Henry Augustus Lukeman was an American sculptor, specializing in historical monuments. He was born in Richmond, Virginia

Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

, and introduced to sculpting at age 10 at a boys' club miniature workshop. From 10 to 13 he worked with clay and wood. He then became a pupil of sculptor Launt Thompson

Launt Thompson

Launt Thompson , American sculptor, born in Abbeyleix, Ireland. Due to the potato famine occurring in Ireland at the time, he emigrated to the United States in 1847 with his widowed mother, and they settled in Albany, New York. There, he found work as a handyman.-Biography:After studying anatomy...

 until age 16, followed by an apprenticeship at the foundry of Jno Williams until 19. Then for several years he studied terra cotta

Terra cotta

Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...

and architectural modeling for building and exterior decorations while in the evening studying life drawing and the antiques at the Cooper Union

Cooper Union

The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...

 and the National Academy of Design

National Academy of Design

The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...

 in New York. His work was recognized by the Henry Street Settlement

Henry Street Settlement

The Henry Street Settlement is a not-for-profit social service agency in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City that provides social services, arts programs and health care services to New Yorkers of all ages. It was founded in 1893 by Progressive reformer Lillian Wald.The...

 and he earned an honorary L.H.D. from Dickinson College

Dickinson College

Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...

.

When the construction began of the World's Columbian Exposition

World's Columbian Exposition

The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...

, 1893, he superintended the enlarging of some of the most important works. He aided sculptor Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French was an American sculptor. His best-known work is the sculpture of a seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.-Life and career:...

 in his Statue of the Republic

Statue of the Republic

The Statue of the Republic is a gilded bronze sculpture in Jackson Park, Chicago, Illinois. The statue was built in 1918 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago and the Illinois statehood centennial...

. He then went to Europe and worked under Jean-Alexandre-Joseph Falguiere

Alexandre Falguière

Jean Alexandre Joseph Falguière was a French sculptor and painter.He was born in Toulouse...

 in the Beaux Arts

École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts

The École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts is the distinguished National School of Fine Arts in Paris, France.The École des Beaux-arts is made up of a vast complex of buildings located at 14 rue Bonaparte, between the quai Malaquais and the rue Bonaparte, in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Près,...

, Paris. He then returned to New York and became a pupil of friend and mentor Daniel Chester French before starting his own studio in New York.

His independent work began with portrait busts and statues, the National Sculpture Society

National Sculpture Society

Founded in 1893, the National Sculpture Society was the first organization of professional sculptors formed in the United States. The purpose of the organization was to promote the welfare of American sculptors, although its founding members included several renowned architects. The founding...

 Seal, bas-reliefs, ornamental sculptures and many monuments. Lukeman's most noted work was Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock in Stone Mountain, Georgia, United States. At its summit, the elevation is 1,686 feet amsl and 825 feet above the surrounding area. Stone Mountain granite extends underground at its longest point into Gwinnett County...

 in Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

. He designed and worked on the sculptures of Stone Mountain, after removing Gutzon Borglum

Gutzon Borglum

Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum was an American artist and sculptor famous for creating the monumental presidents' heads at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, the famous carving on Stone Mountain near Atlanta, as well as other public works of art.- Background :The son of Mormon Danish immigrants, Gutzon...

's work (who had originally been given the commission but resigned). When funding ran out in the advent of the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, he continued to pay the craftsmen until his own means fell short. The carving remained incomplete for decades until sculptor Walter Hancock and chief carver Roy Faulkner, using Lukeman’s models, completed the edited version (no legs on horses) in 1970 measuring 300 feet in length and 190 feet in height.

Lukeman died in New York on April 3, 1935, at age 65 leaving his wife, formerly, Helen Bidwell Blodgett.

Public sculptures

• Four figures, Hebrew Law Giver, Hebrew Psalmist, Hebrew Apostle and Hebrew Prophet for the facade of the Brooklyn Museum
  Brooklyn Museum
  The Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
  
  , 1907-1909
• The World War I
  World War I
  World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
  
   monument, the "Prospect Park Memorial", in Prospect Park, Brooklyn
• Stone Mountain, Atlanta
• Two sculptures in Statuary Hall, National Capitol, Washington, DC- Jefferson Davis and Senator J.Z.George
• Gold Pulitzer Award (Lukeman combined talents with Daniel Chester French)
• The Straus Memorial in Straus Park, Manhattan
• Manu, the Law Giver of India, on the appellate Court Building, New York, NY
• President William McKinley Statue, Adams, Minnesota
• President William McKinley Statue, Toledo, Ohio
• President Franklin Pierce, New Hampshire State Capitol
• Francis Asbury Equestrian Sculpture
  Francis Asbury (Lukeman)
  Francis Asbury, also known as the Francis Asbury Memorial, is a public equestrian statue, by American artist Augustus Lukeman, located at 16th Street and Mt...
  
  , Washington, DC
• Francis Asbury Statue, Madison, New Jersey
• Robert Livingston, St Louis, Michigan
• Professor Joseph Henry, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
• Kit Carson
  Kit Carson
  Christopher Houston "Kit" Carson was an American frontiersman and Indian fighter. Carson left home in rural present-day Missouri at age 16 and became a Mountain man and trapper in the West. Carson explored the west to California, and north through the Rocky Mountains. He lived among and married...
  
   Monument in Trinidad, Colorado
  Trinidad, Colorado
  The historic City of Trinidad is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Las Animas County, Colorado, United States...
  
   (Lukeman created the figure of Carson while sculptor Frederick Roth
  Frederick Roth
  Frederick George Richard Roth was an American sculptor and animalier, well known for portraying living animals. The statue of the sled dog Balto in New York City's Central Park is perhaps his most famous piece.-Biography:...
  
   executed the horse)
• 4 colossal statues for the Royal Bank of Canada headquarters in Montreal
• Soldiers’ Monument, Somerville, Massachusetts
• The Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Pittsfield, Massachusetts (refurbished, Memorial Day 2010)
• Equestrian statue of Major General David McM. Gregg, Reading, Pennsylvania
• Elisha Yale at Gloversville, New York
• Former President James K. Patterson of the University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky
• Memorial to the Women of the Confederacy, Raleigh, North Carolina
• Columbus, New York Custom House
• Bas-relief portrait of Daniel Boone, Paris, Kentucky
• US Grant Memorial, San Diego, California
• Saint Louis Exposition medal
• Lieutenant Cushing on the Dewey Arch, New York, New York
• Gen William Sheppard, Westfield, Massachusetts
• Sculpture at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York
• Sculptures at the Saint Louis Exposition in 1904 (awarded a medal)
• Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Public Square, Watertown, New York

Sources

• Obituary: New York Times, Thursday April 4, 1935
• The Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Virginia, May 10, 1903
• Portfolios and papers given to the Smithsonian, American Archives, Washington, DC