Homer Shiff Saint-Gaudens was the only child of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and his wife Augusta. He served as the Director of the Art Museum of the Carnegie Institute and was a founder of the Saint-Gaudens Memorial, a non-profit organization that maintained the family home as a museum before its donation to the National Park Service in 1965.
Saint-Gaudens was instrumental in the formation of the American Camouflage Corps in 1917; another leader was Saint-Gaudens' roommate at Harvard, Barry Faulkner. With the unit formalized as Company A of the 40th Engineers, Saint-Gaudens commanded the Corps as Captain when they sailed to Europe on January 4, 1918, and deployed to battlefield service.
Saint-Gaudens was featured on the cover of Time magazine for its 12 May 1924 edition, in connection with his direction and promotion of the annual Carnegie International art exhibition.