Chicago - Architecture & Cityscape

Friday, February 10, 2006

Wednesday, February 1, 2006

Guilloche

Guilloche..
Decoration of interlaced bands, forming a pattern of circles or loops..
A type of running ornament..

Acroterian

Acroterian..
An ornament placed at the corner or peak of a roof or pediment..

Images above are from the Harold Washington Library.. click here...

Caryatids

Caryatid
A sculptured female figure serving as an ornamental support in place of a column or pilaster..

Images from the "Museum of Science and Industry"..

Glossary of Terms

# Acroterain..
# Bucrania..
# Caryatids..

Symbolism
# Bald Eagle - Symbol of America..
# Ceres - Goddess of grain and patron saint of corn traders..
# Owl - Symbol of wisdom..

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Artistic Collaborations: Augustus Saint Gaudens

Augustus Saint Gaudens..
collaboration with
- architects Stanford White and Charles McKim [of McKim Mead and White]
- decorator John La Farge

In Chicago..
Saint Gaudens and Stanford White worked together on..
- Standing Lincoln [Lincoln park]
- Sitting Lincoln [Grant Park]

One of the most important commissions for Augustus Saint Gaudens was the Farragut Monument in Madison Square Park, New York. It was unveiled in 1881 and is be considered the most important work of statuary in New York. It was a revelation of naturalistic modeling at a time that public sculpture was stiff and formal. Farragut stands in a vigorous pose, his long coat flung back by the wind.
The granite base, designed with Stanford White, is in the form of a curved, high-backed bench, with streaming, sea-current-like forms running across the central pier, engulfing two dolphins at the corners...
[Ref: New York Times.. ]

The success of Saint-Gaudens's Farragut Monument led to commissions for some 20 public monuments. Two of which were unveiled in 1887, the heroic standing Abraham Lincoln for Chicago [Lincoln park] and The Puritan [Deacon Samuel Chapin] for Springfield, Massachusetts..

Read..
Augustus Saint-Gaudens .. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Resorce Library..