This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Oct. 11, 2011 - Her late father-in-law John R. Frank had a vision of showing Abraham Lincoln "not as a super man, but as a common man," says Berva Frank.
A Lincoln artist, John R. Frank wanted to "convey in a bronze a young Lincoln who rose to the challenges of the presidency to greatness," says Berva Frank, his daughter-in-law and fellow artist.
The sculpture, 23 years in its creation, is on display in the Visitors Center of the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Ill. Dedicated in a ceremony on Oct. 9, it's the first major artwork to be added to the Lincoln Home collection in more than 20 years.
Unveiled by several of John R. Frank's grandchildren, the statue depicts "a young, relaxed Lincoln leaning against a rail fence," says Berva Frank.
"The cameras of the time required (subjects) to hold still, and that's why when you see these old photographs, people are not smiling," says Berva Frank. "They are stern, pretty solemn. But every photograph of Lincoln looks different. And most of the statues I had seen showed him standing and stiff, almost formal."
The history of the project is this: The Lincoln Home, in 1988, asked John R. Frank to create a bronze statue based on a 17-inch wooden carving he had done. Frank was a wood artist and antique dealer in St. Charles, who painted and created even roosters in wood. Lincoln, though, was his primary subject, says Berva Frank. A nonprofit fundraising group, the People's Tribute to Lincoln, was formed to finance the project, and John R. Frank began work.
However, in September 1988, at age 81, he became ill and died. He had asked Berva, then an art teacher in Calhoun and Brussels high schools and a watercolor painter, to complete the project. The original idea was to convert Prairie Lawyer into wax, ultimately to be cast in bronze.
"I really was more of a painter than a sculptor," says Berva Frank, who now lives in Centennial, Colo. "I had worked in clay and wood and a few other things like that. I had not sculpted a Lincoln. And I had never sculpted in wax. When we did the half-size Lincoln, which I started in February 2010, I tried to start it in wax. But I have a little arthritis. I found it a little too hard to work with, so I started all over. I went with clay, a softer medium.
"Originally, we thought we'd make it full size, 6 feet-4 (inches). But I didn't want to start over with fundraising," she said. Plus the original foundry she was going to use went bankrupt and she had to find another: Art Castings in Loveland, Colo. "We were very impressed with their work," she said. "That's where we knew we wanted go. We could do it with the money we had available."
Approximately 15 months passed, Berva Frank says, including three months off when her mother died. After that, it took her, she says, approximately one year -- finishing in May 2011 -- to create the mold in clay.
The casting process is described by John W. Frank, "as all very delicate." John W. is Berva's husband and the son of the original sculptor, John R. Frank.
"You have to be very careful handling it when it gets to the foundry. It involves Art Castings creating a wax model of Berva's piece; then a ceramic material is placed over it that can withstand 2,000 degrees.
"After a ceramic mold is made, it's broken off and in place is the bronze that then is welded together. It's finished off with a patina," says John W. Frank.
Berva's thoughts on the result? "I'm not sure if an artist is ever satisfied with his or her work. I think I was at the point of being exhausted. But it felt like we got him."
Says John W. Frank: "At one point when it was all finished and Berva saw her work, she said, 'I hope the Lincoln Home is as happy as I am'."
Still, there remained the logistics of getting Prairie Lawyer, all 120 pounds of him, safely to Springfield, Ill.
"We went up to Art Castings foundry, loaded into it into a Chrysler minivan, tied it down with heavy ropes and drove it back," says John W. Frank. "Abe Lincoln was looking out the side window of a Chrysler Town and Country, all tied in rope."
There is one other significant difference between what John R. Frank envisioned and what was executed by his daughter-in-law, with assistance from family, friends and supporters: "Now," says Berva Frank, "he's 3 feet 2."
Paul Povse is a freelance writer from Springfield, Ill.