vince’s ear

This is the first post in a series regarding my photographic efforts to capture all the statues and sculptures throughout the city of Philadelphia, which boasts the largest amount of statues in a single city in the world. The photos in this first expedition were taken in April, 2006 and were part of a collection of 122 shots, all of which are in the gallery named Philadelphia Statues on the sidebar. The next post in the series will center around our outing in the Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philly and will include some of its beautiful monuments and statues.

The Museums

My adventure started on a warm and sunny spring morning near the Philadelphia Art Museum. My route was to shoot some of the works around the museum, make my way up Kelly Drive through Fairmount Park and back again, continue past the museum, and proceed up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

The first in this showing will be the Jacques Lipchitz masterpiece, “Prometheus Strangling the Vulture” which stands in front of the east entrance of the museum on top of the famous Rocky Steps. ( The Rocky Statue is currently [12/07] on view at the foot of the east entrance steps.) Lipchitz exhibited at the Philly Art Museum in 1949 at the 3rd Sculpture International, and his sculptures pepper the city streets. Another prominent example of his artistry is at the Columbia University in Manhattan, “Bellerophon Taming Pegasus.”

 

 

Many of Lipchitz’s sculptures revolved around a mythological theme, as do most of the ones around around the Rocky Steps. The next one is a good example.

I’ll have to find out the name of this one and update this, but it is one of my favorites. The following is the huge statue in the small park across the circle from the east entrance generally depicting Native American symbols and a prominent historical figure (perhaps George Washington) atop a stead. It is truly an amazing spectacle.

In one of the subsequent posts I will devote the entire session to the genius Auguste Rodin. He was a nineteenth century French artist whose works, like Lipchitz’s, also focused on some mythology. If you are ever in Philadelphia to see the Art Museum on some Sunday afternoon, don’t skip the Rodin Museum located near the main building on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Housed here is the largest collection of Rodins outside Paris. Its a very decent collection including one of the many versions of “The Burghers of Calais,” and the “Age of Bronze.” In the front of the Museum is the “Gates of Hell” and the famous “The Thinker.”

“The Burghers of Calias”

“The Gates of Hell”

“The Thinker”

Some other decent works under the Museums heading could have come from the recently opened Perelman Building. The Perelman Building is the museums latest gallery and marks the only addition in 80 years. It houses many modern art pieces including sculpture and textiles. Admission is free until 2008.

The Warriors

Too many to display in a single post are the numerous military statues you will find all over the city. They include war heroes, prominent generals, and history makers spanning the centuries. It is interesting to note the symbolism involved with these soldiers. Next time you see a statue of a soldier on horseback notice the feet of the stallion. If both front feet are in the air the subject died in battle, one foot signifies the subject died from wounds received in battle, and both feet mean the rider died of natural causes. The first here is U.S. Grant, the important Civil War general and final commander of the Union Army, whose ride here calmly keeps both front feet firm, as we know he later became President.

The next several here I can’t recall who they are but you and I can both tell if they died in battle, from wounds inflicted in battle, or continued to live after the war.

Each apparently died from wounds received in battle.

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Fairmount and Love Parks

There are some great sculptures all around Fairmount Park up Kelly Drive and along the way to Love Park. The angel here is just one example in Fairmount Park along the Skuykill River. Love Park was created by Philadelphia city planner Edmund Bacon, the father of Kevin Bacon. The Love Statue was created by Robert Indiana.

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Three Generations of Calders

Some of the most influential sculptors of Philadelphia have to be Alexander Calder, his father Alexander Sterling Calder, and his father Alexander Milnes Calder. If you stand in the balcony over the Great Stair Hall you see a huge Alexander Calder mobile over the steps. Turn around and look out the window to observe further down the Parkway the huge fountain about halfway to City Hall, this was the work of ALexander Sterling Calder. Off in the distance you can see atop the City Hall, the statue of William Penn, sculpted by none other than the eldest Alexander Milnes Calder.

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Some Other Great Sculptures

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Sculpture and Statuary in Philadelphia, Part 2