Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor received a commission for a piece in the late 1,800′s. That piece was the Statue of Liberty, commissioned by the country of France to be given to the country of the United States in honor of the 100th anniversary of the U.S. signing of the Declaration of Independence. Bartholdi was born in Alsace, but moved to Paris to train to become an architect. While in training for architecture he also studied painting, and soon began sculpting. The Statue of Liberty was not his only monumental piece, he focused on monumental sculptures and memorials and his masterpiece is considered to be one that is in Belfort, France…The Lion of Belfort.

The sculptor, who used his mother as the model for the creation of the Statue now on Ellis Island, did require assistance in the technical and structural aspects of creating such a large piece of work. He commissioned the help of man who designed the Eiffel Tower, Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, a man very knowledge about metal framework. Together the created the massive structure with a set of two different armatures, one being just as a skeleton functions for the human body, providing the strength necessary but allowing various sections to move independently from one another.

During the process, both countries ran into financial difficulties and relied on the donations and benefits thrown in order to raise the needed funds. In New York airport, hotel, and restaurants held theatrical and musical benefits. As was done in France. The French did manage to raise money for the completion of the sculpture itself, but the US was responsible for the funding and the building of the pedestal on which she would be installed. And the fund raisers just weren’t generating the funds. Joseph Pulitzer ran a news paper at the time. He wrote editorials criticizing the nation’s wealthy families and businesses for not contributing. He did succeed in this way. American people were motivated to donate and in October of 1886, the sculpture was installed on Ellis Island.

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