Chicago Rising from the Lake

Last updated

Chicago Rising from the Lake
Sculptor Milton Horn with a quarter size model of his Chicago rising on the Lake bronze sculpture.png
1954 photo of Milton Horn with a quarter scale model of his Chicago Rising from the Lake
Chicago locator map.png
Red pog.svg
Chicago Rising from the Lake
Artist Milton Horn
Year1954 (1954)
MediumBronze
SubjectRebirth and leadership
Dimensions(7 ft (2.1 m) in× 12 ft (3.7 m) in)
Weight3.5 tons
ConditionRestored
Location Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates 41°53′21″N87°37′14″W / 41.88917°N 87.62056°W / 41.88917; -87.62056
OwnerCity of Chicago

Chicago Rising from the Lake (1954) is a bronze sculpture by Milton Horn. The sculpture shows a woman, rising from waters of Lake Michigan, with flames, animals and wheat. It represents Chicago's rebirth after the Great Chicago Fire, and subsequent rise to become a leader in transportation, stockyards and commodities.

Contents

History

The sculpture in 2017 Columbus Drive Bridge Chicago 2017-12275.jpg
The sculpture in 2017

In 1953 the Chicago Department of Public Works awarded Milton Horn a US$5,000 commission to create the sculpture. [1] It was the first sculpture purchased by the city of Chicago since 1892. [2] Horn began by constructing a quarter-sized model of the sculpture in his studio. [3] He completed the main sculpture in 1954 and it was installed in a parking garage in 1955. In 1983 the statue was removed when the garage was razed. After removal it was intended to be installed at Chicago's Civic Opera House, but funds could not be raised. The sculpture was then lost until 1987: it was eventually found in an empty swimming pool at that time, and moved. [4] [5] The bronze sculpture was lost again until a Chicago firefighter found it lying in a makeshift dump in 1997. [1]

The city decided to restore the piece and in 1998 it was placed on the Chicago Riverwalk, affixed to a wall beneath the northwest corner of the Columbus Drive bridge. The city paid $60,000 to restore the sculpture but three bronze bars were missing when the sculpture was installed in 1998. A private donor paid to have the bars recast and added to the sculpture in 2004. [1]

Design

It is a 7 ft (2.1 m) x 12 ft (3.7 m) [6] sculpture and it weighs 3.5 tons. [1] The sculpture is a depiction of a woman holding grain in her hand while she embraces a bull. [7] There is also an eagle in the piece. The design of the sculpture represents the city of Chicago's dominance of commodities markets in the mid-1950s. The design elements also show the rebirth of Chicago as a leader in transportation, and it was a depiction of the Chicago Stockyards. [5]

The woman in the sculpture is standing hip deep in the water of Lake Michigan with carved flames representing the Great Chicago Fire. She is rising from both the lake and from the fire that once destroyed Chicago. The sculpture also has three-dimensional bronze bars which represent the railroad. [1] The bars run diagonally across the center of the piece representing Chicago's location in the middle of the United States. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grant Park (Chicago)</span> United States historic place

Grant Park is a large urban park in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. Located within the city's central business district, the 319-acre (1.29 km2) park's features include Millennium Park, Buckingham Fountain, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum Campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelyn Beatrice Longman</span> American sculptor (1874–1954)

Evelyn Beatrice Longman was an American sculptor whose allegorical figure works were commissioned as monuments and memorials, adornment for public buildings, and attractions at art expositions in the early 20th-century. She became the first woman sculptor to be elected a full member of the National Academy of Design in 1919.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Stock Yards</span> Meatpacking district of Chicago

The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meatpacking district in Chicago for more than a century, starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired marshland and turned it into a centralized processing area. By the 1890s, the railroad capital behind the Union Stockyards was Vanderbilt money. The Union Stockyards operated in the New City community area for 106 years, helping Chicago become known as the "hog butcher for the world", the center of the American meatpacking industry for decades. The yards became inspiration for literature and social reform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Picasso</span> Sculpture by Pablo Picasso

The Chicago Picasso is an untitled monumental sculpture by Pablo Picasso in Daley Plaza in Chicago, Illinois. The 1967 installation of The Picasso, "precipitated an aesthetic shift in civic and urban planning, broadening the idea of public art beyond the commemorative."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milton Horn</span> American sculptor

Milton Horn was a Ukrainian American sculptor and artist known for work that, according to a 1957 citation of honor from the American Institute of Architects, demonstrated "the truth that architecture and sculpture are not two separate arts but, in the hands of sympathetic collaborators, one and the same".

<i>Cloud Gate</i> Sculpture by Anish Kapoor in Chicago, US

Cloud Gate is a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, that is the centerpiece of Grainger Plaza at Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago. Constructed between 2004 and 2006, the sculpture is nicknamed "The Bean" because of its shape, a name Kapoor later grew fond of. Made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its reflective and highly polished exterior has no visible seams. It measures 33 by 66 by 42 feet, and weighs 110 short tons. The sculpture and its plaza are located above Park Grill, between the Chase Promenade and McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink.

<i>Fountain of Eternal Life</i> Statue in Ohio

The Fountain of Eternal Life, also known as the War Memorial Fountain and Peace Arising from the Flames of War, is a statue and fountain in downtown Cleveland, Ohio designed by Cleveland Institute of Art graduate Marshall Fredericks and dedicated on May 30, 1964. The sculpture, which honors Greater Clevelanders who served, died, or were declared missing in military service, is situated on Veterans' Memorial Plaza as part of the Cleveland Mall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roni Horn</span> American visual artist and writer (born 1955)

Roni Horn is an American visual artist and writer. The granddaughter of Eastern European immigrants, she was born in New York City, where she lives and works. She is currently represented by Xavier Hufkens in Brussels and Hauser & Wirth. She is openly gay.

<i>Fountain of the Great Lakes</i> Bronze sculpture by Lorado Taft

Fountain of the Great Lakes, or Spirit of the Great Lakes Fountain, is an allegorical sculpture and fountain by Lorado Taft. The bronze artwork, created between 1907 and 1913, depicts five women arranged so that the fountains waterfall recalls the waterflow through the five Great Lakes of North America. In the Great Lakes, the waterflow begins in Lake Superior at 600 feet (180 m) above sea level and continues eastward through each lake until it reaches Lake Ontario. The Fountain is one of Taft's best known works. It is located in the public South McCormick Memorial Court of the Art Institute of Chicago, in the Chicago Loop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grainger Plaza</span> Public space at Millennium Park, Chicago

Grainger Plaza is a public space that hosts the Cloud Gate sculpture. It is located in Millennium Park, which is a park built to celebrate the third millennium and which is located within the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. The sculpture and the plaza are sometimes jointly referred to as Cloud Gate on the AT&T Plaza.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing Galleries</span> Open-air gallery in Illinois, United States

Boeing Galleries are a pair of outdoor exhibition spaces within Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The spaces are located along the south and north mid-level terraces, above and east of Wrigley Square and the Crown Fountain. In a conference at the Chicago Cultural Center, Boeing President and Chief Executive Officer James Bell to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced Boeing would make a $5 million grant to fund both the construction of and an endowment for the space.

<i>Spaces with Iron</i> Artwork by Will Horwitt

Spaces with Iron is a public sculpture by American artist Will Horwitt. It was installed in January 2009 on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus, near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The sculpture is located at the corner of Blackford and Vermont Streets, on the southeast lawn of the Science Building, and is on long-term loan from the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

<i>Coal Miner</i> (statue) Statue by John J. Szaton

Coal Miner is a public artwork by Polish American artist John J. Szaton (1907–1966) which is located in two US State capitals; the original, commissioned in 1963 in Springfield, Illinois, as well as a copy on the west lawn of the Indiana State House in Indianapolis The statues commemorate coal miners who had lost their lives in those states' mining industry. The 7-foot (2.1 m) tall statue rests on a 3-foot (0.91 m) square, granite base supported by a cement foundation that is 4–6 inches (100–150 mm) thick.

<i>Kvinneakt</i> Statue in Portland, Oregon, U.S.

Kvinneakt is an abstract bronze sculpture located on the Transit Mall of downtown Portland, Oregon. Designed and created by Norman J. Taylor between 1973 and 1975, the work was funded by TriMet and the United States Department of Transportation and was installed on the Transit Mall in 1977. The following year Kvinneakt appeared in the "Expose Yourself to Art" poster which featured future Mayor of Portland Bud Clark flashing the sculpture. It remained in place until November 2006 when it was removed temporarily during renovation of the Transit Mall and the installation of the MAX Light Rail on the mall.

<i>Pod</i> (sculpture) Sculpture in Portland, Oregon

Pod is the name of a 2002 modern sculpture by American artist Pete Beeman, currently installed at Southwest 10th Avenue and West Burnside Street in downtown Portland, Oregon. The 30-foot (9.1 m) sculpture, intended to represent the "infrastructure, energy, and vibrancy of Portland", is supported by its static tripod base with a 15-foot (4.6 m) diameter. It is constructed from stainless steel, galvanized steel, bronze, titanium, lead and other materials. Pod was fabricated by Beeman and David Bermudez, and engineered by Beeman and Peterson Structural Engineers. It is considered interactive and kinetic, with a central, vertical pendulum that swings back and forth when pushed. The sculpture cost as much as $50,000 and was funded by the Portland Streetcar Project. Pod is part of the City of Portland and Multnomah County Public Art Collection courtesy of the Regional Arts & Culture Council.

<i>The Great God Pan</i> (sculpture) Sculpture by George Grey Barnard in Manhattan, New York, U.S.

The Great God Pan is a bronze sculpture by American sculptor George Grey Barnard. Since 1907, it has been a fixture of the Columbia University campus in Manhattan, New York City.

<i>Lions</i> (Kemeys) Pair of lion statues in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Lions is a pair of 1893 bronze sculptures by Edward Kemeys, installed outside of the main entrance to the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. The sculptures are well-recognized public artworks.

<i>Babies</i> (Černý) Sculpture series by Czech artist David Černý

Babies is a series of sculptures by Czech artist David Černý.

<i>Cottontail on the Trail</i> Sculpture in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US

Cottontail on the Trail is a bronze sculpture in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The piece was commissioned as part of the city's Art in Public Places program and was designed by sculptor Jeff Barber of Cannon Falls, Minnesota. The sculpture, which depicts an oddly proportioned cottontail rabbit, was permanently installed on Minnehaha Parkway in 2002. Cottontail on the Trail has been well received by residents of the surrounding area, who often decorate it seasonally or in response to current events.

Anyanwu is a bronze sculpture created by the Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu between 1954 and 1955. It is a representation of the Igbo mythological figure and earth goddess Ani. It was created to mark the opening of the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos in 1956 and is still on display outside the museum. A life size version of the piece was presented to the United Nations by Nigeria in 1966 and is displayed in the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York City. Several subsequent smaller editions of the piece have since been created.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Dardick, Hal (4 June 2004). "Public-art Puzzle to be Completed". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  2. Jewett, Eleanor (29 January 1956). "Surgeons to Add Statues to Museum". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  3. Philbrick, Richard (16 May 1954). "Auto Facility is New Setting for Sculpture". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  4. McShetty Breslin, Meg (7 September 1997). "'Rising' From the Abyss". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  5. 1 2 Thomas, Jerry (1 May 1998). "Chicago's Bronze Lady Rises Again". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  6. 1 2 "The Chicago Public Art Guide Milton Horn 1954 Chicago Rising from the Lake" (PDF). Chicago Gov. Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  7. Graf, John (2002). Chicago's monuments, markers, and memorials. Chicago, IL: Arcadia Pub. p. 63. ISBN   978-0738520025. Archived from the original on 21 August 2022. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
External image
Searchtool.svg Chicago Rising From The Lake, photo taken by Eric Allix Rogers (Flickr)