Katharine Lee Bates, Author of "America the Beautiful", (sculpture).

Katharine Lee Bates, Author of "America the Beautiful", (sculpture).

Lillie, Lloyd, 1932-2020, sculptor.

Carol R. Johnson & Associates, landscape architect.

Tallix, founder.

Katharine Lee Bates, Author of "America the Beautiful", (sculpture).

Commissioned 1985. Modeled 1985-1986. Installed Nov. 5, 1987. Dedicated August 12, 1988.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite.

Sculpture: approx. 75 x 40 x 13 in.; Base: approx. 17 x 60 x 59 1/2 in.

(On top of bronze base:) LILLIE 86 (On brim of figure's hat:) L. LILLIE 86 (On front of base:) KATHARINE LEE BATES signed

A portrait of Katharine Lee Bates at age thirty-four, as she appeared in the summer of 1893 when she stood on the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado and thought of the words that became the lyrics for "America the Beautiful." As she stares out into the distant horizon a slight breeze blows her shirts. She holds her hat in her proper right hand and touches the top of a rocky outcropping with her proper left hand. Her eyeglasses dangle from a chain around her neck. The sculpture rests on a rectangular block of granite.

Portrait female -- Bates, Katherine Lee -- Full length

Occupation -- Writer -- Poet

Dress -- Accessory -- Eye wear

Outdoor Sculpture -- Massachusetts -- Falmouth

Administered by Falmouth Public Library, 123 Katharine Lee Bates Road, Lawn on Main Street, Falmouth, Massachusetts 02540

A clay model of the statue was unveiled on April 11, 1985 and a plaster model was unveiled on August 12, 1986. The sculpture was funded by the Katharine Lee Bates Statue Fund. IAS files contain a Falmouth Public Library press release dated Aug. 12, 1988; and newspaper articles from the Falmouth Enterprise, Nov. 1987 and the Cape Cod Time, Aug. 13, 1986.

The inscription on a nearby plaque reads: KATHARINE LEE BATES/(BORN FALMOUTH AUGUST 12, 1859; DIED WELLESLEY MARCH 28, 1929)/TEACHER POET AUTHER OF "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL"/AT THE SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK, COLORADO, IN 1893 THE OPENING LINES OF "AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL" FLOATED INTO THE MIND OF KATHARINE LEE BATES AND GAVE NEW MEANING TO THE SPECTACULAR VIEW. THE SCULPTOR HAS/PORTRAYED THE YOUNG POET AT THAT MOMENT./PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE AT WELLESLEY COLLEGE, MISS BATES/LECTURED THAT SUMMER AT COLORADO COLLEGE, COLORADO SPRINGS./SHE HAD/VISITED THE ALABASTER WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION IN CHICAGO AND/CROSSED THE AMBER GRAIN FIELDS OF THE MIDWEST BEFORE REACHING THE/MAJESTIC PURPLE ROCKIES. ON A FACULTY OUTING TO THE FAMOUS PEAK IMAGES/OF THE JOURNEY REAPPEARED IN HER INSPIRED POETIC VISION OF AMERICA.

BORN TO THE REVEREND AND MRS. WILLIAM BATES IN THE PARSONAGE OF FIRST/CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH ON THE VILLAGE GREEN, KATHARINE SPENT FORMATIVE/YEARS IN FALMOUTH. AT AGE 12, SHE MOVED WITH HER FAMILY TO WELLESLEY HILLS. LATER ENTERING WELLESLEY COLLEGE, SHE BECAME PRESIDENT OF ITS SECOND GRADUATING CLASS AND RETURNED TO TEACH FOR 40 YEARS. AUTHOR OF/32 BOOKS, MISS BATES WAS WELL TRAVELED, GRACIOUS, WITTY, POPULAR,/SCHOLARLY. FALMOUTH REMAINED HER HOME TOWN, REVISITED NEARLY EVERY/YEAR. SHE IS BURIED BESIDE HER PARENTS IN FALMOUTH'S OAK GROVE/CEMETERY.

FALMOUTH PUBLIC LIBRARY, FALMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS/STATUE COMMISSIONED 1984 BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES: WILLIAM T. MUNSON, CHMN., OTIS M. PORTER, JR., PETRA S. FINNELL, ELIZABETH H. BOTHNER, ROY L. COOKE, JULIA TAYLOR, LIBRARY DIRECTOR: ANN HADDAD. STATUE UNVEILED AUGUST 12, 1986. DEDICATED AUGUST 12, 1988. BRONZE CASTING BY TALLIX FOUNDRY. BEACON. N.Y. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: CAROL R. JOHNSON, CAMBRIDGE, MASS./SCULPTOR: LLOYD LILLIE/1686---FALMOUTH TRICENTENNIAL---1986.

The May 1994 SOS! survey notes that the nearby inscription plaque is scheduled to be replaced with a new one that will have the same text, but the name of the landscape architect will be omitted and donor names will be added.

Alfred Lloyd Lillie, 1989.

Percoco, Jim, 1991.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1994.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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