Walt Whitman

Paul Wayland Bartlett, born New Haven, CT 1865-died Paris, France 1925 · modeled ca. 1887-1889

Sculptors often create medals to honor famous individuals, and here we see an image of the poet Walt Whitman (1819-1892), who wrote the classic Leaves of Grass in 1855. Whitman’s work was a landmark in American literature that celebrated the poetry of everyday life in a young and democratic nation. Paul Wayland Bartlett’s irregularly shaped medal is likely a study for a more finished work.