointed the arm up). It isn't known if the original upraised right hand held ever held a grenade. It's possible the statue was restored the way it was in an attempt to make it look like one of several other Doughboy monuments in similar poses, like this example at Cooperstown, NY.
There are no plaques or inscriptions other than the title, "Spirit of Our Heroes". But it's this different title that offers the only clue as to who the maker was, as there is an identically named statue in Cincinnati's Rest Haven Cemetery that also appears to have been fabricated from Viquesney's original 1920 molds, in the same pose as "The Spirit of the American Doughboy". It bears the maker's mark of George F. Yostel, so we can assume Vestal's copy is by the same artist.
We know that Viquesney changed his Doughboy design slightly in 1934, abandoning pressed copper for cast zinc, and at the same time changed foundries from Friedley-Voshardt Company to Raphael Groppi Studios in Chicago. We also know Friedley-Voshardt kept the 1920 molds because the Doughboy at Warren, Ohio was made from them in 1941, seven years after the switch, and it bears their maker's mark instead of Viquesney's. So although this statue bears the name of a different artist, it was made from Viquesney's original 1920 molds and probably originally stood in the same pose as "The Spirit of the American Doughboy".
There are no plaques or inscriptions other than the title, "Spirit of Our Heroes". But it's this different title that offers the only clue as to who the maker was, as there is an identically named statue in Cincinnati's Rest Haven Cemetery that also appears to have been fabricated from Viquesney's original 1920 molds, in the same pose as "The Spirit of the American Doughboy". It bears the maker's mark of George F. Yostel, so we can assume Vestal's copy is by the same artist.
We know that Viquesney changed his Doughboy design slightly in 1934, abandoning pressed copper for cast zinc, and at the same time changed foundries from Friedley-Voshardt Company to Raphael Groppi Studios in Chicago. We also know Friedley-Voshardt kept the 1920 molds because the Doughboy at Warren, Ohio was made from them in 1941, seven years after the switch, and it bears their maker's mark instead of Viquesney's. So although this statue bears the name of a different artist, it was made from Viquesney's original 1920 molds and probably originally stood in the same pose as "The Spirit of the American Doughboy".
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