Jefferson Memorial Statue

From Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia

The Jefferson Memorial Statue was created by Rudulph Evans and installed in 1947. The report of the Committee on Sculpture was made at a meeting of the Jefferson Memorial Commission on April 3, 1939. It was recommended that the first procedure should be to invite the submission of photographs and records of executed work by an y one who wished to be considered as sculptor for the Jefferson statue.

On July 25, 1939, Chairman Kimball of the of the Committee on Sculpture, reported to the Commission that the jury of prominent men selected to judge the application, composed of Henri Marceau, the Chairman and two sculptors, James Earle Fraser and Heinz Warneke. They had met in Washington and spent three days going over the 101 sets of photgraphs submitted by the applicants. The six sculptors selected to compete in the second stage of competition were Rudulph Evans, Raoul Josset, Lee Lawrie, Maurice Sterne, Sidney Waugh, and A.A. Weinman.

At the meeting of the Commission on September 13, 1940, Lee Lawrie, Rudulph Evans, and A.A. Weinman were invited to prepare revised models for the statue. The revised models were then reviewed by the Commission on February 21, 1941. Finally the model of made by Rudulph Evans was selected.

The statue of Thomas Jefferson is placed in a central position in the Memorial Hall and it stands 19 and a half feet high on a base 6 feet above the floor. The dates of Jefferson's birth and death (1743-1826) are inscribed in bronze letters on the front of the pedestal. The temporary plaster figure was erected in 1942 and then the permanent bronze statue was installed in 1947.