Editing George Grey Barnard (section)

===1913 Assessment by Lorado Taft===
[[File:Struggle of the Two Natures in Man 01.jpg|thumb|''Struggle of the Two Natures in Man'' (marble, 1892–1894), Metropolitan Museum of Art.]]
{{blockquote|George Grey Barnard is a Westerner, although he chanced to be born in Pennsylvania, where his parents were temporarily residing in 1863. The sculptor's father is a clergyman, and the fortunes of the ministry afterward led him to Chicago, and thence to Muscatine, Iowa, where the son passed his boyhood. One cannot doubt that these circumstances had their profound influence upon the character of the young artist. In it is something of the largeness of the western prairies, something of the audacity of a life without tradition or precedent, a burning intensity of enthusiasm; above all, a strong element of mysticism which permeates all that Barnard does or thinks.

The stories of his student struggles in Chicago and Paris are familiar. The first result of all this self sacrifice became tangible in that early group, a tombstone for Norway, in which the youth portrayed "Brotherly Love," a work of "weird and indescribable charm."

In 1894 Barnard completed his celebrated group, ''Two Natures'', upon which he had toiled, in clay and marble, for several years. This achievement gave him at once high standing in Europe, and his work has been of interest to the cultivated public of the world's capitals. Then followed an extraordinary ''Norwegian Stove'', a monumental affair illustrative of Scandinavian mythology; and ''Maidenhood'' and the ''Hewer''.

The great work of Barnard's recent years has been the decoration of the Pennsylvania capitol. It has been said of him that he was "the only one connected with that building who was not smirched"; but his part is a story of heroism and triumph. The writer has not yet seen the enormous groups in place, but is familiar with fragments that have won the enthusiastic praise of the best sculptors of Paris. They are inspiring conceptions which point the way to still mightier achievements in American sculpture.<ref>Lorado Taft, "Famous American Sculptors," ''The Mentor'' (magazine), vol. 1, no. 36,  (October 20, 1913).</ref>}}