St. Gaudens' Lincoln

Otto J. Schneider

"St. Gauden's Lincoln" is an etching by Schneider and was the 18th Presentation Gift Print for the Chicago Society of Etchers and printed in an edition of 350.

The subject "Abraham Lincoln: The Man" (also called Standing Lincoln) is a larger-than-life size (12-foot) bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. The original statue is in Lincoln Park in Chicago, and several replicas have been installed in other places around the world. Completed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens in 1887, it has been described as the most important sculpture of Lincoln from the 19th century.

At the time, the New York Evening Post called it "the most important achievement American sculpture has yet produced." Abraham Lincoln II, Lincoln's only grandson, was present, among a crowd of 10,000, at the unveiling. The artist later created the Seated Lincoln sculpture in Chicago's Grant Park.

Painter, illustrator, and printmaker Otto J. Schneider was born in Atlanta, Logan County, Illinois in 1875. His family moved to Chicago when he was twelve and later studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. He worked as an illustrator in Chicago before heading to study at the Art Students League in New York, and Academie Julian in Paris. Schneider was, with Bertha Jaques, Ralph Pearson and Earl Reed, one of the founders of the Chicago Society of Etchers in 1909. He was referred to in some publications as the "American Helleu" because of portraits of women dressed in finery. He later became known for his portraits of notable men, including Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and Theodore Roosevelt, to name a few.

Selected exhibitions include the Louisiana Purchase Expo, St. Louis World’s Fair, 1904; Panama Pacific Exhibition, 1915; and the Art Institute of Chicago. Otto J. Schneider died in 1946.