Andrew W. Mellon 1954

Walker Hancock carved this portrait of Andrew W. Mellon in stone. It's about two feet in diameter, so you can imagine Hancock chipping away at the stone, bit by bit, to conjure Mellon's profile. I can almost feel the grit of the stone, the weight of the chisel in Hancock's hand. Carving isn't like painting, where you can change your mind with a swipe of the brush. Each cut is a commitment. Hancock’s focus must have been intense. It’s fascinating to think about how artists like Hancock speak to the art of Ancient Greece and Rome, finding new ways to interpret the classical. They remind us that art is a continuous conversation, echoing and transforming across time. Maybe that's what he was thinking about as he worked? It’s like he reached back to the past while looking forward, trying to preserve a face, a legacy, in something timeless.