The Volunteer, (sculpture).

The Volunteer, (sculpture).

Beck, Theodore A., sculptor.

Bedi-Rassy Art Foundry, founder.

The Volunteer, (sculpture).

Torchbearer, (sculpture).

Designed 1931. Cast 1967. Dedicated on April 19, 1968.

Digital Reference:

Figure: bronze; Base: stone.

Figure: approx. 108 x 40 x 80 in.; Base: approx. 43 x 104 x 118 in.

(On base:) BEDI-RASSY ART.N.Y. unsigned Founder's mark appears.

Full-length standing male figure holding a torch (a functioning gas perpetual flame) aloft over his head, in his outstretched proper right arm. On his proper left side, partially hidden, hangs a sword; in his proper left hand is a globe, upon which rests the Goddess of Winged Victory.

Figure male -- Full length

Object -- Weapon -- Sword

Allegory -- Other -- Triumph

Object -- Other -- Globe

Outdoor Sculpture -- Tennessee -- Knoxville

Administered by University of Tennessee, Space & Facilities Management, 405 Holt Tower, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996

Located University of Tennessee, Volunteer Boulevard & Circle Park, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996

IAS files contain excerpt from Context (April 26, 1990), which gives detailed commissioning history of the statue. The idea for the statue originated in 1928, with the senior class raising funds for a contest to design a statue to capture "the spirit of the University youth and its ideal service." Over the next four years, $1,000 was raised by the senior classes, and the contest announced May 31, 1930. Theodore Beck (then a Yale student) was chosen by Lorado Taft as the contest winner. Beck's initial design -- a middle-aged man, supporting Grecian haircut and tunic and holding a torch waist high -- was modified after campus hearings to a younger generic male with torch held high above head, and in 1937 the design was finalized.

The Depression and World War II delayed casting of the piece, although its design was adopted as the official symbol of University and copyrighted in 1932. Various models and small replicas were made. In 1940 Beck shipped a six foot high statue to Knoxville, which was placed in the University of Tennessee's Board of Trustees room in Austin Peay Hall. When the boardroom moved to the new Andy Holt Tower in 1973, the sculpture was put in storage. In 1967, the senior class sponsored a successful fund-raising drive and a nine foot bronze figure was cast; although complaints about the statue resulted in last minute foundry modifications. On April 19, 1968, the nine foot statue was finally erected.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Tennessee survey, 1992.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985

University of Tennessee, Frank H. McClung Museum, 1991.

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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