Father Pitt

Tag: Statues

  • George Washington Memorial, Allegheny Commons

    Face of George Washington

    Edward Ludwig Albert Pausch was the sculptor of this monument, which Wikipedia tells us is his most ambitious work. It is meant to show Washington at the age of 23, when he was failing to keep the French out of Pittsburgh—although since Pausch modeled the face on the Houdon bust sculpted in 1785, our young colonel looks a bit old and weary for a 23-year-old.

    George Washington memorial

    As equestrian statues go, this one is not Father Pitt’s favorite. It is probably a very good one, but it strikes old Pa Pitt as stiffly posed. The pile of vegetative debris that holds the horse up by the stomach does not help; it makes George look like he’s posing on a carousel pony. Most equestrian statues stand on their own four legs—but then most are made of bronze. This one is in granite.

    George Washington Memorial
    George Washington on a horse
    George Washington memorial
    George Washington memorial: Virtue, Liberty, Patriotism
    Erected by the Jr. O. U. A. M. of Western Pennsylvania

    The monument was given by the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, a fraternal order for people who could prove they weren’t Catholic. The Jr. O. U. A. M. was a big deal a century or so ago, and the local group’s splendid building in Oakland still stands at 3400 Forbes Avenue.

    George Washington Memorial
    Kodak EasyShare Z981; Kodak EasyShare Z1285; Sony Alpha 3000.
    Comments

  • A Gift from Henry Phipps

    Statue in the Palm House

    When Phipps Conservatory opened in 1893, Henry Phipps donated this statue, which has has sat in the Palm House ever since.

    Face of the statue
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

  • Stowe Township World War I Memorial

    Statue on the Stowe Township World War I memorial

    We have seen this statue before, on the war memorial in Coraopolis. Here the doughboy is missing his bayonet, but otherwise the statue is identical, doubtless cast from the same mold. The three-sided base carries the township honor roll in bronze; and, following his usual practice, Father Pitt records all the names in high enough resolution to be easily legible.

    Stowe Township war memorial
    Honor roll 1
    Honor roll 3
    Honor roll 2

  • Edward Bigelow Contemplates the Cathedral of Learning

    Statue of Edward Bigelow and the Cathedral of Learning

    The statue of Edward Bigelow by Giuseppe Moretti, with the Cathedral of Learning in the background.

  • “Parade Rest” and “The Lookout”

    Parade Rest
    Face of Parade Rest

    The soldier and the sailor who guard the entrance to Soldiers and Sailors Hall, by sculptor Frederick Hibbard. They were installed in 1923, one hundred years ago.

    Face of the Lookout
    The Lookout

  • America by Charles Keck

    America, by Charles Keck

    Charles Keck was a very successful sculptor who had a fruitful relationship with the architect Henry Hornbostel. He decorated the City-County Building, Pennsylvania Hall at Pitt, the Education Building in Albany, and the City Hall in that other Oakland, the one in California, all of them buildings by Hornbostel. He was a natural choice for this allegorical sculpture over the entrance to Soldiers and Sailors Hall, whose message seems to be that America is always ready, so don’t mess with her.

    Hands grasping the hilt of the sword
    Face

    Note the large eyes. They may be inspired by late-antique sculpture, in which the eyes are usually disproportionately big. In a sculpture meant to be seen from a distance, the disproportion is not obvious at normal viewing range, but the large eyes give expression to the face that it would not have if they were natural size.

    Full statue

  • The Noble Quartet—The Complete Group

    John Massey Rhind, Andrew Carnegie’s favorite sculptor, decorated the Carnegie Institute building with bronzes representing the Noble Quartet—science, art, music, and literature—to which the Institute was dedicated. At street level, each member of the quartet is represented by a portrait of one of its famous representatives. Above each statue, on the roof, is an allegorical group of female figures representing the abstract ideal. We have seen the pictures of the statues before, but since old Pa Pitt just recently took pictures of the allegorical groups, he thought it might be interesting to see everything together at once.

    Science

    Galileo

    Galileo.

    Science group
    Science from a different angle

    Art

    Michelangelo

    Michelangelo.

    Art group
    Art from a different angle

    Music

    Bach

    Bach.

    Music group
    Detail of central figure
    Music

    Literature

    Shakespeare
    Literature group
    Literature from a different angle

  • Colonel Alexander Leroy Hawkins Memorial

    Colonel Alexander Leroy Hawkins memorial

    Col. Hawkins was a state senator as well as a much-respected officer in the Spanish-American War, which America fought to free the Spanish colonies, and the ensuing Philippine insurrection, which America fought to keep her newly acquired colony. He died in 1899; this memorial was put up in 1904. Originally the base extended in an embracing curve, as we see in this old photograph from Historic Pittsburgh; the extensions were probably cut off when the approaches were built for the Panther Hollow Bridge.

    Memorial as built
    Statue of Col. Hawkins
    Inscription

    In an earlier version of this article, Father Pitt had negligently typed “1894” instead of “1904” as the date of this memorial. It is harder than one thinks to cross the gap between centuries.