Walt Whitman (1819-1892) considered himself a poet of democracy and achieved a reputation of mythical proportions during his own lifetime. Best known for his volume of verse Leaves of Grass (1855), in which he extolled America, Whitman agreeably sat for numerous artists who immortalized his appearance in paintings and photographs. This portrait of Whitman was one of the few Davidson did not model from life. The sculptor had long been a devotee of Whitman, and in 1925, although opposed to competitions, he submitted a design for a proposed Whitman memorial to be placed in a New York park. The project was never realized, and a decade later Averell Harriman suggested that Davidson complete the full-length statue for Bear Mountain Park near West Point, New York. It is not known if the museum’s head was taken by surmoulage from the head of the Bear Mountain Park statue of 1939, or was reworked and then cast, or is an entirely different head. The inscribed date of 1949 suggests that Davidson revised his earlier conception. The specific impetus for making the 1949 head is unknown. Davidson presented the poet with his full beard, combining a rippling surface with deep undercutting, which was unusual for the sculptor.