Gettysburg Address to Be Home for Lincoln Statue

J. Seward Johnson, whose statues are so lifelike that a security guard once shot one, envisions a down-to-earth rendering of Abraham Lincoln for this town where the 16th President delivered his most famous speech.

Johnson’s Lincoln will be near the town square, but on the sidewalk instead of atop a pedestal--and with a likeness of a 20th-Century tourist. The tourist, dressed in slacks and a cable-knit sweater, holds a copy of the Gettysburg Address as he listens to the President.

The artist, who lives near Princeton, N.J., has been commissioned to create the statue for this rural Pennsylvania town where Lincoln delivered the address during the Civil War 127 years ago.

Johnson, perched on an antique chair in the office of Civil War scholar Gabor Boritt, said the statute will “celebrate Lincoln’s humanity, bring him off a pedestal, celebrate the greatness of him as a human being.”

Another purpose, he said, is “to show that the Gettysburg Address was still a meaningful document today.”

The 268-word address, which begins, “Four score and seven years ago . . .” is familiar to millions. Scholars regard it as one of the most forceful and elegant speeches ever made.

Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the national military cemetery in Gettysburg on Nov. 19, 1863.

In Johnson’s artwork, Lincoln is saying something to the tourist and pointing to the nearby Wills House, where he stayed the night before the speech.

“He might have been saying how uncomfortable the bed was,” Johnson said with a laugh, flexing his long, thick fingers. “Whatever it is, the fellow is a little bit in awe of him.”

Johnson hopes to have the sculpture completed for the annual Gettysburg celebration next November.

A model has been on display around town for several weeks, and the reception has been positive, Johnson said. He resisted suggestions that he replace the tourist’s sweater with a jacket, but agreed to some minor changes.

“On something like this, I feel an artist has to be very sensitive to the people who have to live with it,” he said.

He was commissioned for the work by the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania, which sponsors the annual ceremony marking the speech. The group has sought a Lincoln statue for nearly 50 years.

“The hope has been here for a long, long time, and finally we are doing it,” said Boritt, a professor of history at Gettysburg College. He said the Lincoln Fellowship is trying to raise $100,000 to pay for the art and its maintenance.

“We are willing to accept a dollar, and we will accept $10,000,” Boritt said.

The works will be cast in bronze, but they will wear real clothes coated with a plastic-like resin.

Johnson’s lifelike sculptures are displayed in 26 states, the District of Columbia and several foreign countries.