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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