Lincoln Park [ Greene Vardiman Black - by Frederick Cleveland Hibbard]

Green Vardiman Black
by Frederick Cleveland Hibbard
Location: Lincoln Park,
north of North Ave. at Astor Street..
Donated by the National Dental Association, in appreciation for Black's services to the profession.

Lincoln Park [Eli Bates Fountain / Storks at Play - by Augustus Saint-Gaudens ]

Eli Bates Fountain/ Also known as "Storks at Play" ...
Installed: 1887..
by Augustus Saint-Gaudens ...
Location: The Great Garden [Lincoln Park]..

The fountain is the centerpiece of one of Chicago's oldest existing gardens, The Formal Garden [Lincoln Park] .. dating back to 1880's ... In the background is the Victorian style Lincoln Park Conservatory [built in 1890 designed by famous architect, Joespeh L. Silsbee] ...

Gift by Eli Bates ..
Eli Bates, was a pioneer in the lumber business in Chicago He died in 1881 and in his will, he designated funds to create two sculptures:
# A fountain ... and ...
# A statue of Abraham Lincoln ..
Both to be erected in the Lincoln Park.. Saint-Gaudens was commissioned as sculptor for both the Lincoln statue and the fountain. Both of these sculptures were installed in 1887.
# For the Abraham Lincoln Monument. click here ..

There is also a monument to Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, "prince of poets," at the south side of the site, as seen in the image below....

Temporary Exhibit: Pioneer Court [God Bless America - by J. Seward Johnson]

God Bless America
Sculptor: J. Seward Johnson
Location: Pioneer Court
Installed: Dec, 2008..
The sculpture is based on one of the most famous paintings in the history of American Art. "American Gothic" [1930] by Grant Wood, which is displayed in the nearby Art Institute of Chicago.




American Gothic [1930] by Grant Wood..
at the Art Institute of Chicago..
The painting is said to be an example of Regionalism, an American art movement that aggressively opposed European abstract art. This painting was supposed to be a typical representation of Iowa. Wood wanted to depict the traditional roles of men and women, as the man is holding a pitchfork symbolizing hard labor. He asked his dentist [Dr. Byron McKeeby] and his sister Nan to pose as a farmer and his unmarried daughter. Interestingly, each element of the painting were painted seperately, in the sense that the models never posed with each other..





Installation..Here we see two workers, installing the 25-foot sculpture titled "God Bless America". The Chicago Tribune reports the workers are names Nick Valenza and Doug Roberts. These images were taken as the installation work was still in progress.





Personally, I prefer this much more than the earlier sculpture "King Lear" [click here] .. by the same artist J. Steward Johnson ...