The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC is dominated by the heroic sculture of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is portrayed as seated in a serene and composed but somehow inviting manner. His left hand is closed and resting on the arm of his throne. His right hand is opened. The sculptor of the famous statue was Edwin Miner Gallaudet who was also responsible for some of America’s most beautiful coins.
Moe of Obsidian Wings writes:
I looked at it and got the feeling that he was frozen in the act of getting up and clocking somebody with that clenched fist of his.
It’s not clenched, Moe, it’s closed. Look at the muscles and tendons of Mr. Lincoln’s left wrist. They’re relaxed. And scultors understood anatomy back then.
Edwin Gallaudet’s father was Thomas Parker Gallaudet, the minister and educator of the deaf who was instrumental in the founding of the first college for the deaf that later was named Gallaudet University for him. Edwin was the university’s first president.
Mr. Lincoln’s left hand is signing the American Sign Language finger-spelling sign for the letter A.
His right hand is signing the ASL sign for L. A—L. Abraham Lincoln.
The Lincoln Memorial sculptor was Daniel Chester French, not Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet’s son, Edward Miner Gallaudet. I came across your post while looking for information on Lincoln’s hands forming an ‘A’ and ‘L’ for his initials. My ASL instructor told (signed) us the story last night. Thanks for the info!
There is no evidence that Daniel Chester French sculpted the letters A & L in the Lincoln Memorial statue. The clenched fist came from a Lincoln sculpture in 1860. French had relations with deaf issues but nowhere in his writings does he confirm this.