Category: Sculpture

  • James B. Oliver Monument, Allegheny Cemetery

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    An unusual bronze monument with a wealth of detail. Father Pitt has uploaded this picture at 2-megapixel resolution; click on the picture to enlarge it.

  • Joseph Horne Monument, Allegheny Cemetery

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    Joseph Hone, the department-store baron, certainly had enough money for a mausoleum, but chose to be remembered by this beautiful monument instead. Because the relief is worth examining, old Pa Pitt has given you this picture in a larger size than usual: click on it to load the picture in your browser, then magnify it to full size.

  • Dolphin Fountain, Highland Park

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    Frank Vittor gave us these striking classical dolphins for Pittsburgh’s parks, and a number of them remain in place and working. Some kindhearted soul has set out a water dish for the many dogs who come to walk their people in Highland Park.

  • Highland Park Entrance Portal

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    Giuseppe Moretti, one of Pittsburgh’s two favorite sculptors (the other being Frank Vittor), gave us the statuary on the Highland Avenue entrance to Highland Park. Moretti loved Pittsburgh, and predicted it would be the Athens of America; Pittsburghers probably laugh when they read that, but if they counted the number of priceless sculptures and great works of architecture they passed every day, they might realize that Moretti was closer to right than they thought.

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  • Mourner on the Braun Mausoleum, Carrick

    2013-08-10-Carrick-cemetery-10-bwThe South Side Cemetery in Carrick does not have monuments by famous architects like the ones in the Allegheny Cemetery, but some of its residents did have good taste in sculpture.

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  • The Egyptian Style in Allegheny Cemetery

    In Pittsburgh the Egyptian style of architecture was briefly popular in the early twentieth century, almost always in association with death. The mausoleums in Egyptian style seem usually to belong to Masons, who trace their lodge and rituals back to the days of the Pharaohs, implausible as that may seem to Egyptologists. Some integrate Christian, Masonic, and Egyptian symbols rather uncomfortably.

    We begin with the Hartley-Given mausoleum (1913).

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    This is a simple and straightforward interpretation of an Egyptian tomb, and we can see the elements that, in the Allegheny Cemetery, almost invariably mark the Egyptianness of the style: the sloping sides and the lotus columns. Over the entrance we usually find a winged scarab entwined by serpents—which Father Pitt believes is a Masonic symbol; perhaps a Mason will correct him if he is wrong.

    Next, the Lockhart mausoleum (1903):

    2013-08-18-Allegheny-Cemetery-Lockhart-03Here is another typical Egyptian-tomb design, again with the requisite Egyptian signifiers; but in this one the porch projects from the structure instead of being inset.

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    The Sproal-Splane mausoleum (1917) is another variation on the same theme, with all the same elements and another inset porch:

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    Inside is a window that seems like a riot of symbols uneasily coexisting:

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    (The inscription around the cross and crown reads “IN HOC SIGNO  VINCES.”)

    All these are in reasonably good taste. But there is one Egyptian mausoleum that proudly flaunts its kitsch, one of the most extraordinary memorials in a cemetery full of extraordinary memorials:

    2013-08-18-Allegheny-Cemetery-Winter-03All the same elements are there, but the Winter mausoleum (1930)—whose colossal scale is hard to convey in a photograph—adds its own unique accessories. John Russell Pope, the famous beaux-arts architect, designed this mausoleum for banker Emil Winter—but “designed” is not really the right word here. The Woolworth mausoleum in Woodlawn, the Bronx, is nearly identical; Winter apparently saw it and told Pope “I want that,” and Pope gave it to him.

    2013-08-18-Allegheny-Cemetery-Winter-02Mr. Winter’s amazing sphinxes bear an expression that old Pa Pitt can only describe as “snooty.”

    2013-08-18-Allegheny-Cemetery-Winter-04The bronze door depicts Mr. Winter himself, large as life and in full Pharaonic regalia, about to set off for his journey into the afterlife. Even this is identical to the bronze door of the Woolworth mausoleum, except for the substitution of Mr. Winter’s face.

    2013-08-18-Allegheny-Cemetery-Winter-01Inside is a stained-glass window that reminds Father Pitt of cheap illustrated Sunday-school handouts, showing Mr. Winter properly enthroned. (It was devilishly hard to get a picture of this window, because the front doors are actually backed by a mesh screen. This was the best old Pa Pitt could do.)

    Finally, as a coda to our little Egyptian tour, the Huhn monument is actually a pyramid.

    2013-08-18-Allegheny-Cemetery-Huhn-01This is a pyramid of a curiously specific type: it is (if Father Pitt’s architectural history is correct, and he loves to be corrected when he is wrong) a Roman interpretation of the Egyptian pyramid, with proportions more like those of the Pyramid of Cestius along the Appian Way than like those of a true Egyptian pyramid. This also is a Mason’s tomb; if you enlarge the picture (by clicking on it), you can see the Masonic symbols at the base.

  • St. Augustine

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    St. Augustine reads to the people of Lower Lawrenceville from the front of the church that bears his name.

  • Rhodes Brothers Concrete

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    Not quite as artistic as the Wadsworth plates, Rhodes Brothers  concrete plates are still attractive designs. This one was set in a driveway in Friendship.

  • Heinz Hall Details

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    You need a sharp eye, and a long lens, to pick out some of the details on Heinz Hall from ground level. At first the exterior appears to be rather staid, but it rewards close examination with some charmingly whimsical decorations. (The white spots visible in these pictures are snowflakes.)

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  • Eye Benches at Katz Plaza

    Katz Plaza in the theater district: a dusting of snow highlights the contours of these eye-shaped benches by Louise Bourgeois, who also designed the waterfall fountain in the background.

    If you sit on a bench whose back looks like a giant eyeball, shouldn’t you be able to see behind you?