Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
1987.1.14 |
Collection |
American Art |
Object Name |
Sculpture |
Title |
Powder Monkey |
Artist |
Agnes Yarnall |
Date |
1961 |
Year Range from |
1961 |
Signed Name |
Yarnall |
Signature Location |
on plinth |
Description |
Figure of a boy wearing a beret hat, standing with his hands together. |
Medium |
bronze |
Dimensions |
H-11 W-6 L-5 inches |
Notes |
Agnes Yarnall (b. 1904) sculpted a group of 42, Civil War related sculptures, including a bronze head of Abraham Lincoln (2004.60.1). The book, "An Attempted Evocation of the Civil War," was written by Agnes Yarnall in 1980 with photographs of her sculptures and accompanying poems. In the curatorial file is a transcribed oral history of the artist from 1988. Poem accompanying photograph of sculpture in Agnes Yarnall's "An Attempted Evocation of the Civil War," (1980), p. 33-35 "I'm a powder monkey boy, Ram the powder down! Cap'n says I'll go to heaven, Wear a silver crown— Want no heaven, want no crown, Only want to be Fighting as my father's son, Ending slavery— Yesterday in open sea Flag was flying high, When a Rebel shot sang out And cut it from the sky! Our guns blazed forth In quick repeat, And down that ship went In defeat! We cheered and yelled But suddenly, I saw a boy Who looked like me— He lay across The gunnel's rail, Bleeding and small, And deadly pale— His had fell off, And suddenly, He slipped into That awful sea! Down, down he went, All out of sight! And in my heart Like darkest night, Came such an overwhelming Grief For one whose life Had been so brief! I wept aloud And said a prayer, That God my own small life Would spare— The war has ended, Life goes on— Glory for us Because we won— Manhood is mind, But still I see The dying boy Who looked like me—" |
Provenance |
Acquired by the Union League in 1987 |
Related Publications |
"An Attempted Evocation of the Civil War" by Agnes Yarnall, 1980, p. 32 & 34 |
Legal Status |
Owned by the Union League of Philadelphia |
Search Terms |
"An Attempted Evocation of the Civil War" by Agnes Yarnall |