When the National World War I Memorial was unveiled in Washington, D.C., last September, it wasn’t just a tribute to the 4 million Americans who served—it was a defiant return to classical sculpture at a scale most thought impossible. Now, the artist behind that 58-foot, 25-ton bronze is bringing that conversation to Nashville.
Sabin Howard sculpting from a live model in a World War I uniform for the National World War I Memorial. Courtesy of Sabin Howard Studio.
Sculptor Sabin Howard with clay soldiers for the National World War I Memorial. Courtesy of Sabin Howard Studio.
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Sabin Howard, sculptor of the National WWI Memorial, speaks at Belmont Mansion on Dec. 12, after a Dec. 11 screening of the documentary HEROIC.
There are no victims here. They are all heroes.”— Sabin Howard, sculptor, National WWI MemorialNASHVILLE, TN, UNITED STATES, November 9, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — On the eve of Veterans Day, Meriwether Academy announced that Sabin Howard, the American sculptor behind the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C., will give a public talk titled "The Return of the Hero" at Nashville's Belmont Mansion on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2026. Howard's 58-foot, 25-ton bronze, "A Soldier's Journey," holds 38 figures and honors the more than 4 million Americans who served in the Great War. The talk is hosted by Meriwether Academy, a Nashville educational nonprofit, and presented by Beck & Stone Brand Consultancy.
Howard spent nearly a decade on the relief, which follows one American soldier from home, to war, and back again. He worked from living models in period uniform, sculpting each figure in clay before casting. The memorial was unveiled in Pershing Park in September 2024 and honors the 116,000 Americans who died in the war.
In Nashville, Howard will take up the question at the center of his career: why did American public art turn away from the heroic human figure, and what would it take to bring it back? For much of the last century, monuments moved toward abstraction. Howard went the other way, and the public response to the memorial has made him one of the leading voices for classical sculpture today.
At the unveiling, Howard described the soldiers he sculpted this way: "There are no victims here. They are all heroes."
"Nashville built a full-scale Parthenon because this city once believed art should lift people up," said Warren Steury, president of Meriwether Academy. "Sabin Howard has spent his life making that case in bronze. His visit is a chance to ask what we want our public art to say about the people it honors."
The weekend opens Friday, Dec. 11, with a private screening of HEROIC, Traci L. Slatton's documentary on the making of the memorial. Drawn from more than 4,000 hours of footage, the film follows Howard from the winning design to the finished bronze. Howard and Slatton will speak after the screening.
The setting suits the subject. Belmont Mansion, an 1850s Italianate villa, once held one of the South's notable collections of marble statuary, in the city known as the Athens of the South.
Event details
Date: Saturday, Dec. 12, 2026. Reception 5:30 p.m.; talk and Q&A 6:30 p.m.
Venue: Belmont Mansion, 1700 Acklen Ave., Nashville, Tenn.
Tickets: General admission $99. A 14-seat VIP Weekend ($349) adds the Friday screening, a private luncheon with Howard and priority seating. Tickets are available at meriwetheracademy.com/events/heroic.
Presented by: Beck & Stone Brand Consultancy
For media
Howard is available for Veterans Day interviews by phone or video this week, and in person in Nashville on Dec. 11 and 12. A limited number of complimentary press seats are available for Dec. 12; requests are due by Dec. 9. Photos, biographies and fast facts are in the Sabin Howard press room.
About Sabin Howard
Sabin Howard is an American figurative sculptor. Raised in New York City and Turin, Italy, he studied at the Philadelphia College of Art and earned an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. In 2016 his design with architect Joseph Weishaar was chosen from more than 350 entries for the National World War I Memorial. His heroic-scale works include Hermes, Aphrodite and Apollo. He is now at work on the Grand Liberty Arch.
About Meriwether Academy
Meriwether Academy is a Nashville-based educational 501(c)(3). It hosts lectures, study clubs and wilderness expeditions for men and boys, and is working toward founding a classical boys' boarding school in Tennessee. It has hosted Justin Shubow, former chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, and collaborated with The Pamphleteer on the Nashville Antichrist Lectures with Peter Thiel.
Warren Steury
Meriwether Academy, Inc.
+1 615-212-5768
warren@meriwetheracademy.com
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Why it matters: Howard’s return to Nashville—a city that built a full-scale replica of the Parthenon—isn’t just an art-world event. It forces a public reckoning with what monuments are supposed to do: honor, inspire, and tell the truth about sacrifice. If a 58-foot bronze of 38 soldiers can draw crowds in an age of abstraction, maybe the heroic figure isn’t dead—it’s just been waiting for the right artist.
