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Alumni
USF Grad Crafts Centerpiece for National WWI Memorial
Charlie Mostow ’11 is a sculptor by trade. He worked for over four years on the 60-foot-long bronze memorial titled "A Soldier’s Journey," recently unveiled in Washington, D.C. Total commitment to his craft and the enactment of cura personalis were integral to his success as a member of the team that created the stirring monument.
Charlie Mostow ’11 says that he found himself in the ideal situation for a young artist.
“A Soldier’s Journey” is the centerpiece of the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C. Located in Pershing Park, adjacent to the White House and National Mall, the memorial’s central bronze frieze is prominent and moving in its physical depiction of an American soldier’s life during the Great War.
Larger than life figures, 38 in total, begin by portraying the soldier’s reluctance to bid farewell to his family. He is pulled into the throng of battle, suffers the hardships of war alongside a diverse cast of fellow combatants, emerges weathered, raising the American flag, and eventually leans toward his daughter, the final figure, waiting for him back home. Smithsonian Magazine said, “it may become the greatest memorial bronze of the modern age,” and called it, “perhaps the most ambitious artistic commission of the 21st century.”
Through a traditional apprenticeship under master sculptor Sabin Howard, Mostow played a crucial role in creating the piece. Mostow is among the longest-tenured members of the team.
“You work side-by-side, and you learn by watching and getting critiques,” said Mostow. “We work from life. We sculpted the whole thing with live models, because that's where the real magic happens.”
Mostow studied comparative literature at USF, spent the following years studying sculpture in New York City and wandering the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, before a stint in Paris, frequenting the Louvre. He credits his educational experiences in these cities with helping prepare him for this moment of achievement in his career.
Among the figures Mostow contributed to was the soldier’s daughter, framing Howard’s composition, and modeled by Howard’s own daughter. While working on her depiction in the frieze, Mostow says he realized something.
“My wife's family has a military background. Her dad was in the military and she must've experienced something like this — seeing her dad go off to war. All of a sudden, I'm sculpting with the context of a lived experience in my head.
“I learned that you really have to connect to the story of what you're sculpting. When you have a veteran who served in Afghanistan pose for a shell-shocked figure in a World War I uniform, it's in their body — their body takes on that character and expresses it.”
For Mostow, faithfully representing veterans’ experiences for future generations became an act of service.
“We learned from veterans about being in service of something bigger than ourselves. The sculpture has a narrative and the veterans posing have their lived experiences. We were learning from them in the studio.
“It was a completely transformational experience. Now my art, my artistic production, and my practice are not for myself anymore. Your head, hands, heart, and spirit are activated when you're sculpting. Especially sculpting from life in a group of people. And that's a really special environment.”
Mostow has earned a place working with Howard and they are continuing together with new projects in the pipeline.
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All photos courtesy of Sabin Howard Sculpture
