The Jane A. Delano Monument: Meaning and the Turn Toward Modernism in American Sculpture

Art historical narratives are traditionally constructed using extant works, but the unfinished Jane A. Delano monument (c. 1923) by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney reveals stylistic experimentation in sculpture between 1920 and 1930 that had a significant impact on public monument commissions. Just as American sculpture began responding to the influx of European modernism, monument culture collided with increased demands to commemorate the First World War. Although public monuments are considered to be among the most conservative art forms, the Delano monument commission demonstrates that changes in stylistic preferences could have a profound impact on the meaning of these projects.

Far from being a staid academic, Whitney’s correspondence, preparatory sketches, and photographed models for the Jane A. Delano monument represent a turning point in American sculpture when the earlier use of realism to express modern subjects was modified to reflect the move toward abstract idealism. While her generational peers largely rejected the move toward abstraction, Whitney’s knowledge of modernist developments as an arts patron led to her artistic engagement with new stylistic forms. Modern abstraction created new meanings for public monuments; realism typically celebrated individual achievement, but idealized abstraction tended to celebrate the contributions of groups. This case study has significant implications for contemporary commemoration projects as patrons and audiences ask probing questions about equity: are murals, symbolic figures, or abstract forms equivalent to realistic figurative monuments as we seek to close the gender gap in public space?