viquesney doughboy myths
Despite all his self-promotion (he was only a "famous sculptor" because he billed himself as one in his ads, brochures, and even in his own self-written obituary), after E. M. Viquesney's death in 1946, his memory and legacy virtually disappeared for a time, which provided ample opportunity for any number of myths to arise regarding his work. Below are a few:
Myth: Spencer, Indiana, the sculptor's birthplace, is the "Home of the Doughboy".
No. Even though the letterhead of T. Perry Wesley, Viquesney's original researcher, bore a logo stating such, the first of the artist's "Spirit of the American Doughboy" statues was displayed in Americus, Georgia (where Viquesney was living and working at the time), first in the lobby of the Rylander Theatre, and then in the lobby of the Windsor Hotel. The statue later was shipped to its first purchaser, Nashville, Georgia, where It still stands today.
Myth: Nashville, Georgia, has the first Doughboy statue ever made in America.
No. Despite the prominent banner hanging outside the Berrien County Historical Museum and Archive boldly proclaiming such, the Viquesney Doughboy that stands at Nashville, Georgia, is just the first one ordered from Viquesney in 1920 and completed in 1921, and is not "America's First Doughboy". Sculptor Allen George Newman, for example, had completed his Doughboy statue in 1919, two years ahead of Viquesney.
Myth: The first "Spirit of the American Doughboy" was installed at Centralia, Washington.
No, but that was the plan. In April, 1921, Viquesney won a design contest sponsored by the American Legion, which selected his "Spirit of the American Doughboy" design to be the statue to grace the Legion's planned memorial to four Legionnaires killed in a 1919 riot in Centralia. But the committee responsible for the award reversed itself when it later inspected the statue in person and found that instead of the expected cast bronze, it was made of hollow, pressed sheet bronze produced by the Friedley-Voshardt Company of Chicago, Illinois, and moreover, not personally sculpted by Viquesney. The American Legion consequently withdrew its award and selected another statue, "The Sentinel", by Alonzo Victor Lewis, which was installed at Centralia in 1924. Viquesney tried to salvage the situation by continuing to claim for years afterward that the American Legion had "100% endorsed" his statue until he was forced by legal action in 1935 to cease such claims (see next).
Myth: Viquesney's "Spirit of the American Doughboy" was "endorsed" by the American Legion.
This mistaken belief was actively fostered and spread by Viquesney himself for years in his ads. As mentioned above, in April 1921, the artist won an American Legion-sponsored design competition for a WWI memorial to be placed at Centralia, Washington. In its notice of award, the Legion simply described Viquesney's statue as "being 100% perfect" in its details, but the artist took this as the Legion's "endorsement" of his creation, repeatedly "quoting" it as such in his ads until 1935, when he was finally forced by legal action to cease such claims. Nevertheless, the myth still persists today; a marker at Palatka, Florida states that "The Spirit of the American Doughboy" is "the only statue in the world that has the endorsement of the American Legion as being 100 percent perfect".
Myth: There was at least one Viquesney Doughboy installed in every state of the U.S. (48 states at the time).
Viquesney himself is responsible for this one. Although it might have been true at the time, there are now no existing records of any Viquesney Doughboy(s) that stand or once stood in the states of CA, DE, LA, NM, ND, NH, NV, OR, and RI, despite exhaustive record searches by many researchers.
Myth: There were hundreds of Viquesney Doughboys installed all over the U.S.
Another myth perpetrated by Viquesney, who boasted over 300 of his Doughboys were installed in parks, cemeteries, and courthouse lawns across the country. If true, less than half that total has been found, despite exhaustive record searches by many researchers.
Myth: All Viquesney Doughboy statues are made of cast bronze.
No. Metal "Spirit of the American Doughboy" statues made up to mid-1934 were made from about 75 pressed sheet bronze parts welded together over an internal frame and produced by the Friedley-Voshardt Company of Chicago, Illinois. Those from mid-1934 and onward were made of cast zinc sections and produced by Raphael Groppi Studio of Chicago. There are three known to be made of stone by McNeel Marble Company of Marietta, Georgia. Nevertheless, many newspaper descriptions of local Viquesney Doughboys frequently refer to them as "bronze" whether they are or not. And when it comes time for a restoration or cleaning, many city officials are often quite surprised to find that their "cast bronze" Viquesney Doughboy isn't.
Myth: The first Viquesney Doughboy statues were made in Americus, Georgia.
No. While the first 12-inch miniature statuettes were made in a converted back room of Walter Rylander's Ford dealership on Lamar Street in Americus, all of the original sheet bronze outdoor statues were made by Friedley-Voshardt Company of Chicago, Illinois, even the few that bear a Rylander copyright mark. Americus had no facilities to produce the large statues.
Myth: The original "Spirit of the American Doughboy" statue was a cast bronze from which all other copies were made.
No. The first Viquesney Doughboy statue, still standing at Nashville, Georgia, was made by Friedley-Voshardt Company of Chicago, Illinois. In fact it has been discovered that this sheet bronze Friedley-Voshardt model of the statue, the one originally bearing Viquesney's name, the one that rocketed him to national fame overnight, wasn't even personally sculpted by him. Although designed by Viquesney using sketches and a clay model, the original 1920 sheet bronze version of the outdoor statue found all over the country was actually sculpted by Paul Mohmann, the in-house head of the sculpture department at Friedley-Voshardt.
Myth: The miniature Doughboy statuette was the model for the large statue.
No, it was the other way around. After the full-scale "Spirit of the American Doughboy" made its debut in the newspapers, Viquesney was deluged with requests from veterans for a miniature desktop version, which he happily obliged. Production and shipping of these miniatures began in August of 1921.
Myth: The Doughboy lamps were homemade conversions of the statuette.
Some undoubtedly were, but Viquesney's company did produce the "American Doughboy Art Lamp" as a standard production item. But either way, they were just the statuettes with electrical hardware attached, and is thus probably the basis for the belief that all the lamps were homemade.
Myth: The Doughboy lamp was inspired by a "Perpetual Light" statue in a cemetery somewhere in France.
This statement turned up on eBay in 2013. The seller claimed the original owner of his lamp, a WWI vet, gave that story back in the 1960s. It may stem from the fact that there is a famous 1919 statue, "Le Poilu Victorieux", found all over France, that could be considered the French counterpart of "The Spirit of the American Doughboy". Whether it was the inspiration for Viquesney's 1920 creation is unknown. As stated above, the lamps were just miniatures of Viquesney's "Spirit of the American Doughboy", created here in the U.S.
Myth: The outdoor "Spirit of the American Doughboy" statue was produced in different sizes.
Viquesney himself debunked this myth, correctly stating that a statue atop a tall base looks smaller to the observer. However, the rare stone version is a little shorter than the sheet bronze or zinc versions.
Myth: The Viquesney Doughboy was mass-produced.
Only the small desktop miniatures were mass-produced. The large outdoor statues were manufactured on a per-order basis for each customer.
Myth: The Doughboy was sold in kit form, to be assembled on site by the customer.
Although the Viquesney Doughboy was constructed from many separate metal parts, each statue was assembled at the factory before being shipped to the customer.
Myth: The Doughboy holds a genuine Springfield 1903 rifle.
The statue was constructed of around 75 separate sheet metal parts, including the rifle, which was often bent by vandals or by children trying to swing on it. So as far as I know, it isn't possible for the average person to bend a real rifle.
Myth: Your "Great Uncle Joe" was the model for the Doughboy.
Probably not. Although many people have a family story that some relative was the model who posed for "The Spirit of the American Doughboy", Viquesney himself said he interviewed over 50 returned veterans and studied hundreds of photos before coming up with a composite face for the statue, so in effect, hundreds of men could claim, in a way, that they "posed" for the statue. Also, Alan Anderson, Archivist for the Sumter County [Georgia] Historic Trust, Inc., states that it was two local Americus, Georgia residents, returned veterans Walter Rylander and A. B. Turpin, who did full body poses for the working model of the statue, wearing their complete WWI battle gear. Since Viquesney had been living and working in Americus from 1905 to 1922 and was designing and modeling the Doughboy there from 1918 to 1921, this fits the timeline re: Rylander and Turpin perfectly.
in 2003 I received an e-mail from the late Walter Rylander, Jr., then 85, part of which reads:
"Dear Mr. Kopel,
In stumbling around on the internet, I have luckily found your website.
I am Walter Rylander, the son of the Walter Rylander who reportedly
posed for Mr. Viquesney's "SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN DOUGHBOY". At least
my mother always told me that my daddy posed for the statue soon after
he came home from WW1 and then bought Mr. Viquesney's interest out, and
manufactured the 11 1/2" statue here in Americus."
So again, everybody's got a story...
Myth: Statues that resemble Viquesney's "Spirit of the American Doughboy" are "copycats".
No, although there are some later statues that are obviously inspired by his design. However, the contemporary statue most commonly mistaken for Viquesney's Doughboy is John Paulding's "Over the Top". But Paulding was granted his copyright five months ahead of Viquesney in 1920, which may have been the basis for a copyright infringement lawsuit against the latter in 1922. Nevertheless, by using flamboyant sales tactics and cheaper production methods, Viquesney went on to completely overshadow Paulding, which likely lead to the belief that Paulding was the copycat. To this day, there are some communities which believe their Paulding statue is a Viquesney, when actually they've got the better and more expensive genuine cast bronze work. Leavenworth, Kansas, is one example, which dedicated a plaque in 2001 for the refurbishing work done on their "Spirit of [the] American Doughboy" -- except their statue is John Paulding's "Over the Top to Victory".
No. Even though the letterhead of T. Perry Wesley, Viquesney's original researcher, bore a logo stating such, the first of the artist's "Spirit of the American Doughboy" statues was displayed in Americus, Georgia (where Viquesney was living and working at the time), first in the lobby of the Rylander Theatre, and then in the lobby of the Windsor Hotel. The statue later was shipped to its first purchaser, Nashville, Georgia, where It still stands today.
Myth: Nashville, Georgia, has the first Doughboy statue ever made in America.
No. Despite the prominent banner hanging outside the Berrien County Historical Museum and Archive boldly proclaiming such, the Viquesney Doughboy that stands at Nashville, Georgia, is just the first one ordered from Viquesney in 1920 and completed in 1921, and is not "America's First Doughboy". Sculptor Allen George Newman, for example, had completed his Doughboy statue in 1919, two years ahead of Viquesney.
Myth: The first "Spirit of the American Doughboy" was installed at Centralia, Washington.
No, but that was the plan. In April, 1921, Viquesney won a design contest sponsored by the American Legion, which selected his "Spirit of the American Doughboy" design to be the statue to grace the Legion's planned memorial to four Legionnaires killed in a 1919 riot in Centralia. But the committee responsible for the award reversed itself when it later inspected the statue in person and found that instead of the expected cast bronze, it was made of hollow, pressed sheet bronze produced by the Friedley-Voshardt Company of Chicago, Illinois, and moreover, not personally sculpted by Viquesney. The American Legion consequently withdrew its award and selected another statue, "The Sentinel", by Alonzo Victor Lewis, which was installed at Centralia in 1924. Viquesney tried to salvage the situation by continuing to claim for years afterward that the American Legion had "100% endorsed" his statue until he was forced by legal action in 1935 to cease such claims (see next).
Myth: Viquesney's "Spirit of the American Doughboy" was "endorsed" by the American Legion.
This mistaken belief was actively fostered and spread by Viquesney himself for years in his ads. As mentioned above, in April 1921, the artist won an American Legion-sponsored design competition for a WWI memorial to be placed at Centralia, Washington. In its notice of award, the Legion simply described Viquesney's statue as "being 100% perfect" in its details, but the artist took this as the Legion's "endorsement" of his creation, repeatedly "quoting" it as such in his ads until 1935, when he was finally forced by legal action to cease such claims. Nevertheless, the myth still persists today; a marker at Palatka, Florida states that "The Spirit of the American Doughboy" is "the only statue in the world that has the endorsement of the American Legion as being 100 percent perfect".
Myth: There was at least one Viquesney Doughboy installed in every state of the U.S. (48 states at the time).
Viquesney himself is responsible for this one. Although it might have been true at the time, there are now no existing records of any Viquesney Doughboy(s) that stand or once stood in the states of CA, DE, LA, NM, ND, NH, NV, OR, and RI, despite exhaustive record searches by many researchers.
Myth: There were hundreds of Viquesney Doughboys installed all over the U.S.
Another myth perpetrated by Viquesney, who boasted over 300 of his Doughboys were installed in parks, cemeteries, and courthouse lawns across the country. If true, less than half that total has been found, despite exhaustive record searches by many researchers.
Myth: All Viquesney Doughboy statues are made of cast bronze.
No. Metal "Spirit of the American Doughboy" statues made up to mid-1934 were made from about 75 pressed sheet bronze parts welded together over an internal frame and produced by the Friedley-Voshardt Company of Chicago, Illinois. Those from mid-1934 and onward were made of cast zinc sections and produced by Raphael Groppi Studio of Chicago. There are three known to be made of stone by McNeel Marble Company of Marietta, Georgia. Nevertheless, many newspaper descriptions of local Viquesney Doughboys frequently refer to them as "bronze" whether they are or not. And when it comes time for a restoration or cleaning, many city officials are often quite surprised to find that their "cast bronze" Viquesney Doughboy isn't.
Myth: The first Viquesney Doughboy statues were made in Americus, Georgia.
No. While the first 12-inch miniature statuettes were made in a converted back room of Walter Rylander's Ford dealership on Lamar Street in Americus, all of the original sheet bronze outdoor statues were made by Friedley-Voshardt Company of Chicago, Illinois, even the few that bear a Rylander copyright mark. Americus had no facilities to produce the large statues.
Myth: The original "Spirit of the American Doughboy" statue was a cast bronze from which all other copies were made.
No. The first Viquesney Doughboy statue, still standing at Nashville, Georgia, was made by Friedley-Voshardt Company of Chicago, Illinois. In fact it has been discovered that this sheet bronze Friedley-Voshardt model of the statue, the one originally bearing Viquesney's name, the one that rocketed him to national fame overnight, wasn't even personally sculpted by him. Although designed by Viquesney using sketches and a clay model, the original 1920 sheet bronze version of the outdoor statue found all over the country was actually sculpted by Paul Mohmann, the in-house head of the sculpture department at Friedley-Voshardt.
Myth: The miniature Doughboy statuette was the model for the large statue.
No, it was the other way around. After the full-scale "Spirit of the American Doughboy" made its debut in the newspapers, Viquesney was deluged with requests from veterans for a miniature desktop version, which he happily obliged. Production and shipping of these miniatures began in August of 1921.
Myth: The Doughboy lamps were homemade conversions of the statuette.
Some undoubtedly were, but Viquesney's company did produce the "American Doughboy Art Lamp" as a standard production item. But either way, they were just the statuettes with electrical hardware attached, and is thus probably the basis for the belief that all the lamps were homemade.
Myth: The Doughboy lamp was inspired by a "Perpetual Light" statue in a cemetery somewhere in France.
This statement turned up on eBay in 2013. The seller claimed the original owner of his lamp, a WWI vet, gave that story back in the 1960s. It may stem from the fact that there is a famous 1919 statue, "Le Poilu Victorieux", found all over France, that could be considered the French counterpart of "The Spirit of the American Doughboy". Whether it was the inspiration for Viquesney's 1920 creation is unknown. As stated above, the lamps were just miniatures of Viquesney's "Spirit of the American Doughboy", created here in the U.S.
Myth: The outdoor "Spirit of the American Doughboy" statue was produced in different sizes.
Viquesney himself debunked this myth, correctly stating that a statue atop a tall base looks smaller to the observer. However, the rare stone version is a little shorter than the sheet bronze or zinc versions.
Myth: The Viquesney Doughboy was mass-produced.
Only the small desktop miniatures were mass-produced. The large outdoor statues were manufactured on a per-order basis for each customer.
Myth: The Doughboy was sold in kit form, to be assembled on site by the customer.
Although the Viquesney Doughboy was constructed from many separate metal parts, each statue was assembled at the factory before being shipped to the customer.
Myth: The Doughboy holds a genuine Springfield 1903 rifle.
The statue was constructed of around 75 separate sheet metal parts, including the rifle, which was often bent by vandals or by children trying to swing on it. So as far as I know, it isn't possible for the average person to bend a real rifle.
Myth: Your "Great Uncle Joe" was the model for the Doughboy.
Probably not. Although many people have a family story that some relative was the model who posed for "The Spirit of the American Doughboy", Viquesney himself said he interviewed over 50 returned veterans and studied hundreds of photos before coming up with a composite face for the statue, so in effect, hundreds of men could claim, in a way, that they "posed" for the statue. Also, Alan Anderson, Archivist for the Sumter County [Georgia] Historic Trust, Inc., states that it was two local Americus, Georgia residents, returned veterans Walter Rylander and A. B. Turpin, who did full body poses for the working model of the statue, wearing their complete WWI battle gear. Since Viquesney had been living and working in Americus from 1905 to 1922 and was designing and modeling the Doughboy there from 1918 to 1921, this fits the timeline re: Rylander and Turpin perfectly.
in 2003 I received an e-mail from the late Walter Rylander, Jr., then 85, part of which reads:
"Dear Mr. Kopel,
In stumbling around on the internet, I have luckily found your website.
I am Walter Rylander, the son of the Walter Rylander who reportedly
posed for Mr. Viquesney's "SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN DOUGHBOY". At least
my mother always told me that my daddy posed for the statue soon after
he came home from WW1 and then bought Mr. Viquesney's interest out, and
manufactured the 11 1/2" statue here in Americus."
So again, everybody's got a story...
Myth: Statues that resemble Viquesney's "Spirit of the American Doughboy" are "copycats".
No, although there are some later statues that are obviously inspired by his design. However, the contemporary statue most commonly mistaken for Viquesney's Doughboy is John Paulding's "Over the Top". But Paulding was granted his copyright five months ahead of Viquesney in 1920, which may have been the basis for a copyright infringement lawsuit against the latter in 1922. Nevertheless, by using flamboyant sales tactics and cheaper production methods, Viquesney went on to completely overshadow Paulding, which likely lead to the belief that Paulding was the copycat. To this day, there are some communities which believe their Paulding statue is a Viquesney, when actually they've got the better and more expensive genuine cast bronze work. Leavenworth, Kansas, is one example, which dedicated a plaque in 2001 for the refurbishing work done on their "Spirit of [the] American Doughboy" -- except their statue is John Paulding's "Over the Top to Victory".
