Known as America’s Michelangelo, sculptor Sabin Howard dedicated 9 years to creating and sculpting A Soldier’s Journey, the sculptural heart of the WWI Memorial

KENT, CONNECTICUT, UNITED STATES, August 15, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Widely known as America’s Michelangelo, master sculptor Sabin Howard dedicated nine years of his life to designing, creating, and sculpting A Soldier’s Journey, the sculptural heart of the new National WWI Memorial being installed right now in Washington, DC.

Howard entered the global design competition for the National WWI Memorial in 2015 and won the competition in January, 2016, with his partner architect Joe Weishaar. Weishaar renovated Pershing Park, an urban park outside of the famed Willard Hotel. Pershing Park had fallen into disrepair.

Howard set forth to create a fitting tribute to the 4.7 million people who served in the Great War and the more than 116,000 who died in Europe. Vehemently anti-war, Howard intended to make a memorial that did not glorify war and its devastation, but that honored the courage and sacrifice of veterans and the heavy toll of war paid by their families.

The resulting 38 figure, 58’ long, 10’ high bronze relief pays homage to the true valor of warriors who travel abroad in service to our country and its ideals of liberty and equality.

Howard’s poignant relief is a kind of movie-in-bronze from left to right, showing a doughboy as he takes leave of his family, heeds the call to arms, enters the madness of battle, suffers the cost of war, and then returns home, victorious but changed forever.

As Howard told Russ Roberts on the popular Econtalk podcast, “It’s a story that would be understandable universally, the story of a father, and an allegory of the United States. It follows the idea of the hero’s journey that Joseph Campbell wrote about…It’s an allegory for the change in our world…”

Howard and his team, including sculptor Charlie Mostow, finished sculpting the magnificent relief in January, 2024. They traveled to the foundry in the UK for the final casting of the clay figures into bronze.

Howard also has engaged in a publicity campaign to inform the American people of the forthcoming monument, which is sculpted to level of High Renaissance art, and which embodies the ideals of intertwined humanity and the uplift of the human spirit. Howard has spoken with such notables as Victor Davis Hanson and Mike Rowe.

Now the 25-ton bronze sculpture is being welded into place in Washington, DC, 150 yards from the White House. Howard will shortly be on site to apply the final patina.

All this is in preparation for the candle-lit Illumination Ceremony, which will be held on September 13, 2024 at 6:45 pm. This event honoring veterans and inaugurating the stunning new National WWI Memorial will be live-streamed and covered by national television. A reverent array of dignitaries, celebrities, and veterans will be on hand to witness the event.

Rebecca DeSimone, Esquire
Sabin Howard Sculpture LLC
rdrosebud@gmail.com
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Augusts in the Studio