Leonard Wells Volk was an American sculptor. He is notable for making one of only two life masks of United States PresidentAbraham Lincoln. In 1867 he helped establish the Chicago Academy of Design and served as its president until 1878. He made several large monumental sculptures, including the tomb of the politician Stephen A. Douglas, and statues of American Civil War figures.
Before 1855 Volk married Emily Clarissa King Barlow, daughter of Honor and Dr. Jonathan King Barlow of Bethany, New York. Her maternal cousin, Stephen A. Douglas, a nationally known politician who ran against Republican Abraham Lincoln as the Democratic Party presidential nominee in 1860. Their son Stephen A. Douglas Volk as an adult became notable as a figure and portrait painter. He studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme in Paris. Later he helped establish the Minneapolis School of Design.
Career
In 1848 Volk moved west and opened an artist's studio in St Louis, Missouri. From 1855-1857, Stephen A. Douglas, his wife's cousin, supported the family's travel to Rome so that Volk could pursue additional study. Returning to the United States in 1857, Volk and his family settled in the booming city of Chicago, where he helped to establish the ChicagoAcademy of Design, precursor to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For eight years, he served as its director and taught numerous students, including Elbridge Ayer Burbank, who became noted for his more than 1200 portraits of Native Americans. In 1860 Volk made a life mask of Abraham Lincoln. Only one other was made, by Clark Mills in 1865. In the early part of spring 1860, during Lincoln's visit to Chicago, Volk asked him to sit for a bust. The artist decided to start by doing a life mask. Lincoln found the process of letting wet plaster dry on his face, followed by a skin-stretching removal process, "anything but agreeable". But he maintained good humor, and was pleased with the final bust. He declared it "the animal himself". Volk later used the life mask and bust of 1860 as the basis for other versions of Lincoln, including a full-size statue. The life mask was also studied by other artists, such as Daniel Chester French. In mid-May 1860, Volk went to Springfield to present the Lincolns with the completed cabinet bust. He had just received the nomination as presidential candidate for the Republican Party. The following day Volk asked Lincoln to allow a casting of both his hands, for use in other sculptural works. Volk wanted Lincoln to hold something to simulate grasping a document in his right hand. Lincoln came back from his tool shed with a whittled piece of broom handle. The casting for Lincoln's right hand was made as he held the broom handle. Lincoln's left hand was cast slightly closed but empty.
