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It always helps to have a clue.....
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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)
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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.
FOR MORE CHICAGO SCULPTURE, ARCHITECTURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY VISIT
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Interesting blogging!
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