Young Abe Lincoln, Bronze sculpture at Indiana Statehouse, Indianapolis, US
Young Abe Lincoln is a bronze sculpture on the grounds of the Indiana Government Center in Indianapolis, showing Abraham Lincoln as a young barefoot man holding a book in his left hand. The work stands outdoors and can be seen from several angles as you walk around it.
The work was made in 1962 by sculptor David K. Rubins to honor the years Lincoln spent growing up in Indiana before he entered public life. Those years, marked by poverty and self-education, are widely seen as having shaped the man he would become.
The figure shows Lincoln in plain frontier clothing, holding a book, which reflects how he taught himself to read and write during his years in Indiana. Visitors often stop to look at the bare feet, a detail that speaks to the modest conditions of his early life.
The sculpture is on the grounds of the Indiana Government Center, close to West Washington Street, and easy to reach on foot from downtown Indianapolis. The area is open to the public, so you can walk right up to it and view it from any side.
To capture the exact proportions of the figure, Rubins used a three-dimensional pantograph machine to build a precise wooden framework before the bronze was cast. The final form was then produced using the lost-wax casting method, a technique that dates back thousands of years.
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