Alma Mater (Missouri sculpture)

Last updated
Alma Mater
Alma Mater statue by Cyrus Dallin - vertical.jpg
The sculpture in place at the Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in 2022.
Artist Cyrus Edwin Dallin
Year1916
Type Bronze
Location Ladue, Missouri, U.S.

Alma Mater (1916) is a three-figure sculpture by Cyrus E. Dallin in the Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in Ladue, Missouri that was known as one of his more prominent works at the time [1] and is considered to be among his finest achievements by Kent Ahrens. [2] The sculpture is made of cast bronze and sits on a pediment of pink Tennessee marble with a stone backing that has two ionic pilasters supporting an arching molding. The backing panel also has a bas relief profile portrait of the honoree, Professor Edmund Sears, that is partially obstructed by the bronze figures.

The bronze sculpture contains three figures. A woman in Greek costume is seated with an open book on her lap. She is described as a mother who is an embodiment of knowledge. [3] A kneeling female child on her left and a standing female child on her right look at her with attention. [4] These younger figures represent students at the lower and upper schools, respectively. [3] Ahrens indicates that this sculpture may reflect the influence of Daniel Chester French and the Gallaudet Memorial, [2] although an examination of both sculptures does not reveal a dramatic similarity. The $15,000 commission contract with Dallin was negotiated by William K. Bixby, a prominent St. Louis philanthropist, and signed on November 5, 1915. Bixby was the negotiator as the honoree, Principal Edmund Sears, was uncomfortable negotiating the commission for his own honor. [2] [4] A bequest in the estate of Eliza Northrup MacMillian funded the project. At that time the Mary Institute and affiliated with Washington University and Bixby served on the University Board.

Dallin spent time at the school making sketches [5] and later sculpted the piece in his Arlington, Massachusetts studio. It was first displayed at an exhibition by the Guild of Boston Artists at the Evans Wing of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. [6] There it was described by the Boston Journal reviewer as "one of the most striking pieces of sculpture in the exhibition". It was unveiled on November 11, 1916, with Sears, its honoree, in attendance. [7]

In May 1919, the Alma Mater sculpture would be recreated as a tableau vivant at a fundraiser for women's suffrage at Boston's Copley Plaza Hotel. The event recreated prominent sculptures including classical sculptures from ancient Greece, Roman civilization and later periods. Other Cyrus Dallin works in the living exhibition included sculptures of Sacajawea and Anne Hutchinson and her granddaughter. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlington, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Arlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alma mater</span> School or university that a person has attended or graduated

Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase used to proclaim a school that a person has attended or, more usually, from which one has graduated. Alma mater is also a honorific title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. Later, in Catholicism, it became a title of Mary, mother of Jesus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyrus Edwin Dallin</span> American sculptor (1861–1944)

Cyrus Edwin Dallin was an American sculptor best known for his depictions of Native Americans. He created more than 260 works, including the Equestrian Statue of Paul Revere in Boston; the Angel Moroni atop Salt Lake Temple in Salt Lake City; and Appeal to the Great Spirit (1908), at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He was also an accomplished painter and an Olympic archer.

Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college.

<i>Appeal to the Great Spirit</i> Equestrian statue by Cyrus Dallin in Boston, Massachusetts, US

Appeal to the Great Spirit is a 1908 equestrian statue by Cyrus Dallin, located in front of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It portrays a Native American on horseback facing skyward, his arms spread wide in a spiritual request to the Great Spirit. It was the last of Dallin's four prominent sculptures of Indigenous people known as The Epic of the Indian, which also include A Signal of Peace (1890), The Medicine Man (1899), and Protest of the Sioux (1904).

<i>Alma Mater</i> (New York sculpture) Sculpture by Daniel Chester French

Alma Mater is a bronze sculpture by Daniel Chester French which is located on the steps of the Low Memorial Library on the campus of Columbia University, in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. French designed the statue in 1901, and it was installed in September 1903. It is a personification of the alma mater, which represents Columbia in its role as an educational institution; since its installation, the statue has become closely associated with the image of the university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bashka Paeff</span> American artist

Bashka Paeff, was an American sculptor active near Boston, Massachusetts.

<i>Alma Mater</i> (Illinois sculpture) Sculpture by Lorado Taft

The Alma Mater, a bronze statue by sculptor Lorado Taft, is a beloved symbol of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The 10,000-pound statue depicts a mother-figure wearing academic robes and flanked by two attendant figures representing "Learning" and "Labor", after the university's motto "Learning and Labor." Sited at the corner of Green and Wright Streets at the heart of the campus, the statue is an iconic figure for the university and a popular backdrop for student graduation photos. It is appreciated for its romantic, heraldic overtones and warmth of pose. The statue was removed from its site at the entrance to the university for restoration in 2012 and was returned to its site in the spring of 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uncle Sam Memorial Statue</span> Statue commerating "Uncle" Samuel Wilson

The Uncle Sam Memorial Statue is a statue commemorating Samuel Wilson, perhaps the original Uncle Sam, near his birthplace in the center of Arlington, Massachusetts, United States. It was sculpted by Theodore Cotillo Barbarossa. It is located on Mystic Street, across from the Cyrus Dallin Art Museum, and adjacent to the Minuteman Bikeway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas W. Evans</span> American dentist (1823–1897)

Thomas Wiltberger Evans was an American dentist. He performed dental procedures on many heads of state, including Napoleon III, and received numerous medals for his dentistry, including the Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur. He is noted for popularizing a number of techniques that have since become standard, including the use of amalgam fillings and of nitrous oxide.

<i>The Medicine Man</i> (Dallin) Sculpture by Cyrus Edwin Dallin installed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

The Medicine Man is an 1899 bronze equestrian statue by Cyrus Edwin Dallin located on Dauphin Street, west of 33rd Street, in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. The statue portrays an indigenous American medicine man.

<i>A Signal of Peace</i> Equestrian statue in Chicago

A Signal of Peace is an 1890 bronze equestrian sculpture by Cyrus Edwin Dallin located in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Dallin created the work while studying in Paris and based the figure on a member of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which he attended often. He exhibited the original plaster version of the sculpture at the Paris Salon of 1890, where it won honorable mention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyrus Dallin Art Museum</span> United States art museum

The Cyrus Dallin Art Museum (CDAM) in Arlington, Massachusetts, United States is dedicated to displaying the artworks and documentation of American sculptor, educator, and Indigenous rights activist Cyrus Dallin, who lived and worked in the town for over 40 years. He is well known for his sculptural works around the US including The Scout in Kansas City, Missouri, TheSoldiers' and Sailors' Monumentin Syracuse, New York and The Signal of Peace in Chicago. Locally, he is best known for his iconic Appeal to the Great Spirit and Paul Revere Monument statues, both located in Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soldiers and Sailors Monument (Syracuse, New York)</span>

Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1908–1911) is a Beaux-Arts monument in Syracuse, New York, dedicated to the 12,265 men of Onondaga County who served in the Civil War. It was designed by architect Clarence Blackall and includes two bronze sculptures, The Call to Arms and An Incident at Gettysburg by Cyrus Dallin. The memorial was erected in Clinton Square, alongside the Erie Canal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clare Pfeifer Garrett</span> American sculptor

Clare Pfeifer Garrett was an American sculptor of considerable interest in St. Louis in the 1910s.

<i>Protest of the Sioux</i>

Protest of the Sioux, also known as The Protest, is a 1904 equestrian statue by Cyrus Dallin. It was the third of four important statues of indigenous people on horseback commonly known as The Epic of the Indian, which also includes A Signal of Peace (1890), The Medicine Man (1899), and Appeal to the Great Spirit (1908).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Anne Hutchinson</span> Statue in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

A statue of Anne Hutchinson by Cyrus Edwin Dallin is installed outside the Massachusetts State House, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Equestrian statue of Paul Revere</span> Equestrian statue in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

An equestrian statue of Paul Revere by Cyrus Edwin Dallin is installed at Paul Revere Mall near the Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robbins Memorial Flagstaff</span>

The Robbins Memorial Flagstaff (1913) is a structure supporting and topping a flagpole in Arlington, Massachusetts created by Cyrus Dallin. The supporting sculpture includes a variety of sculptural elements including bronze figures, stone eagles, and snapping turtles with a finial representing American Agriculture. The sculpture resides to the west of Town Hall at 730 Massachusetts Avenue.

<i>Boy and His Dog Sculpture</i>

Boy and His Dog Sculpture or Storrow Memorial is a 1923 statue by Cyrus Dallin, located in a prominent location in Lincoln Cemetery. It portrays a young man bending down to pick a flower with a dog gazing up into his visage. It was created at the request of Helen Osborne Storrow as a memorial to her husband James Jackson Storrow. The Storrows are interred 30 feet north of the monument across a small road in a grave overlooking a picturesque pond. 

References

  1. Taft, Lorado (1924). The History of American Sculpture. Harper. p. 576. ISBN   9781331663515.
  2. 1 2 3 Ahrens, Kent (1995). Cyrus E. Dallin His Small Bronzes and Plasters. University Press- Rockwell Museum Corning, New York. p. 108. ISBN   0-9622038-6-6.
  3. 1 2 Dillon, Dan (2005). So, Where'd You Go To High School? Volume 2. Virginia Publishing. p. 118.
  4. 1 2 "Mary Institute". Monthly Bulletin St. Louis Public Library. 17–18: 198, 207.
  5. Francis, Rell (1976). Cyrus E. Dallin: Let Justice Be Done. Cyrus Dallin Art Museum Arlington, Massachusetts: Francis. p. 109.
  6. Waitt, Marian P (March 7, 1916). "Boston Artists Exhibit at Museum of Fine Arts". Boston Journal.
  7. "Mary Institute Unveiling of the Bronze Group "Alma Mater" program". November 10, 1916.
  8. "Boston Women to Take Parts of Sculpted Figures". Boston Globe. May 8, 1919. p. 18.