THE MANY MOODS OF LINCOLN
Oak Brook sculptor Rebecca Childers Caleel captures the emotions of our sixteenth President.
Rebecca Caleel in Ottawa, IL, with her sculpture First Debate of Lincoln & Douglas
Humble yet noble. Empathetic but stoic. Humorous while brooding. These are all descriptions used by historians to describe the dynamic personality of the sixteenth President, Abraham Lincoln. February 12th is the birthday of this most respected president, whose profound achievements and political struggles were peppered with personal tragedies. Last spring marked 160 years since Lincoln’s assassination at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.
Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809. He grew up on the American Frontier as his family moved around the Midwest. Despite little formal education, he was an avid reader. Although he never attended law school, he served apprenticeships with several attorneys. He was admitted to the bar in 1836 after passing an oral examination with the Illinois Supreme Court.
Lincoln’s political career began in the Illinois State Senate. His oratory and rhetorical skills attracted national attention during the 1858 Senate debates against Stephen Douglas. Although Lincoln lost the election to Douglas, he was elected President of the United States just two years later.
Lincoln faced the enormous task of preserving the Union during the Civil War. The passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, which led to the eventual abolition of slavery throughout the country, was one of the hallmarks of his presidency. His assassination two years later shook the nation he worked so hard to reunite.
Notwithstanding his tragic death, his storied career defines a life well lived. But the gentle giant had a dichotomous personality. Despite his quiet sense of humor, Lincoln’s personal life was wrought with sadness and death -his mother at a young age, then two of his sons during their childhood. His life was understandably plagued by episodes of brooding.
Oak Brook sculptor Rebecca Childers Caleel has built a career capturing Lincoln’s contributions to American history along with his dynamic emotions. A four-decade sculptor, Caleel’s representations of the well-respected president are nationally recognized.
A native of Port St Joe, Florida, Caleel is a graduate of Florida State University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Design degree. She began her career by collaborating with her brother, Dr Wayne Childers, an Oxford-trained archeologist and authority on Spanish Colonial Florida. The cooperation heavily influenced the old-world civilization and Native American art and design techniques Caleel emulates today.
Early on, Caleel served as the Assistant Director of Displays for Lord & Taylor in Atlanta. She also modeled on the side. A friend in the industry invited her to move to Chicago and room together. Soon after, she met her husband, Dr George Caleel, while she attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The couple moved to Oak Brook on the advice of friends who lived in the western suburbs.
“We were attracted to the beauty and amenities Oak Brook offers,” said Caleel. “Our children had much more freedom here than they had in the city and made many friends here in town.” For years, she was actively involved in the Infant Welfare Society’s Oak Brook Chapter, as well as the Women’s Board of the Adler Planetarium. “I have a wonderful life here,” said Caleel. “People are very friendly and helpful. Oak Brook is such a welcoming community.”
While Caleel also has a passion for jewelry making, her first love is sculpture. She has spent her adult life apprenticing with some of the world’s authorities on the art form, such as Mustafa Naguib, the former National Sculptor of Egypt. “My mother always said, ‘If you’re going to learn something, you must learn from the best.’ That was one of the most valuable educations I ever had,” said Caleel. “He would not accept anything other than perfection with anatomy. We were a small group of only five students, so you can imagine how much we learned.” The master sculptor had the students sculpt the skeleton first, then the muscles, then the skin. “He told us that if the sculpture is not anatomically correct, we would end up with a stick figure.”
Several-month stints of study abroad in France and Italy added a European dimension to Caleel’s style. But likely the most influential study of the body was with forensic sculptor Betty Gatliff. A pioneer in the art of forensic facial reconstruction, Gatliff was tasked with reassembling the head of President Kennedy after his assassination. “Gatliff was most helpful in my anatomical study of learning facial features.”
Before a sculpture is sent to a foundry to be bronzed, it is formed with clay in the artist’s hands – a process that requires fastidious attention to detail. The subject’s armature (framework) must be correct from head to toe. “You always start at the bottom and work your way up,” said Caleel. “It’s like building a house. You must have the correct proportions.” It’s a time-consuming step that can take many months or even a year, depending on the sculpture’s size.
And that’s only the first step. For example, in the case of Garden of Heros, a U.S. government commission for a proposed garden in Washington D.C., Caleel labored for 40 hours a week for four months. “My kids thought I was crazy,” said Caleel. “But I’m a perfectionist with Lincoln.” Unfortunately, Garden of Heroes never made it past the preliminary maquette (an artist’s small, preliminary model of the sculpture) as the project was put on hold due to budgetary restrictions.
But even before any hands-on work is ever started, the first step is extensive research of the subject, as in the case of Lincoln and Son – a depiction of the President reading to his young son, Tad. The sculpture is modeled after a photograph taken in 1846 by Matthew Brady. To ensure accuracy, Caleel requested information on the material and patterns of Lincoln’s clothing from Ford’s Theater Museum in Washington, D.C. The exact measurements and style of the chair the President occupies are to scale. The Smithsonian and the Illinois State Archives have also provided Caleel with detailed information on Lincoln over the years.
Caleel’s Lincoln and Son is on permanent display at the Oak Brook Public Library.
Photo by Victor Hilitski
Caleel’s Lincoln and Son was commissioned by The Oak Brook Women’s Club in 2004. It was one of the works submitted for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in Springfield. Today, the sculpture graces the Oak Brook Library.
Historians often mention the distinct asymmetries of Lincoln’s face. To accurately capture these details, Caleel uses a tool known as the life mask – basically a mold made by plastering the face to capture the person’s image. Caleel has a copy of Lincoln’s first life mask, taken when the young man was running for president. A second life mask was created shortly before he was assassinated. “The differences between the two are remarkable,” Caleel pointed out. “The first is a young man’s visage full of hope, and the second is quite a different careworn image after the Commander-in-Chief had literally been through a war.”
First Debate of Lincoln & Douglas is a 2002 commission from the city of Ottawa, IL, to commemorate the first of the seven Lincoln-Douglas debates, which took place in the Metamora Courthouse. Lincoln’s twelve-foot stature towers over Douglas’ nine-foot depiction, emphasizing the height difference between the two candidates. The historic figures stand in a fountain just feet from the courthouse where Lincoln kept his law office.
Photographs of Caleel’s well-respected work have been used by others to illustrate various parts of Lincoln’s life and personality. The maquette of the First Debate of Lincoln & Douglas is in the illustrated chapter Lincoln in Modern Art, of the publication The Lincoln Enigma: The Challenges Facing an American Icon, written by Harold Holzer of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. A photograph of her sculpture, Standing Lincoln, graces the cover of The Taste is in My Mouth… a Little, by Dr Wayne C. Temple, Chief Deputy Director of the Illinois State Archives. Other photographs of her work are also used as illustrations in the publication.
Lincoln at Fort Stevens
The Battle of Fort Stevens was the only time in American history when a sitting president came under fire from enemy combat.
Caleel was selected as one of only three sculptors – and the only woman – to present a maquette of The Fort Stevens War Wall, a proposed 7.5 x 100 ft wall for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in Springfield. Unfortunately, The Fort Stevens War Wall, along with The Second Inauguration, a second part of the project, was put on hold due to budgetary constraints.
While Caleel is particularly proud of her work with Lincoln, he is not her only person of interest. In 2000, she was the sole artist selected to exhibit her sculpture of Egyptian themes for the Chicago Opera Theater. Two large sculptures, The Pharaoh Akhenaten and Queen Hatshepsut, in addition to other smaller pieces, were displayed for the event. Concurrently, The Art Institute of Chicago’s Pharaohs of the Sun exhibit included Caleel’s Pharaoh Akhenaten sculpture.
Caleel also accepts other private and corporate commissions for airports, churches and hospitals. She sculpted a life-sized mother, infant and child for the opening of the Angel Harvey Welfare Society of Chicago Community Health Center on the City’s north side in 2004. The sculpture, entitled Hope, speaks for those seeking help from the clinic and the opportunity to lead a healthy life.
Caleel believes, “If you look far enough into the past, you will see the future.” Her work with one of the most respected presidents gives us a bird’s-eye view.
For more information on Caleel’s work, visit rcaleel.com
