JAMES EARLE FRASER. The Discoverers ---- Right Face

Even within what appears to be the rigid symmetry of the Michigan Avenue Bridge, a Sculptor makes decisions.  Above, James Earle Fraser's "Discoverers" looks to the right -- that Guardian Angel leading the charge is headed straight toward Michigan Avenue.  Henry Hering's work (below), "The Defenders" turns in upon itself, and is "at rest" on its Bridge Tower.

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The difference in depictions of the Native Americans is also at variance.  Hering's Indians attack.  Fraser's are at ease.  Docile.  The truth may be somewhere in between.

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Literally.  This Colonial Dames of Ameria plaque is located on the bridge span itself.  There are two. And both are of remarkable quality.

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HENRY HERING. Defense

I was about to compare the Beaux Arts composition of Henry Hering's Michigan Avenue Bridgetower "Defense" to "Regeneration" which was the subject previous posts. And the allegorical representations thereof......

Bologna!

Let's just look at the pictures.

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This is just plain good stuff.
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HENRY HERING. Regeneration. Compositions

Edward Bennett's four elegant Bridge Towers define and punctuate the Michigan Avenue Bridge. Each Tower has sculpture dedicated to an important event in Chicago's History. And each Sculpture, similar within a uniform composition, is strikingly varied. Like L'Arc de Triomphe. This is Paris on the Lake. The Burnham Plan of 1909.        

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Henry Hering's "Regeneration" (and the remaining three, all subjects of future posts) follows "the drill:" variation within apparent symmetry and similar composition. Below are vignettes that summarize the work: Upper. Lower. Right. Center. Left. Each are compositions that could stand alone. Overlapping elements tie them together. (See Previous Post for Details).          

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It must have taken some "talking" to get Hering on the South to agree with Fraser on the North, and William Wrigley, Fraser's benefactor to concur with the Benjamin Franklin Ferguson Monument Fund (administered by the Art Institute of Chicago), that financed Hering.      

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But they did agree.  And we got the icing on the cake.

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And here are two more links.

                  

CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE AND CITYSCAPE 

and

PUBLIC ART IN CHICAGO 

Cityscape was started in 2006.  Public Art began in 2007 -- these blogs are years long commitments to Art and Architecture in Chicago.

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HENRY HERING and JAMES EARLE FRASER. The Michigan Avenue Bridge

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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.                      

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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.

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