LEON HERMANT

CREDIT THE TECHNICIAN.

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From 1904, when they met in St. Louis, until 1927, Leon Hermant and Carl Beil were partners at their Sculpture Studio at 21 East Pearson Street in Chicago.  Leon was the Artist.  Carl, the "Executioner.'  Hermant continued his art after Beil's death in 1927, receiving a major commission for the Indiana State Library in 1934.  His images were carved, in Indianapolis, by German sculptor Adolph Wolter. Below are seven small panels from the East and North Facades of the Library.

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Where credit for any work of art ends with the artist and begins with technnician is an interesting question.  What would Louis Sullivan be without Christian Schneider?  Or Lorado Taft without Jules Bercham?  Each of these seven vignettes is charming, attractive -- but seem to lack the strength of Hermant's  earlier work with Beil at the Medinah Athletic or  Illinois Athletic Club. Was it a broken partnership or simply the inability of a Beaux Arts artist to enter the new world of Deco?