Fountain of Time, 1922
Lorado Taft
Washington Park, west end
of Midway Plaisance
5900 South Cottage Grove
Avenue
Located in Washington
Park, a 367-acre expanse designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Lorado Taft’s Fountain of Time is the only realized
portion of his grand beautification scheme for the Midway Plaisance, a
mile-long and 220 yard-wide area linking Washington and Jackson Parks on
Chicago’s south side. Originally, he envisioned an equally monumental “Fountain
of Creation” to be erected on the east end of the Midway, consisting of figures
emerging from the earth, acting out the Greek legend of Deucalion and his wife
Pyrrha, who repopulated the earth following the Deluge by throwing stones over
their shoulders. Visitors to the east end of the Midway will find, instead, the
Thomas G. Masaryk Memorial, installed
in 1955.
The work is not a fountain at all but, rather, a massive
110-foot long sculptural relief of 100 figures behind a pool of water,
traveling from birth to death before a 16-foot tall mantled figure representing
“Time.” Taft stated that the lone figure standing across the water was “watching with cynical, inscrutable gaze the
endless march of humanity.” Taft found inspiration for the work in a passage from
a poem by Austin Dobson:
Time goes, you say?
Ah, no.
Alas,
Time stays; we go.
The figures include
dancing children, a priest, a poet, a conquering hero on horseback, soldiers,
lovers, an old man reaching for death as well as a self-portrait of Taft on the
back, striding with hands behind his back in a meditative pose. Viewers may
find it hard to imagine that the work, commissioned in 1913 by the B. F.
Ferguson Monument Fund, was intended to commemorate 100 years of peace between
the Britain and America following the Treaty of Ghent, thus fulfilling the
requirement that sculptures funded by the trust related to “important events in
American history.”
In addition to being a haunting and visually stunning
work, the Fountain of Time was an
incredible technical achievement for the time. As stone carving and bronze
casting were ruled out due to expense and time considerations, Taft appealed to
John Joseph Earley, a sculptor who had developed a pebble-finish architectural
concrete to complete the casting. Over 4500 pieces comprised the finished mold
but Earley was able to complete the casting in less than a year and the work
was unveiled in 1922. Since that time, due to vandalism and the effects of
harsh weather and pollution, the sculpture has undergone a number of
renovations and repairs.
- George Washington—Robert Morris—Haym Salomon Monument
- The Crusader: Victor Lawson Monument
- Eternal Silence: Dexter Graves Monument
- Fountain of the Great Lakes
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