02/17/2025
The Friends of the Charlestown Branch of the Boston Public Library invite all to join them in a free presentation of “Cyrus Dallin, His Time in Charlestown, and 57 Year Quest to Raise Boston’s Paul Revere Monument”. The talk, followed by a Q&A, will be given by Nancy Blanton, Director of Outreach and Engagement at the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum located in Arlington (MA). Held on Thursday, March 6 at 6:30 pm. Free and open to all; light refreshments will be served. The Charlestown Branch Library is located at 179 Main Street, Charlestown, 02129. For more information: www.facebook.com/FriendsCharlestownBranchLibrary, [email protected], 617-242-1248.
Artist Cyrus Dallin (1861-1944), originally from Utah Territory, moved to Boston in 1880 to study sculpture. He was just a 22-year-old fledgling sculptor, when he shocked the Boston art scene by winning a national competition to create a monument in honor of Paul Revere, to then be installed in the North End. Dallin lived in Charlestown when he began his work on creating this monument.
Join Nancy Blanton, Director of Outreach and Engagement at the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum in Arlington (MA) to hear the riveting story behind the creation of this beloved Boston landmark. Learn about the supportive role the Hall family of Charlestown played in Dallin’s efforts to secure the commission and see it through. Neither Dallin nor the Halls could have predicted that the project would involve the creation of seven different models over five decades. Dallin’s vision was finally realized in 1940, when the Paul Revere Monument was dedicated in Boston’s North End Prado where it still stands today.
The talk will be followed by a Q&A, since many of Cyrus Dallin's 260 plus works are located here in Massachusetts, including public sculptures and pieces in the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum. Some of the local pieces, one in particular, have come under a national and international discussion regarding public monuments and cultural appropriation.
