The John Rogers Studio & Museum

The John Rogers Museum & Studio is open Saturday 10-5 and Sundays 2-5 pm. Directions:  919 968-8440. Gaines Steer, art collector and curator.

John Rogers, the “People’s Sculptor,” (also hailed as the “Norman Rockwell of the 1800’s”) was ”… the first American to show his country-men that sculpture was a living art.”

Prior to the American Civil War, sculpture was an art form known only to the rich; John Rogers produced and sold more than 70,000 genre statues (over 80 separate groups). “An unparalleled achievement….”

“No American sculptor has approached him in popularity…. Up to and even after 1860, the dominant feature of American sculpture….had been its slavish adherence to a moribund Neo-classicism and its almost complete neglect of American themes.”

Quoted passages: John Rogers: the People’s Sculptor. David H. Wallace

The Fugitive's Story (1869)
Behind desk, on right: Rev. Henry Ward Beecher (brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe); John Greenleaf Whittier (renowned poet);

Seated: Wm Lloyd Garrison (journalist/reformer). These leaders in the crusade-against-slavery listen intently to the slave mother’s escape account.

Over 50 original John Rogers group statuaries are on display in this setting.
They reflect five themes: literary subjects; scenes from Shakespeare ; the Civil War; ordinary life and times; advanced social commentary. Warm, human sympathy is evident. Among the most noted characteristics are: a storyteller’s ageless humor; profound detail (particularly of the human face) ; the accurate physiology of the horse; slavery exposed.

Rogers helped introduce the Realist Art Style into the United States, displaying the feelings and interests of ordinary people. The statuary, cast in a mixture of plaster and pewter, captures the often forgotten culture of our recent forebearers.

Because Rogers body-of-work (circa1859-1893) coincided with The Civil War, and many of his subjects strongly reflected Union and Abolitionist (anti-slavery) sympathies, he was never popular below the Mason-Dixon. Unfortunately, that posture diminished awareness in the entire Southern region for generations…. (Rogers works are in 15 museums in the North and West; ours is the only permanent display in the South). “

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.” William Cullen Bryant, 1869

The studio & Museum is open year-round on Saturdays (10-5pm); Sundays (2-5pm); or by appointment. The studio is not-for-profit; admission is free.

Tours arranged. Donations are appreciated.

PRESS RELEASE

In recognition of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial, the John Rogers Museum & Studio (recently opened in Chatham County) announces the acquisition of the Civil War statuary: The Council of War.  One of 60 genre statuaries displayed in this museum of the 1800’s, this patented statuary, dated March 31, 1868, depicts President Abraham Lincoln conferring with General U.S. Grant and Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton (namesake of Staunton, Va).

The American artist, John Rogers, well-known as a chronicler of the Civil War, dedicated over a dozen period sculptures to the Civil War , its pathos and characters.  His stance as a friend of abolitionists severely limited his popularity below the Mason-Dixon Line.  This museum in the only exhibit of this historical collect in the South. The Council of War statuary was highly praised by its featured characters. Lincoln himself praised the statue it in a letter to the artist and Lincoln’s son, Todd Lincoln, wrote that “ My family have always regarded John Roger’s Group The Council of War as the most life like portrait of our father in sculpture.” Secretary Staunton wrote: “….in form and function it surpassed any effort to embody the expression of that great man.”

“News accounts, including photos, of the Museum are archived and can be sent upon request.”