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Five years ago Jo Davidson traveled in Russia for several weeks with Senator La Follette. On their return to Paris a bust and some sketches were made. The Senator departed. The sculptor never saw him again. When he set to work three years ago on the La Follette statue, the La Follette family sent him clothes, shoes and gloves that had been worn by the deceased Senator.
Sculptor Davidson put on the suits, struck attitudes in which he had seen the Senator, observed the folds of the fabric and recalled details. In the statue the modern clothing never obtrudes but serves to interpret the figure.
Sculptor Davidson produced three models before he was satisfied. The first was the reposeful family La Follette. The second was a composite of qualities. The final version was the militant figure of the Senate chamber. It was the intimacy of the Russian journey which allowed the sculptor to rely so much on memory. But once his memory failed. The Senator's alert, responsive hands were elusive. Sculptor Davidson was baffled. Then to the Paris studio came the Senator's brilliant younger son, Philip La Follette, lecturer on law at the University of Wisconsin (TIME, Oct. 22). It is in this son rather than in his older brother, "Young Bob," the present Senator, that the father is still visible. It was in a gesture of Son Philip's—quickly gripping the arms of his chair—that Sculptor Davidson found the final and finishing accent for the statue.
Sculptor Davidson came last week with the statue from Paris. The ship careened and quivered in stormy seas. Sculptor Davidson also quivered, fearful for the precious marble in the hold. In Manhattan he was invited to dinner by Fola La Follette, daughter of the Senator and wife of Playwright George Middleton. But Jo Davidson did not appear. From 7 o'clock in the evening until 4 o'clock in the morning he kept a cold vigil by the entrance of the Anderson Galleries while workmen gingerly engineered his ponderous statue through a portal which was almost too narrow.
*The Davidson La Follette will complete Wisconsin's quota. Already present is the image of Jacques, sometimes called Pere ("Father"), Marquette, saintly early navigator of the Mississippi.