A soldier goes off to war. Damaged in combat, he returns home, forever changed. Master sculptor Sabin Howard captures this tragic and powerful journey in bronze, for the new World War I Memorial that will be unveiled in Washington, D.C. on September 13, 2024. Howard talks about his craft with EconTalk's Russ Roberts as they discuss Howard's hatred of war, his love for humanity, and what makes art great.
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I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
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Today is July 15, 2024, and my guest is sculptor Saban Howard.
He is the sculptor of the soon to be unveiled World War one memorial in Washington, DC on the evening of September 13.
This is a 58 foot wide, ten foot high bronze wall with 38 figures.
It's an incredible project.
We're going to discuss the memorial, and then I hope we get to discuss art more generally.
Saban, welcome to Econ Talk.
Thank you for having me on this morning.
The memorial that you're building, you give it the name a soldier's journey.
What's the idea behind it?
It's a story that would be understandable universally of a father, a dad and an allegory for the United States.
And it follows under the idea of the hero's journey, which Joseph Campbell wrote about.
It's this soldier, this dad, leaves home and enters into the brotherhood of arms.
And from that point, enters into the battle.
He leads the battle charge.