Chicago South - Washington Park / Fountain of Time (1922) - by Lorado Taft

Fountain of Time - by Lorado Taft

Fountain of Time - by Lorado Taft

Reflecting pool: Howard Van Doren Shaw

Completed: 1922

Description: approx. 127 feet length 

Made with hollow-cast concrete, reinforced with steel and incorporated pebbles from the Potomac River. This composite material was an innovation at the time .

Location: Western edge of the Midway Plaisance in the Washington Park 

Washington Park is registered in the National Register of Historic Places, and this sculpture is a contributing structure in this achievement.

Commissioned by the B.F.Ferguson Monument Fund, to commemorate the first 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain, resulting from the Treaty of Ghent in 1814.

Inspired by Henry Austin Dobson's poem, "Paradox of Time" ..

"Time goes, you say?

Ah no, Alas, time stays, we go"..

Fountain of Time - by Lorado Taft

Fountain of Time - by Lorado Taft

The sculpture extends from north to south..

Below is a break-up from north-end to the south-end..

North End

North-Center

Center

Center

Center

Center

South-Center

South End

Father Time

Here's Father Time..

overlooking at the people as they go by, through different stages of life..

Fountain of Time

Lorado Taft

My all-time favourite sculptural piece in Chicago.. It evokes so many feelings. Sometimes I find it to be flowing like a lyrical poem with it's ups and downs and sometimes I am caught in it's austere assessment of life, how a carefree childhood on father's shoulders end in old-age of pain and dementia. The details are well thought of and powerfully executed and the overall scale is simply awe-inspiring..A beautiful rendition of arguably a philosophical take on life, "Time Stays, We Go", as 100 figures pass before Father Time..

For more.. [click on the link]..
Lorado Taft..
Public Art in Universities of Chicago..
B.F.Ferguson Monument Fund..