HENRY HERING. Running Diana

Even history's very successful figural sculptors were not completely occupied with major commissions.  This smalll "Running Diana" is a work from the same Sculptor who is responsible for the two tableaux on the south towers of Edward Bennett's Michigan Avenue Bridge.

PHOTOGRAPH FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. LINK TO THE ORIGINAL

Continuing comparisons from the previous post,  Hering's nudes are not the sensuous compositions that mark Lorado Taft's work.  This one shows great delicacy (and the influence of Hering's mentor, Augustus Saint Gaudens).   Both, however, worked side-by side with women in their studios.  Taft with Nellie Walker.  And Hering with his wife Elsie Ward, an accomplished sculptor in her own right.

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PORNOGRAPHY. NUDES. Looky Here. A Post You Won't Forget!

I've received three phone calls since my last post: a list of Henry Hering's Sculpture in Chronological order. With no pictures. All three phone calls had the same gist: if you expect your blog to survive (ie "keep traffic") you're going to have to do better than that. Okay. I've read about this stuff too. Chicago Art Magazine knows the value a "sandbox fight." I, too, have seen them in action. (Argghhh. Grrrrr.) And there's the scare tactic. But its the day after Christmas and I don't feel so scary. And why even try when there's PORNOGRAPHY. Pornography always sells.

So in order to make up for that Hering thing, today I post NAKED MEN AND WOMEN and list them as "keywords." The photographs are a study of Lorado Taft's 1907 "Pastoral" at the Garfield Park Conservatory. The fern garden, today, was A VERY STEAMY PLACE.

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We probably would have "gotten it" without the rabbit.  Come to think about it, Lorado Taft's work is  still "suggestive." Taft's "Fountain of the Great Lakes" actually brought about a review of the City of Chicago's Obscenity Ordinance. "Solitude of the Soul still evokes comment.   The additional publicity brought both fame and notoriety to Taft. Maybe, maybe the tactic will work again.

Taft and Hering had much in common.  Both are early twentieth century sculptors with significant bodies (another keyword) of work in Chicago.  Both worked in "Studios" with a team of sculptors:  Hering in the Cornish,  Taft at the Midway.  And both failed to make the transition to Deco.  (eg. failed to monetize their product). 

I'm glad I have a sense of humor.

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HENRY HERING. Chronology of Work and Life

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Henry Hering's contributions weren't limited to Chicago. Below is a general timeline/chronology of his life and work.
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1874.02.15
Born. New York City


1888.00.00
Began Study at Cooper Union, New York
Student of Augustus Saint Gaudens
Student of Philip Martiny


1888.00.00 to 1891.00.00
At Saint Gaudens New York Studio


1891.00.00 to 1893.00.00
Columbian Expostion
Saint Gaudens. Columbian Exposition Artistic Advisor
Philip Martiny Fine Arts Building


1894.00.00 to 1898.00.00
Art Students League. New York


1898.00.00 to 1901.00.00
Ecole des Beaux Arts


1901.00.00 though 1907.00.00
Saint Gaudens Principal Assistant
Cornish Studios. Cornish, New Hampshire


1901.00.00
Caryatids (under Saint Gaudens)
Albright Knox Museum
Buffalo, New York


1907.00.00
Ten and Twenty Dollar Gold Pieces
(For Saint Gaudens.)


1910.00.00
Bust of Saint Gaudens


1910.06.00
Married Elsie Ward
(previously Saint Gaudens Assistant)


1913.00.00
"Memory, Peace, Courage, Devotion"
Yale Civil War Memorial
New Haven Connecticut.


1919.00.00 "Relief Figures."
Federal Reserve Bank. (GAPW)
Kansas City, Missouri


1919.00.00 Garlanded Angels
Attic Figures
Museum of Science and Industry (Replacements)
Chicago, Illinois


1923.00.00 "Energy in Repose."
Federal Reserve Bank.(Walker & Weeks)
Cleveland, Ohio


1923.00.00 Elsie Ward Hering Dies.


1925.00.00 "Law." "Science" "Religion" "Education"
Civic Center (Walker & Weeks)
Indianapolis, Indiana


1928.00.00 "Defense" and "Regeneration"
Michigan Avenue Bridge. (1920) Edward Bennett
Chicago, Illinois
Gift of William Wrigley to the BF Ferguson Monument Fund


1928.00.00 "Olin Library"
Wesleyan University
Middletown, Connecticut


1929.00.00 Pro Patria
Indiana War Memorial, (Walker & Weeks)
Indianapolis, Indiana


1931.00.00 L'Allegro


1932.00.00 "Pere Marquette" (with Walker & Weeks)
Marquette Park.
Gary, Indiana


1932.00.00 Guardians of Traffic
Lorain-Carnegie Bridge (Walker & Weeks)
Cleveland, Ohio


1932.00.00 Pediment
Serverance Hall (Walker & Weeks)
Cleveland, Ohio


1932.00.00 Wood Nymph
Brookgreen Gardens
Murrells Inlet, South Carolina


1934.00.00 "Abraham Lincoln"
University Park.
Indianapolis, Indiana


1945.07.28 B25 Bomber Crashed into Empire State Building
Wreckage fell into Hering's Studio below
The Waldorf. 10 East 33rd Street, New York.


Running Diana


American Eagle Book-ends


1949.01.17
Died in New York City


The secret hidden in this list is how much Henry might have depended on Elsie Ward, who gave up her career to assist his during the years 1910-1923.

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HENRY HERING. The Michigan Avenue Bridge

It's not so far from the Museum of Science and Industry at 57th Street to the Michigan Avenue Bridge. But in this distance Henry Hering spanned a Century and became an accomplished Sculptor. Compare the work posted here to the previously posted Caryatids. These two "Spirits" -- "Regeneration" and "Defense" are the work of a man at the peak of his career.    

The early twentieth century was a confusing time to portray Native Americans. Especially in Chicago. Noble savage? Or the Tribe that massacred Grandma? The Spirit (shown above) was at Fort Dearborn.  The Spirit below inspired the City to rebuild after the Fire.

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HENRY HERING .MSI. The Columbian Exposition Fine Arts Building

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There is something intriguing about a caryatid.
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And at the turn of the Twentieth Century, many agreed. Henry Hering sculpted more Caryatids in Chicago than ever existed on the Acropolis. 

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HENRY HERING. MSI. The Columbian Exposition Fine Arts Building

The amount of sculpture on the Museum of Science and Industry is almost mind-boggling. Panels in Relief. Caryatids. And four "Attic" figures above both the North and South Entrances. These four are on the North Facade.

This was just the beginning for Henry Hering. Twenty years of collaboration would follow with both Daniel Burnham and Graham Anderson Probst and White.

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HENRY HERING. MSI. The Columbian Exposition Fine Arts Building

"ATTIC FIGURE" above the central temple entrance to the Museum.  

Young  Henry Hering had reached the ripe age of nineteen when the original of this  piece was completed. 

By 1914 the Museum was showing its age.  Take a look at this photo from the Field Museum Library's photostream.  Philip Martiny's work is visible in the colonnade.  Nice Truck!

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HENRY HERING. Empire State Building. Studio

Very little can be stranger than this photo.  Hopefully Mr. Hering's serenity was alive and well in 1945.

HENRY HERING. MSI. The Columbian Exposition Fine Arts Building.

History is a matter of simple facts. Henry Hering was born in 1874 and died in 1949. He studied under Augustus Saint Gaudens and Philip Martiny. He is credited with the sculpture at the Fine Arts Building at the Columbian Exposition (now the Museum of Science and Industry), working with Daniel Burnham and Charles Atwood and the "greatest assemblage of artists since the Renaissance."

Now add into the mix that Charles Atwood was most probably an opium addict (with just three more years to live), that Jackson Park was a swamp, and that the entire team was struggling under what seemed an impossible deadline. And, oh, yes, with a little addition and subtraction.... Henry Hering was 17 years old when he started on the work of the originals photographed below.

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How does a 17 year old boy produce work with this serenity? How would anybody under those conditions? (Certainly with some guidance from Philip Martiny)  Don't miss the Field Museum Library Photostream at Flickr. Sculpture in this condition doesn't just "happen." It is the result of patient maintenance, restoration, and care. And that remarkable gift of 1919.

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HENRY HERING. Regeneration. Detail

I am always surprised by the camera.  Last night, just after dusk, I snapped these two shots of Henry Hering's "Regeneration"  (on the Michigan Avenue Bridge) in rapid succession.  They should have been the same.  Instead, they are remarkably different and reveal the depth of consideration  Henry Hering had for the face and emotion his "Spirit."

His work at the MSI may deserve a another look.

LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY. Preston Bradley Hall

This sculpted face by Louis Comfort Tiffany is a part of the ornament of each Chandelier in Preston Bradley Hall in the Chicago Public Library Cultural Center.

The Cultural Center was designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge in 1897.



THIS IMAGE IS AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT IMAGES IN THE LOOP.

LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY. The Palmer House

This elegant figure, designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, stands in the second floor Lobby of the Palmer House near the entrance to the Empire Room.

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Completed in 1927 by Architects Holabird and Roche, the Palmer House is home to an ensemble of Architecture, Sculpture, and Art that exemplifies the Beaux Arts Tradition in Chicago.

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To see additional photography of Chicago Sculpture Icons visit IMAGES IN THE LOOP

PHILLIP MARTINY. Museum of Science and Industry

These classsic Bas Reliefs, tucked away at the Museum of Science and Industry look remarkably similar to the frieze at the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Both were sculpted by Philip Martiny. The Museum of Science and Industry was previously the Fine Arts Building at the Columbian Exposition of 1893. The two commissions were almost concurrent.

CHICAGO.Images in the Loop

There have been some big changes at CHICAGO. Sculpture in the Loop. We now have a three column format to display more photographs, links and information. Past posts are now organized with an Index. More changes are coming. Many Images first published at CHICAGO.Sculpture in the Loop are now available for purchase online at CHICAGO.Images in the Loop.

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This Image is Availablefor Purchase Online at CHICAGO. Images in the Loop.

You are welcomed to bowse both the Sculpture Galleries and the Architecture Galleries. Thank-you all for your kind words and support.

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GREGORY H. JENKINS AIA

ON VACATION. Thru 10.23

Away from the internet for a week. Which sometimes, is all good.

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CHICAGO. The Clock

During the summer of 1967 I was an intern at the Perkins and Will Partnership. E. Todd Wheeler's name still showed up on pre-printed mylar title sheets. And Larry Perkins (huge, larger than life) occasionally walked the aisles, remembering Crow Island School and Eliel Saarinen. My boss had worked for Graham Anderson Probst and White and had known Ernest Graham personally. Graham, of course had worked for Daniel Burnham.

I've realized the import of this only some forty years later.

The First National Bank of Chicago was an important commission for P&W. Even shared with C.F. Murphy and Associates. In addition to the Bank, there was the Plaza. And beyond that, the entire block bounded by Dearborn, Monroe, Clark and Adams was the proposed site of a 100 story office building.

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My job in this was presentation draftsman. Locust trees were my specialty. The ones painstakingly stippled with a 4H pencil. Quietly. Like "this" said Carter Manny, who gave us all a quick (humorless?) lesson. The proposal quietly failed -- with the rumored irony being that the Italian Village's unwillingness to sell its property to the assemblage ultimately saved the Marquette Building from demolition.

We officed that summer on the 10th floor of the original Bank, designed by Daniel Burnham in 1902. From some few historic photos, I can see that some of details bear the mark of Peirce Anderson. (Column details recall the entrance to Marshall Field and Company.) But during the months that I worked in their building these names were unknown to me. When the new Bank was completed Burnham's building was demolished. I had not take a single picture.

During recent months of this blog I've been able to reassemble pieces of Peirce Anderson's career as he worked first with Daniel Burnham and then with Ernest Graham. But the earliest years, those turn-of-the-century years elude me. In 1967 I might have said, Ray,did Ernest ever mention Peirce's role in the Banking Room at the First? Ray might have answered. And I might have photographed the room.

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But, I didn't.

The Clock, now standing in the Plaza is all that remains. (Photographed above.) Along with blurred memories, untold stories, and of course, regrets.

TRIBUNE TOWER. Rene Paul Chambellan. Preservation

This is one of those photos that you don't want to think about. You've seen it before. A chip here or there. Some eroding of the stone. A small crack.

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And you realize that this Art lives on the huge original successes of the Chicago Tribune. Successes that may no longer be forthcoming.

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How many years are left for that little rat (on the right) with the musket? The one that symbolizes "cruelty and maliciouness."

TRIBUNE TOWER. Rene Paul Chambellen. Scandal.

Blair Kamin in his book "Tribune Tower" says that the elephant, "wearing glasses and holding his nose, evokes scandal." Surely there is more to it than that.

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There seems to be no end to Chambellan's creativity. If we only knew the whole story.......

TRIBUNE TOWER.Rene Paul Chambellan. More Sculpture

More Grotesques. Each with a story. Each story lost. A dog with spectacles, looking side-ways? .

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And who is this?

TRIBUNE TOWER. Sculpture and Architecture

Sculptor, Rene Paul Chambellan, and Architects Raymond Hood and John Howells made a remarkable team at Tribune Tower. (And again at Rockefeller Center.)

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Who can say where Architecture ends and Sculpture begins?

TRIBUNE TOWER. Rene Paul Chambellan. Grotesque

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So. What's not to like?

It seems that there are multiple stories describing what each of these grotesques mean, and their significance to the "Colonel" and the Chicago Tribune. But even Blair Kamin's book "Tribune Tower" is incomplete.

What is this guy's story? Who is he? Any ideas?

RENE PAUL CHAMBELLAN. The Frog

Isak Dinesen, in her essay "Daguerreotypes" makes an interesting reference to our relationship with the past. Generally summarizing (and I recommend a direct "read") she explains that people over the age of 50 who were lucky enough to have contact with people over the age of 50 during their childhood and youth have direct knowledge of the world of 100 years ago from people who saw it.

Direct knowledge.

For me, that means stories from Indiana farmers who followed the railroad north from the Ohio River Valley about trips to Chicago at the turn of the Century. For Bob Perrone, it means first hand knowledge of the remarkable career of his grandfather, Rene Paul Chambellan. Bob left a comment on my post of August 26, 2009. And that communication has given me a most welcomed, first hand connection to the Sculpture of Tribune Tower.

Today was a remarkably warm, sunny September day. Tourists (lots of them, swarms of them) on north Michigan Avenue, guidebooks in hand, were touching the stones embedded in the stone walls of the Tribune Building. (The Parthenon. The Colosseum.) And then looking up to Aesop's screen, and above, those oddly inspired figures of "Rumor" and "News".

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The reaction of each tourist was the same. First, eyes wide, amazed. And second, a huge smile brought with the discovery that "humor" could be a part of the architecture of "the most beautiful building in the world." We need to remember to thank the "Frog."

LONDON GUARANTEE. The Fort Dearborn Commemorative

Alfred Alschuler's London Guarantee Building, 360 North Michigan Avenue, is an excellent example of Chicago's neo-classic architecture. Constructed in 1923, it is covered with detail and ornament. So much so that it is easy to over look the panel commemorating the site of Fort Dearborn at the corner of Michigan and Wacker. The panel is nearly three stories above the ground -- where the richness of detail can be seen ONLY WITH BINOCULARS.

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Who would have guessed that the Settler and the Indian standing on either side of the Fort could have such clear and expressive faces. The Indian certainly seems more confident than the Settler. Let's date this confidence to the evening of August 14, 1812: the night before the famous Massacre.

LORADO TAFT. Black Hawk

Lorado Taft created the maquette (left) for Chief Black Hawk at the Eagle's Nest. The finished work, dated 1911, (right) stands nearly 50 feet tall, overlooking the valley from 125 feet above the Rock River's edge

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NELLIE WALKER. The Eagle's Nest

Nellie Walker and Leonard Crunelle finished Lorado Taft's Heald Square Monument near Wacker and Wabash after Taft's death. Leonard Crunelle has an important list of work to his credit. Nellie Walker is known for being a member of Taft's Midway Studio. Below is Walker's maquette for Chief Keokuk. She created this work at the Eagle's Nest. It is on display at the Oregon Public Library.

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Note the expressive face. We may owe more to Ms Walker for the Heald monument than we know.

TRIBUNE TOWER. Rene Chambellan

New York Architects, Howells and Hood, won the 1922 Tribune Tower Competition, submitting the "MOST BEAUTIFUL OFFICE BUILDING IN THE WORLD." Below are two allegorical sculptures by Rene Chambellan that reside above the front entrance. "News" and "Rumor"
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Chambellan's sculpture here is extensive. And it is "good stuff" (althought the word "BEAUTIFUL" may not apply). It hard to believe, though, that this is the same artist who worked on Rockefeller Center not so many years later, again, with Howells and Hood.

THE JEWELERS BUILDING CLOCK. ca 1926

Father Time watches over Heald Square from his vantage point on top of the Jewelers Building Clock.
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Marshall Field & Company's clock at State and Randolph is one fine clock. But it's not the only clock in town. The Jewelers' Building Clock at the corner of Wabash and Wacker commands its share of the attention too. Somehow this clock manages to compete with the Jewelers Building by Architects Thielbar & Fugard and Giaver & Dinkelberg, its four rooftop temples, and a dome fit for Helmut Jahn -- and come out an unforgettable equal.

TRIBUNE TOWER. Nathan Hale

Bela Lyon Pratt sculpted Nathan Hale between 1908 and 1912. The Chicago Tribune purchased this casting in 1940. I've always particularly liked this work. And thought that the casting was very good. But I could never have guessed how close to life Nathan Hale might come, in this morning's reflected light.

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Bela Lyon Pratt was no stranger to Chicago. After attending the Ecole des Beaux Arts, he was a contributer to the Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893, working closely with August St. Gaudens.