Don De Lue

Donald Harcourt De Lue

Born 1897, Boston, MA

Died 1988, Leonardo, NJ

 

Donald De Lue was considered the dean of American sculpture when he died in 1988 at age 91.  Heroic figures comprised an important part of his work, including The Rocket Thrower for the 1964 New York World’s Fair and the American war memorial at Normandy, France.  Also titled Life Eternal, this monumental sculpture is cast from the half-size original model of the bronze placed in 1956 at the American Cemetery near St. Laurent-sur-Mer.  There, at Omaha Beach and nearby Utah Beach, on June 6, 1944, five United States ground and airborne divisions established an initial foothold on the European continent at the cost of heavy casualties.  Commissioned by the American Battle Monuments Commission in 1949, De Lue created the heroic figure of a young man reaching for the heavens as a symbol of the loss of life on D-Day.  The sculpture is subtitled, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,” – lines from the Battle Hymn of the Republic.  At the time, this was the largest commission De Lue had received and its success placed him in the forefront of sculptors working in monumental scale. 

 

Spirit of American Youth

Bronze, 1952

Height: 92¼ in.

Signed: D. DeLUE SC © 1954 / 1/52

Founder’s mark: . MODERN ART FOUNDRY . / . NEW YORK . / . N.Y. . (and insignia)

S.1981.005