And did you know that he was born exactly two hundred years ago?

I’m talking about Mr. Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) whose birth bicentennial is being celebrated with two exhibitions in New York right now. Both shows are devoted exclusively to Lincoln; although they are very different ones , they complete one another very well.

The first one is organized in the Library of Congress, and titled “With Malice Toward None”. This show is clearly about words, as it includes almost all major Lincoln documents starting with the copybook from his boyhood, which were probably his first written words, and acopy of his first grammar book. Naturally, more “powerful” documents can be found as well, such as the text which is believed to be the oldest copy of the Gettysburg Address, or the first and second inaugural addresses. By this very impressive exhibition we can clearly see how Lincoln’s language and rhetoric skills progressed throughout his life.

The second one is called “Designing the Lincoln Memorial: Daniel Chester French and Henry Bacon “. It is held in the National Gallery, and it is a rather tiny exhibition, as it is tucked into a hallway of the museum. It shows Bacon’s model of the Lincoln Memorial, a wooden statue that concentrates on the proportions of the memorial, rather than its details. As French's plaster cast is one-third the size of the original statue, the visitor has the chance to look Lincoln in the eye and not only his shoes.

The latter exhibition is open until February, 2010; however, if you decide to pay a visit to the former one, you might need to hurry a bit as it closes in May, 2009.

Ok, I do know that there isn’t a big chance that any of us will visit these exhibitions; and it’s not because of my lousy review.:) However, if you do decide to pop over to the Big Apple to check out Lincoln's first grammar book, don’t forget to take me with you!:)