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MacMonnies’s sculpture of Nathan Hale faces City Hall: in fact, it stands almost where Civic Virtue was originally dedicated. (See the second installment of this walking tour for more on Civic Virtue.) When I came to New York in the 1980s, you could walk all around Hale. Since 9/11, though, he’s behind the fence of the City Hall grounds, and you can’t get in to look at him unless you have permission from someone in the building. But if you walk south from Greeley on Park Row, past the guardhouse for City Hall, you can see a side view of Hale behind the fence.

Hale is one of my favorite sculptures in New York City … or anywhere else. It’s by Frederick MacMonnies, who also sculpted Civic Virtue, but it was completed in 1890 – thirty years before Civic Virtue. It was dedicated the same year as the sculpture of Greeley that we saw in the third installment of this tour.

Virtues vs. specific values

I’ve posted on Hale here and in Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, and I discuss Hale and MacMonnies’s career in Artist-Entrepreneurs: Saint Gaudens, MacMonnies, and Parrish. Rather than repeat all that information here – particularly since you can’t get close to the sculpture – I want to repeat a point I made in Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan, because it’s important for sculpture, painting, literature, movies … in fact, for all art.

Many Objectivists are uncomfortable with artworks that don’t explicitly jibe with the Objectivist philosophy. Huntington’s Joan of Arc is an example, as well as many stories from Greek mythology and the Bible, and even modern works such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But here’s the problem: the purpose of a work of art isn’t to teach philosophy, or even to teach history. It’s to convey a sense of what’s important, in fundamental terms.

This sculpture doesn’t show Hale fighting for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It show the way he fought for what he believed in: courageously, steadfastly, defiantly. In Objectivist terms, Hale shows virtues rather than specific values. Virtues such as courage and defiance can inspire any viewer, no matter what specific values he’s fighting for. A fervent Communist might adore this sculpture, without contradiction.

That’s why this statue has such wide appeal. It shows virtues that almost anyone can relate to. If you reject works based on their subject rather than their theme, you deprive yourself of many opportunities for enjoyment and inspiration.

Related poem

When I led this walking tour of sculptures in the Financial District, I had a volunteer read William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus” aloud, because it reminds me vividly of MacMonnies’s Hale. You should read it aloud, too! This poem was published in 1875, fifteen years before Hale was dedicated.

Out of the night that covers me,
 Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
 I thank whatever gods may be
 For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears 

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate;

I am the captain of my soul.

More

• In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Included are chapters on MacMonnies’s Hale and Huntington’s Joan of Arc. Available on Amazon in print and Kindle formats.
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