Spirit of the American Doughboy

The Spirit of the American Doughboy is a pressed copper sculpture by E. M. Viquesney, designed to honor the veterans and casualties of World War I. Mass-produced during the 1920s and 1930s for communities throughout the United States, the statue's design was the most popular of its kind, spawning a wave of collectible miniatures and related memorabilia as well as numerous copies by other artists. Its title is often shortened to "The Doughboy", and in some locales it is nicknamed Iron Mike.

The statue depicts a doughboy walking through shattered tree stumps strung with barbed wire, his rifle in his left hand and his right hand held high above his head, clutching a hand grenade. The aggressive design and affordability of the statue made it extremely popular, and more than 150 copies of it were created for municipal memorials across the nation. The Smithsonian American Art Museum currently lists 159 locations. Of that number, 134 currently existing originals have been independently authenticated, and several have been identified as copies by other artists (notably Over the Top by John Paulding). Viquesney's actual brochures quoted a figure of over 300 by the late 1930s, claiming at least one in every state of the Union, but this is believed to be an inflated figure.

Two of the statues, both in Arkansas, are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places; one in Helena and one in Fort Smith. Installed in cemeteries, town squares, outside museums, parks, on courthouse lawns, and countless other places, the design is said to be the most-viewed example of outdoor statuary in the U.S. (after the Statue of Liberty) although many people do not even realize they have seen it.

In 1998, longtime Sarasota-resident sculptor Frank Colson was commissioned to create a copy for the city of Sarasota, Florida, and again in 2002, for the city of Columbia, South Carolina. These were new copies in their own right, not meant to replace any existing Doughboys as Sarasota never had an original Viquesney Doughboy. An original does exist in another part of Columbia, SC, giving that city two; an original and a copy. Colson and his son also worked on the restoration of the Doughboy in Clearwater, Florida, along with its companion statue, Spirit of the American Navy.

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