World War I was a war the American people didn’t want.
In 2015, the World War I Centennial Commission launched a design competition to support the creation of a National WWI Memorial in our nation’s capital. When artist and Master Sculptor Sabin Howard was selected to craft the monument that would be the focal point of the Memorial, he brought a worldview that through art, we can return to the values system that has driven Western Civilization for over 2,000 years.
“The War to End all Wars” raged in Europe and the Middle East for nearly three years as leadership and public opinion in America embraced a posture of neutrality. Chief among the American people’s concerns was their opposition to sending working-class men and boys to fight a war in faraway lands, captured in the sentiment that “a rich man’s war meant a poor man’s fight.”
A series of German provocations eventually made it impossible for our nation’s leaders to ignore the urgent threat to democracy. After declaring war on Germany, the Selective Service Act was passed to raise a national army through conscription. Millions of young Americans would serve, and over 100,000 would make the ultimate sacrifice in just 18 months.
Capturing the physicality of the common man who served in World War I and conveying the depth of their heroism was no small feat. But for Howard, whose nearly 60-foot-long, 25-ton bronze frieze titled “A Soldier’s Journey” was unveiled just steps from the White House earlier this year, it was the most important story to tell about the war.
“Veterans’ faces are a direct history of what they have passed through,” he remarked when reflecting on the process of bringing this epic work to life.
The focus of his story is the Everyman – who answered the call to serve, toiled and triumphed for the flag and returned home a different version of himself. When you get to know Howard’s mission to bring back traditional sculpting methods and celebrate humanity through a lens of conservative values, it’s no surprise he cast the Everyman as the hero.
The time it took to bring this vision to life was magnitudes greater than the amount of time the U.S. fought in the actual war. To tell this story, Howard worked with dozens of models in torn-from-the-period uniforms, took over 12,000 action photographs of the models and marshaled a team of artists moving massive figures across oceans as they sketched, sculpted and cast this tribute to the Everyman. The final monument, the story, details 38 moments in the soldier’s journey of service.
Parallels abound between the era of World War I and the years that this monument was being created, none quite so disruptive as the grips of global pandemics. In 1918, the Spanish flu had a significant impact on WWI from the battlefield to the high seas and beyond.
Howard received approval on the vision in 2019, and he and his team had only begun putting hand to clay when the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world. It touched every part of their operation, from team scheduling to acquiring the materials they needed from the best foundries in the U.K. They were challenged to embrace a new kind of creativity and camaraderie, even quarantining together while creating the monument.
The expanse of time and overcoming challenges looms large in this story, not just in the pandemic parallels, but in the connections between the models who helped animate “A Soldier’s Journey.”
A young man who worked for Howard served in Afghanistan and returned home with trauma so deep he tried to take his own life. During the creation of the monument, Howard arrived at the battle scene “The Cost of War,” and found early iterations lacking. He wanted to convey the violence more viscerally.
Thinking of the experience of the young man who worked for him, he saw an opportunity to invite veterans to model the scenes and bring them to life. Having served in recent conflicts, their ability to physically embody the movements, the tension that capturing these scenes required, wasn’t a matter of acting – it was innate.
The horrors of the trenches of World War I reverberated on those who served, and their wounds, both seen and unseen, were profound. The trauma that afflicted those who served – then known as shell shock – lives in today’s veterans by another name: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Many of those who served who were part of this monument found the experience to be a step toward healing.
The role of philanthropy in creating this is another undeniable thread connecting past to the present. The charitable tax deduction in America dates to 1917, when it was enacted during WWI to ensure charities could continue to serve the needs of the nation, particularly during such a dark hour. And as Howard worked on this important monument, the philanthropic community played an important role spotlighting his work.
“It’s a wildly interesting story, given his ideological leanings and ongoing push by some in society to tear down monuments,” remarked Christie Herrera, president and CEO of Philanthropy Roundtable. “He’s on a mission to create national monuments that inspire American values.”
Prominent supporter of the arts Rebecca De Simone, Esquire calls Howard “America’s Michelangelo.” She became involved with his work a few years ago, and is playing a leading role in promoting this and future projects leveraging her deep background in the political and philanthropic worlds.
“Philanthropy is the perfect connection point – art is fundamentally an act of charitable giving that supports the well-being of societies. The ancient Greeks, humanity’s most prolific artists, conceived the term ‘philanthropy’ to mean ‘love of humanity,’” DeSimone said, explaining the instrumental role the philanthropic community plays promoting Howard’s work.
In creating “A Soldier’s Journey,” Howard sought to magnify the complexities of the Everyman’s experience not only through his dedication to authenticity, but also through scale. There are few works of this magnitude in Western Civilization. Making it happen against the backdrop of a global pandemic is a testament to the importance of telling this story and proof of concept that as an artistic leader, Howard can do what he says he can do.
His next project will bring another uniquely American story to society, this time in Fort Worth, Texas. “The New American Century Grand Liberty Arch” will tell the story of our country from its founding through the modern era, illustrating some of the most unifying moments that gave root to our sense of purpose while sending spirits soaring.
“Art captures the historic memory of the nation,” Howard said, explaining the story arc of the Liberty Arch. In this moment of bitter societal division, he views this work as a hopeful opportunity to recast the American story, putting its exceptional achievements front and center.
This is perhaps the most powerful role liberty-minded philanthropists can play supporting this work. By investing in and elevating artists like Howard, they take advantage of the opportunity to have a say in how America is viewed and interpreted for generations to come.
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