John Rogers was known as The People’s Sculptor. Between 1859 and 1893 he produced more than 70 different sculptures, which in turn were reproduced more than 80,000 times. All were made via a casting technique he introduced and perfected.

For many collectors and art patrons, John Rogers groupings are highly esteemed for their sensitive depiction of slaves during the mid to late 1800s. Rogers is credited with being one of the first American artists to depict slaves in less than a demeaning way. The statue titled The Fugitive’s Story (patented 1869) features three leaders in the crusade-against- slavery listening to the story of a slave mother’s escape. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher (brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe), John Greenleaf Whittier (renowned poet) and William Lloyd Garrison (journalist/reformer) were friends and supporters of John Rogers and posed for this statuary.

In addition to prodigious press accounts in Northern cities, Rogers was recognized by the National Academy of Design, who made him a member in May of 1863. He exhibited at the Academy annually from 1860 to 1892. In addition to the sculpture groups, Rogers is the sculptor of the Lincoln bronze statue on display in Manchester, N.H., dedicated in the year 1895. One of the most popular of Rogers creations, Council of War:1868, was praised in a letter by Robert Todd Lincoln: “…our family has always regarded {this group} as the most lifelike portrait of his father in sculpture.” Lincoln also wrote directly to Rogers commenting favorably on The Wounded Scout (1864).

Famed author and historian, William Cullen Bryant, is quoted in a letter to Rogers dated l869: “You have succeeded to a higher degree than almost any artist of any age in making sculpture a narrative art, giving motionless and speechless figures the power to relate their own adventures.”

Rogers was born in Salem, Mass., in 1829. At age 16 he was apprenticed to a Boston merchant. Caring little for this line of work, he tried his hand as a machinist and draftsman, developing skills that he later applied to his craft. While working in Manchester, N.H., he discovered some workable clay and began to model using wooden tools which he created (and improvised throughout his career). Rogers relocated to a locomotive machine works in Hannibal, Mo., where his artistic pursuits dwindled for a period due to 14-hour work days.

Finding himself unemployed in 1858 (due to the financial panic if 1857), he traveled to Italy and France to study sculpture. First exposed in Italy to an emerging process for creating molds, he experimented with ways to recreate plaster-based figurines. In 1859 he became a surveyor’s draftsman in Chicago, where he donated one of his first models to a charity fair. The piece sold for the sum of $75, launching his career. The bold venture of selling art for small profits to ordinary folk departed entirely from artistic precedent.

Due to Roger’s penchant for writing letters to his family describing his aspirations and frustrations, art admirers and collectors today are the beneficiary of one of the best documented histories of an American art motif. Without the benefit of a mentor artist for inspiration, Rogers helped create and exhibit a style of art that would have mass appeal at a price within reach of the average American. Many middle-class Victorian homes displayed Rogers works in parlors or bay windows where they could be viewed from all angles.

The five genres that Rogers’ featured provide much acclaimed insight into the life and times of our recent forbearers: literary subjects; scenes from Shakespeare; the Civil War; ordinary life and times; and advanced social commentary. Warm, human sympathy is evident in the statuaries, made from a hardened plaster or ground gypsum, with a mixture of siliceous powder reinforced by pewter and iron armature. The statues averaged more than 20in in height and weighed nearly 100 pounds, on average. Horse enthusiasts are interested to discover that Rogers built a special door in his studio to enable horses to enter for observation. His anatomy lessons paid off as his equine subjects are renowned.

Prior to the American Civil War, sculpture was an art form known only to the wealthy. Rogers helped introduce American Realism, displaying the feelings and interests of ordinary people. Realism was a bridge between Romanticism of the pre-Civil War generation and the Naturalism of the 1890s. Yet, because he was an abolitionist, whose anti-slavery sympathies are evidenced in six of his statuaries, his work was not welcomed below the Mason-Dixon Line. He is widely considered to be a sensitive interpreter of the Civil War experience. Unfortunately, that posture diminished awareness of Rogers’ genius in the entire Southern region for generations.

Notable shifts in theme and emphasis occurred during Rogers’ long career. Following the Civil War, his themes became more sentimental and also evidenced a keen interest in theatre and literary subjects. Some groups are serious in tone while others bear the voice of humor and sometimes pathos. This variety contributed to his longevity as a popular figure. However, following the economic downturn of the l880s and the rather dramatic cultural shift (i.e., the “gay 90s”) Rogers art was considered “old-fashioned.” Following this revolutionary period of societal change, appreciation of Rogers artistry took a long sabbatical until the 1930s. A 1926 issue of Antiques provided this commentary: “The fact that Rogers groups are fragile has made them rare enough to arouse the interest of collectors, although I doubt that they will ever be widely collected or will ever acquire high values. They are too large to be collected in quantity.”

The majority of sales were in New York, New England and the Midwest. Rogers’ sales techniques were legendary. For example, each time new statuary was produced, he sent free models to prominent newspapers. Little surprise that dozens of highly complimentary news articles resulted. Rogers’ remarkable talent for self-advertisement and prodigious statuary production made his name a household word. He averaged “publishing” (his term) two groups per year for more than 30 years. Almost all of the statuaries carried in his annual sales catalog (available for 10 cents) were also featured in stereopticon views as well as period lantern slides. These, of course, are now sought-after collection items.

The production of a Rogers group involved 10 distinct processes. The molds were made of softened glue, poured over a pattern. When hardened the mold was cut away from the pattern. The plaster mixture was then poured into the inverted mold into which bent metal wire created a strong armature. Often this process was followed for several individual figures, which would eventually be bound together. In several instances certain exposed elements, such as horse’s ears, were made from pewter. As Roger’s business and reputation grew, he eventually employed a team of artisans to produce the finished works, including three applications of a special paint.

R. Gaines Steer is an architectural antiques dealer (The Last Unicorn) and Personal Historian (Creative Writing Services) as well as curator of the John Rogers Museum & Studio, Chapel Hill, N.C. Contact (919) 968-8440 or email info@thelastunicorn.com