Civilization in the Balance

 

I am not a great fan of President Andrew Jackson.  Yet this equestrian statue (erected in 1852, five years after its commissioning), in front of the White House, is one of the most important pieces of sculpture in the world.  You see it was created by an American sculpture Clark Mills, in his studio and bronze foundry he established in Washington, DC.  It is the first bronze equestrian sculpture cast in America.  But, more importantly, Mills accomplished, with his creative engineering genius, something no one had ever done.  He had confidence in himself and he knew no better.  Up until the creation of this sculpture, no one had ever, in the history of art been able to create a mounted equestrian statue that was able to stand on its hind legs perfectly balanced without some third support like the horse’s tail or another object.  This American sculptor defied gravity and created equilibrium in a monumental sculpture for the first time in history.  Yet today in the enlightened 21st century ignorant savage anarchists – Americans no less, attempted to pull down this impressive and historic sculpture, unique to the world.  Their objective was to destroy it.

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About Cliff Page

Cliff Page is a native of Charleston, South Carolina, with roots that run deep, and precede the Revolution, but spread from the red clay of the mountains to the sandy loam and swamps of the low country. As an artist, he was Sculptor in Residence at the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, NH in 2015, during its 50th Anniversary and the 150th Anniversary of the assassination and death of Abraham Lincoln. He studied at the National Institute for the Fine Arts in Mexico and was a Fulbright Fellow to Italy and was nominated as a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar and Indo-American Scholar in the past. He holds degrees from Old Dominion and East Carolina Universities.

Four years ago he was a candidate for Mayor of Portsmouth, Virginia, where he lives and maintains his studio and is running again for this high office. For the last five years, he has stopped his own work as a sculptor and directed his efforts to preserve and protect Southern monuments and memorials honoring our Confederate Veterans and the brave heroes of Dixie.

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