Dzaddy Lincoln is back, you guys!
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is known for several monumental historical moments, including his "House Divided" speech, effective Civil War-time leadership, and the Emancipation Proclamation, which served as the beginning of the end of slavery.
What he's not remembered for, however, is being an early American sex symbol.
Yet that is how the 16th President is viewed in 2024 after a photo of his statue as a young, strapping, shirtless scholar generated renewed interest on social media.
Observe: Honest Babe.
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Named “The Young Lincoln,” the bodacious 8-foot-tall sculpture, made of Indiana limestone on a black granite pedestal, depicts a much younger Lincoln standing shirtless in jeans and barefoot.
With sharper facial features and slicked-back hair, young Lincoln appears contemplative while emancipating his six-pack abs.
His thumb from one hand hooks the lip of his jeans while the other holds a book by his side.
The statue exemplifying the public art of the New Deal can be found in the Los Angeles Spring Street Courthouse, where it has stood since 1941 and has gone viral in recent years.
Newfound admiration of the statue was in response to an inquiry on X (formerly Twitter) where user @nebulimes asked:
"Does anyone have any good examples of characters with designs that include partial/full nudity but done tastefully?"
"Like more of a 'feral/vulnerable' feel and not in a 'creepy/voyeuristic' way."
"Something like Chimera Falin where they’re nude but it doesn’t feel objectifying."
X user @xenomorph 247 submitted a photo of "Young Abraham Lincoln statue" and received over 2.2K likes.
An amateur art student named James Lee Hansen created the statue after he won a Federal Works Agency art contest in 1939. He entered the contest at a friend's insistence to design a statue "for the decoration of the Los Angeles Post Office and Courthouse Lobby."
Despite never having designed such a large-scale sculpture, he entered with one week remaining in the competition that had been open for several months.
His submission of a small plaster figure of Lincoln won him $7,200 and the sculpture's commission. He was 22 at the time.
According to LIFE magazine, Hansen, who had been struggling to make ends meet, was so shocked that he used some of his prize money to purchase a car. But he "promptly wrecked it and spent 18 months in jail."
He eventually carved "The Young Lincoln" outdoors in a $25-a-month shack rental on the edge of Hollywood. Hansen modeled the sculpture after his own body.
The statue was exhibited in the WPA's Contemporary Art Building at the 1939 New York World's Fair before being established at the Main Street lobby of the then-new Federal Building on March 12, 1941.
When critics took issue with his depiction of Lincoln being scantily clad and sans shoes, Hansen reportedly shrugged and replied:
“Well, from a sculpturing standpoint, it’s better to show the body without any clothes."
"That’s why I left ’em off," he said according to the Public Art Archive.
Over seven decades later, people would agree on the racy aesthetic.
This wasn't the first time the statue gained renewed interest.
In 2019, Hollywood screenwriter Zack Stentz wrote:
“Reminder that the Los Angeles federal courthouse has a statue of Abraham Lincoln where he’s a shirtless young stud suggestively tugging at his waistband like a 'Sports Illustrated' swimsuit model."
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