![Johnson spanish music 1916 3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Johnson_spanish_music_1916_3.jpg)
''The Spirit of Spanish Music'' is a sculpture by
Burt William Johnson
Burt William Johnson (April 25, 1890 – March 27, 1927)Moore, Nancy Dustin Wall. ''Dictionary of Art and Artists in Southern California Before 1930''. Los Angeles: Privately printed, 1975, p.130 was an American sculptor.
Biography
Johnson was b ...
(25 April 1890—27 March 1927).
It was commissioned by the
Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...
class of 1915
[ www.pomona.edu/] and
placed in the Lebus Court of the
Mabel Shaw Bridges Hall of Music at
Pomona College
Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...
, one of a
group of buildings conceived for the expansion of Pomona College and built in the mid-1910s by
architect
Myron Hunt
Myron Hubbard Hunt (February 27, 1868 – May 26, 1952) was an American architect whose numerous projects include many noted landmarks in Southern California and Evanston, Illinois. Hunt was elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Archi ...
using details of the "ornamental Spanish style".
This style, and the fact that the building where it stands was intended
for the study and performance of music, give the sculpture its name.
(Other names for the sculpture sometimes are seen in various sources, including
''Pastoral Flutist''
[ p.13 (photograph, p.8)] and ''Youth''
[''Country Life'',
Volume 41, November 1921, p.69]).
The figure itself, a boy in "classic contrapposto stance"
playing an elongated flute, was influenced by the 15th century Florentine sculptor
Desiderio da Settignano
Desiderio da Settignano, real name Desiderio de Bartolomeo di Francesco detto Ferro ( 1428 or 1430 – 1464) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor active in north Italy.
Biography
He came from a family of stone carvers and stonemasons in Settigna ...
[Gorse, George L. "'Little Bridges', Lebus
Court and Rembrandt Hall: A Centennial Celebration. ''Pomona Faculty Publications and Research'', 395,
21 September 2015, http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_fac_pub/395/ ; full lecture viewable at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpyeDrJgwOM - remarks regarding the ''Spanish Music''
sculpture are between timemarks 52:17 and 54:29. Retrieved 29 September 2017]
It reflects the overall "Arcadian" theme Hunt intended for Pomona's south campus.
The sculpture's harmony with the building surrounding its courtyard setting
was described in 1921 as "happily eloquent of the spirit of the place".
"The pose is exquisite," reports another journal of the period,
"and the design peculiarly appropriate to the Spanish architecture of the beautiful
temple of music it is to adorn."
[, Volume LXVI, Number 46, 1916, page 9. Retrieved 29 September 2017]
In a lecture on the occasion of the Centennial in 2015 of the statue and the building,
art historian
George Gorse labels the setting "A Pastoral Theatre", and characterizes
the sculpture as "Vergilian 'Arcadia' . . . absolutely Vergilian."
The sculpture was cast in bronze by the
Gorham Company
The Gorham Manufacturing Company is one of the largest American manufacturers of sterling and silverplate and a foundry for bronze sculpture.
History
Gorham Silver was founded in Providence, Rhode Island, 1831 by Jabez Gorham, a master crafts ...
in
Providence, R.I.
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
It is life-size,
approximately 137 cm (54 in.) in height. Before being delivered to Claremont and installed in
Lebus Court, it was exhibited by the
Gorham Company
The Gorham Manufacturing Company is one of the largest American manufacturers of sterling and silverplate and a foundry for bronze sculpture.
History
Gorham Silver was founded in Providence, Rhode Island, 1831 by Jabez Gorham, a master crafts ...
at their gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York, and at the Winter Exhibition at the
National Academy
A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanit ...
.
After part of the fountain collapsed, the statue was removed in early 2015 while repairs were made.
Before its return on 14 August 2015, ''The Spirit of Spanish Music'' was restored by conservator Donna Williams, including the repair of the boy's broken flute.
[,
arthistory.pomona.edu, 17 August 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2017]
Gallery
File:Johnson spanish music 1916 1.jpg, The sculpture and fountain after the 2015 restoration
File:Johnson spanish music 1916 2.jpg, Close-up of the sculpture
File:Johnson spanish music 1916 4.jpg, View looking into the court
File:Johnson spanish music 1916 inscriptions.jpg, Inscriptions on the pedestal
File:Johnson burt spanish music 1916 5.jpg, A small group of women and men view the sculpture,
File:spanish music 1916-02-10 1.jpg, Studio snapshot of plaster working model of the sculpture
See also
*
Burt Johnson
Burt William Johnson (April 25, 1890 – March 27, 1927)Moore, Nancy Dustin Wall. ''Dictionary of Art and Artists in Southern California Before 1930''. Los Angeles: Privately printed, 1975, p.130 was an American sculptor.
Biography
Johnson was b ...
* ''
Dividing the Light
''Dividing the Light'', colloquially the Pomona College skyspace, is a 2007 skyspace art installation by James Turrell at Pomona College, his alma mater. It consists of a courtyard with a fountain nestled between two academic buildings with a ...
'', the Pomona College skyspace
*
''Prometheus'' (Ororzco), the mural in Pomona's Frary Dining Hall
References
Further reading
* ''Architect and Engineer'', Volume LIII Number 1, April 1918, photograph on p. 60
Claremont Colleges Digital Archive 31 historic images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spirit of Spanish Music
Bronze sculptures in California
Pomona College
1916 sculptures
Nude sculptures in California
Statues of musicians in the United States
Musical instruments in art