Chicago Rising from the Lake
Sculptor - Milton Horn..
Installed: 1954
Description: Bronze, H 7 ft. x W 12 ft.
LOCATION:Columbus Drive Bridge Columbus Dr. at the Chicago River Esplanade
City of Chicago Public Art Collection..
Milton Horn’s bronze bas-relief is symbolic of the city of Chicago. The female figure represents Chicago emerging reborn from the bottom of Lake Michigan following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The sheaf of wheat, bull and eagle reference Chicago’s historic role as a center of commerce, the livestock market and air transportation, respectively. Floral forms evoke the city motto, “Urbs in Horto” or “City in a Garden.” Finally, the bronze ring arching across the relief represents Chicago’s central geography within the United States.
2 comments:
There's a few more Milton Horn's waiting patiently for your camera - the most spectacular of which is Hymn to Water at the Water Filtration Plant.
The problem is, however, that it's become a high security area, and access has been impossible (at least for me)
A fragment can be seen on the north side (East Delaware Place) of the Fourth Presbyterian Church.
Please let me know if you can find a way to get in !
I tried, as you had, to see this work without success. Many years ago, as editor of the
Chicago Construction News I received a photo of this gigantic work, which I remember as "The Spirit of the Great Lakes," when the Metropolitan Sanitary District was installing it in a public area at the water filtration works. Mr. Horn liked the article I wrote and invited me to dinner at his home/studio. What a wonderful person! He had strong opinions one of which was that he could have cast the Chicago Picasso in bronze and still made a pile of money from it. How much DID the Corten steel of that thing cost?
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