THE PALACE OF FINE ARTS. Henry Hering

Shown below is one one of Henry Hering's many sculptures that complete Charles Atwood's designs for the Palace of Fine Arts 1893 Facade. This was the first of several important commissions in Chicago. He went on to work with Peirce Anderson on the both the Field Museum and Union Station. He worked with Edward Bennett on the Michigan Avenue Bridge. And Holabird and Root at the Civic Opera block. He also took a sidetrip to Marquette Park in Gary, Indiana with George Washington Maher - where he completed a very fine Father Marquette.

. Note the sculpture's extraordinary condition. We owe the Museum of Science and Industry a real debt of gratitude for ongoing maintenance and restoration of its building, its ornament and the sculpure.

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THE CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE

INDUSTRY and AGRICULTURE flanked the front entrance of the Chicago Board of Trade. The structure was designed by William Boyington in 1885 and lasted until demolished to allow the construction of the new Board of Trade Building in 1928. Below is INDUSTRY.

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Her serenity gives no clue of the concern that the BOT felt for Chicago's growing and increasingly vocal Chicago Labor Movement. Take a look at this link: http://www.patsabin.com/illinois/trade.htm It is a vintage postcard showing the statues standing above the door. Their sculptor is unknown.

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Fountain of the Great Lakes

Ontario extends her hand to the Sea. This striking woman is a detail from Lorado Taft's Fountain of the Great Lakes.
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FIELD MUSEUM. Henry Hering and Allegory

This commission surely brought a smile to Henry Hering. The Field Museum's bas-reliefs. Caryatids. And four Allegorical Figures in Stanley Field Hall. Two are shown below.

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Above: "Record"

Below: "Dissemination of Knowledge"

Although clearly neoclassical, there are elements in the hair that foreshadow Hering's later work at the Civic Opera House.

Henry Hering. Caryatids

Henry Hering had some experience with caryatids before sculpting the "Porch of the Maidens" ca 1911 (shown below) at Chicago's Field Museum. He also had received the commission for preparing the caryatids at The Palace of Fine Arts (now the Museum of Science and Industry) at the Columbian Exposition of 1893.

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D. H. Burnham and Company designed the Palace of Fine Arts. It was the successor firm, Graham, Anderson, Probst and White that designed the Field Museum and once again collaborated with Henry Hering, continuing the Classical Architecture of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

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FIELD MUSEUM. Henry Hering

Working seamlessly with Peirce Anderson to incorporate Sculpture and Architecture, Henry Hering produced these allegorical bas reliefs for the facade of the Field Museum.
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They represent "Anthropology" above and "Geology" below. More images are currently available at http://www.architectureintheloop.blogspot.com/ Posts to follow will describe Hering's interor work at the Field.

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UNION STATION. Day and Night

Stanford White looked around him at the design team who had begun work on the Chicago World's Fair and said that it was "the greatest assemblage of talent since the Renaissance." Sculptor's who had "got their start" at the Fair became important figures of the early twentieth century. And the tradition of Architecture and Sculpture working hand in hand in Chicago had begun.
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Above are Henry Hering's allegorical figures of Day and Night located in Union Station. They are fully integrated into the Architecture. See http://www.architectureintheloop.blogspot.com/ for a contextural photo. This was the beginning of a long relationship between Sculptor Hering and Architect Anderson. Anderson soon gave Hering the largest commission of his career: The Field Museum.

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