CHICAGO SCULPTURE in the Loop: January 2010

HENRY HERING. Regeneration. Men at Work

With the Allegory of Regeneration explained (See Previous Post) and the clear knowledge that Mrs. Chicago has subdued the salamander, its time to see the details. No other Henry Hering sculpture in the Chicago area relies so heavily on details and props. Anvil, jackhammer, pulley, beam, gear, gloves, leather aprons, straps, rivets and workshoes all help "tell the story." The combination of movement and strength is remarkable.

A very nice description of this Bridge Tower can be found in "Chicago's Public Sculpture" by Ira J. Bach and Mary Lackritz Gray. Available at Amazon. Link HERE. Let me also plug my own book, "Chicago Figural Sculpture" also available (on sale) at Amazon. Link HERE.

In 1928 the generation that remembered the Chicago Fire was beginning to disappear. This Memorial marks an end of History and the beginning of Legend.

I'll be away for a few days (up in the frozen north) but will return with a few final thoughts on the composition of Regeneraton.

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HENRY HERING. Michigan Avenue Bridge. Southeast Bridge Tower. "Regeneration"

It always helps to have a clue.....

The Woman in the center of this composition, wearing a breastplate, is tough as nails. She is surrounded by shirtless men. One has a jackhammer. Another, I think, is doing the pasodoble, with his arm stretched under her cape. (She doesn't flinch.) On her head - a cap or crown - embossed with the words "I WILL." In her right hand, a builder's square. In her left, a roll of drawings. Above, a barefooted angel is blowing a huge horn. (Huge) And on closer inspection, we see that a lizard is disappearing under her skirt. At the corner of Michigan and Wacker.

Pictures don't lie.

I'll admit to calling on James L. Riedy and his book CHICAGO SCULPTURE for a little help. (Its available at Amazon,) (So is mine.) Henry Hering used the Charles Holloway sketch that won first prize in an 1892 Competition sponsored by the Chicago InterOcean for the centerpiece of his sculpture. She is the personification of Chicago. The "I WILL" on her crown is the City's motto. The builder's square and drawings show the way for the construction workers that surround her to rebuild the City in 1872. (That Dancer in the crochet hat is actually preparing to hoist a steel beam)

And, by the way, that's no lizard. Mrs. Chicago has her foot on a salamander, a mythological spirit of fire. The Chicago Fire. She is clearly indomitable as the heraldic angel above announces the dawn of a new age.

How I love this place.

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HENRY HERING and JAMES EARLE FRASER. The Michigan Avenue Bridge

In 1920, with thanks due Daniel Burnham and Ed Bennett (although maybe not in that order), Michigan Avenue spanned the Chicago River. The Bridge, was, is, an elegant construction. A double decked bascule punctuated with four Beaux Arts bridge towers. (More on this in future posts at Chicago Architecture in the Loop.) Henry Hering, commissioned by the Benjamin Franklin Ferguson Monument Fund, sculpted "Defense" and "Regeneration" for the south Bridge Towers. James Earle Fraser, who was funded by William Wrigley, created "Explorers" and Pioneers" for the North Towers. Both had trained under Augustus Saint Gaudens, who had been an artistic advisor to the Columbian Exposition of 1893.

No group of sculpture in the City is more difficult to fully appreciate. The symmetry and architectural impact of the bridge towers relegates these major pieces of sculpture to ornament. The similarities of composition overshadow their differences. And their high traffic location almost precludes the "quiet moment" that sculpture takes to understand.

Not that I'm not complaining very loudly. These four pieces are entirely appropriate ornament for what is arguably the most important Bridge on the most important Avenue in the most important City between New York and the West Coast. Still, they each deserve time and care. More to follow.

FOR MORE CHICAGO SCULPTURE, ARCHITECTURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT

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AMY ALDIS BRADLEY. LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY. The MacArthur Foundation.

Thank Amy Aldis Bradley for the "idealized" Louis Jolliet at the Marquette Building. For more of the story visit the MacArthur Foundation's fine new website here.