PUBLIC ART IN CHICAGO #7 - CLARENCE BUCKINGHAM MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN

Unfortunately, this one will have to wait til next April (and I'll believe that when I see it).
Buckingham Fountain, which is currently walled off due to the $25 million restoration.
So - see you next year for that one.

Next year - 2009 - April

Lo and behold, it did open in April! Will wonders never cease. Although they said that repairs aren't finished yet, but that they will start up again in the fall. Nice of them to open it for the summer.
On a simply magnificent April Saturday, a friend and I went down to see it. And glorious to behold it was. They have replaced all that troublesome pink pebbly stuff with some spiffy pink stones that allow water to drain down between them. Much easier for strollers and wheelchairs and feet. And it just looks great.

Done in 1927 in Grant Park at Columbus Drive and Congress Parkway. When you drive, and cross Michigan going east, you basically end at the fountain, there having to turn north or south. A wonderful view.

Artner: "The four great sea horses symbolize the states that border on Lake Michigan in a fountain twice the size as the one it was modeled after in the gardens of Versailles." I wish I had known this when I was there; I would surely have looked for it. Drat.

Because the day was so splendid I took simply zillions of pictures and now I have to triage which ones to show you. The huge water spout goes off every hour on the hour and lasts for 15 minutes. Don't miss it. And don't miss seeing this fountain close-up, period. I love it.

It is called the Buckingham Fountain because it was funded by the wife of Clarence Buckingham. The sculptor was Marcel Francois Loyau. Did he do the one in Versailles and someone just copied it? I am unsure.

But none of these can compare to the actual experience of being there. Do It!












It looks like I have a filter on my camera, but the sky really was that blue.

PUBLIC ART IN CHICAGO # 6 - THEODORE THOMAS MEMORIAL (THE SPIRIT OF MUSIC)

This one, done in 1923, is by an artist named Albin Polasek. It is in Grant Park, well I guess technically, although if you go there, it seems much more an adjunct of Michigan Avenue. It is at Michigan and Balbo Drive, the statue being in the south end of what is called, I believe, The Music Garden, probably because of this statue, The Spirit of Music. Apparently it was originally right across from Orchestra Hall, which would be appropriate, because it honors Theodore Thomas, the founder of that wonderful organization, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The goddess is called the Spirit of Music and that is a lyre in her hand. She is really quite wonderful.

But what is equally wonderful is the garden itself. I had seen it many times passing up and down Michigan, but had never actually walked in it. It is another of our fair city's hidden gems. Spectacular landscaping, abundant flowers even at this late date, it is a quiet and peaceful hideaway just off the busy sidewalk. Perfect place for a picnic lunch or reflective time. Kudos to Chicago for creating this haven.

And how beautiful the sentiments expressed on the surround in back of the statue.

What a fabulous view of Chicago looking north from the base of the statue!!! How lucky she is to see that every day.

CHICAGO PUBLIC ART - #5 - THE FOUNTAIN OF TIME

I have seen a lot of public art, and not-so-public art, in and around Chicago, and this piece is, without a doubt, my very favorite.

Done by Lorado Taft in 1922, it has recently undergone a major restoration, and none too soon either. Now it looks simply spiffy. Located at Cottage Grove and 59th street, it is basically at the west end of the Midway Plaisance at The University of Chicago. Made of concrete, although initially I thought it was sandstone. Now I hope Alan Artner will not mind if I quote from his Trib article of July 25th. ". . . from 4,500 molds, this vast allegory, more than 100 feet in length, has Father Time presiding over 100 figures that include Taft [himself] (in an artist's smock) among other representations of such themes as love and war."

Because I love it so, I am going to bombard you with pictures. Taken at close to sunset, the piece faces east, but is double-sided, as you shall see, being almost as fully carved on the other side.
It does have a huge basin in front that is supposed to be full of water, being a "fountain"after all, but in 17 years of seeing it, I have never seen that basin with any.

The pictures that have a golden cast are the back side, with the setting sun on them. Again, this is something you should not die without seeing. And it's free.
Please do feel free to blow them up. The detail is wonderful. I think I've located Taft, on the back side, to the right and under the soldier on his horse.

CHICAGO PUBLIC ART - #4 - THE REPUBLIC

This is a wonderful sculpture, a replica of the gigantic one that graced the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. . It was created by Daniel Chester French, who also did this 1/3 size replica. The original was plaster; this one is gold leaf over bronze, and at sunrise and sunset it is breathtaking, as it faces east. Done in 1918, the 25th anniversary of the Fair.
It is located in the Hayes-Richards Circle in Jackson Park, and believe me, if you have never seen this, you are missing one of the premier sights in our fair city. It is huge in itself; the original was 6 1/2 stories high. I have already decided that if there were ever invented a time machine, someone should come and get me, and The World's Fair is the first place I would visit.

It is called "The Republic", but some friends have nicknamed it "bert" because in the statue's left hand, at the top, is a small plaque that reads "Liberty". Except that the "Li" and "y" are so covered with laurel leaves, that all you can read is "bert".

It stands on the very site of the fair's administration building, which was at the west end of some huge body of water surrounded on north and south by buildings of the fair, and at the east end of all this water, was the original statue. It is so hard to imagine this from the streets that wind around there today. Even when you have the original pictures in front of you.

All the pictures taken were close to sunset. Please, please, if you have never seen this, go.

CTA BUS ROUTE #4 - COTTAGE GROVE

" The measure of a man's life is not the happiness he has known; at the end there should not be a balancing of happiness and sorrow, but an estimate of how well one's life has been used."
Helen Hooven Santmyer from her novel ". . . And Ladies of the Club"



This ride was taken on Saturday, September 27. And let me say right off that, to my horror, I discovered I had come away without a pen. At my age I need to take notes. So for the entire ride south I am relying solely on memory.

As noted in the last entry, I combined this one with the public art in the South Shore neighborhood.
Just finding the staging place for the #4 was not an easy task. The bus map says Columbus/S. Water. Did you know that there is a north and a south South Water? Whoever designed that? When I got off the #124 from Ogilvie, I asked the driver if he knew where to catch the #4 and he said right across the street. I was at Michigan and South Water (which East Wacker turns into across Michigan. Plus it also follows the river around and across Michigan on the upper level. It is so confusing around there as to the street names.). So as I did see the sign directly across the street, I walked over there and waited only a short while before I saw zooming down the ramp from the upper level, a #4 bus. There is no way that bus could even have gotten over to the bus sign, as there is a divider in the way, for the lower street. Whatever that is. (Much later I asked the last driver about that and he said you're supposed to stand in the middle for that bus stop. But who would know that? Why isn't the bus sign in the middle then?)

So I decide to walk down Michigan to Lake and turn east. Did you know that there's an East Lake Street across Michigan? Which ends at the Aon Building? I walk up the steps thru the building courtyard to Columbus, and there, right across the street is the staging area for bus route #4, with a bus to match. This is just south of South Water on Columbus. So I get on and begin another adventure.

From there it goes down the aforementioned ramp to turn south on Michigan all the way to 35th where it turns east to Cottage Grove. Very simple route.

We passed some great murals and some imposing center called the Lincoln Center or something like that (remember, no pen) that was established in 1905. Perhaps when I do the express route I can note this. Again fabulous buildings. The bus was never very crowded, but had very dirty windows. Consequently there aren't too many pictures. (Below, a man selling watermelons out of his truck.)
And everywhere, simply everywhere is litter, litter, litter. It really is what sets the South Side apart. Not the empty lots (we have those everywhere), or even the boarded up buildings (there are not as many as you might think), no, it is the LITTER!!!
Where is Mayor Daly's Streets and San Department? He sure wouldn't let Boul Mich look like that. It has absolutely infuriated me. Yes, the residents could do a vastly greater job, but so could the city. The residents of those neighborhoods pay taxes too. It was all I could do to resist getting off the bus and start picking stuff up, except that there is also a dearth of public trash containers. Figures. On the corner of 67th and Cottage Grove, there is not one on any corner. And it shows.

I came home and picked up every piece of litter I could spot when I walked my dog. (Above is a picture of the corner of the bus stop at 67th. Left is looking down south by the wall of the cemetery.)

But enuf of my rant. On the way south, one elderly man got on who couldn't pay. (I don't know why he wouldn't have a free pass as I do.) He had a cane and seemed lame in some way. But he had to get off at the next block, and it started me to thinking - I wonder if that's how he rides, block by block, making his way down.

The route ends in a turn-around not quite at 95th. After about one hour. Not bad. And for the first time, I could stay on this bus, he was going back up north shortly. I got off to take my pictures, and worked up the nerve to ask the driver if I could borrow a pen. He immediately whipped one out of his shirt pocket and offered it to me. I took it gratefully, climbed back on the bus, and started writing down everything I could remember.

On the way back to 67th, where I would get off to start the public art part of this day, there were some more great buildings and an odd restaurant name "See Thru Chinese Kitchen". Honest to god. What could they possibly be trying to say?

At 93rd and Cottage Grove was a fabulous building and I noticed, for the first time, that the other side of the bus had screens on the windows. A first for that. The South Shore Bank is a nifty building too. And while this building is fab, what on earth does the sign in the window mean "Martin L. King Complete Family"? (This may or may not be the bank building) See the dirty bus windows.
(One thing about all these old treasures; they are not being leveled the way they are elsewhere)

I got off at 67th, and did not get back on til 3:20. And it is here, where I did have to wait awhile that the litter really got to me, especially as this is the corner where you will find the start of the walls surrounding The Oakwoods Cemetery, where there are southern Civil War prisoners buried in a concentric circle around a monument. I have been in this place and it is interesting. (Well, but I love cemeteries)

And when the bus doors opened , and I entered, I was immediately surrounded by a wall of people. The mother and charming little girl who had been waiting with me, decided to wait for another bus. This one was mobbed. So I could not look out any windows, much less take any pictures or notes. Not until about 47th, where I finally got a window seat. And again the huge baby carriages. Blocking everything. People can not move past them easily at all. And especially those who have any sort of disability. They are quite stuck. Sometimes there would be two of these things right at the entrance. Apparently they cannot move back in the bus.

As I was scribbling away, an elderly, very smartly dressed woman sat next to me, noticed what I was doing, and started in on conversation. But she discreetly did not ask me what I was writing, only about my camera, what kind was it, how she would like to get one, and about a cruise to the Caribbean she had taken years ago, and I told her how I was seeing the city and how much I loved the old buildings. It was most enjoyable. I have noticed before that black people (god, how I hate to segregate us like that! We are all human beings, and bleed the same red color) will strike up conversations with strangers, treating us all as if we were family. While we whites curl up inside ourselves giving off an aura that says"Don't bother me; don't touch me; I don't know you." And I would never had the nerve to talk to her out of the blue. I am so glad she did. (Don't you just love the gargoyle?)

And when I finally looked up after she had left, I noticed that the drivers had changed, and I still had the old driver's pen. Some kind of supervisor was also on board now. I gave the pen back to him at the end. It began to get busy again after the bus turned west on 35th, making its way to Michigan. But it did take that odd detour, going north on Indiana, and then over on 31st, and then up on Michigan. Didn't do that going south. And now there are two #4s, constantly flying by each other, passing and repassing all the way back. Just barreling along again.

And I never tire of seeing the sights along North Michigan Avenue. There are so many. Bus arrived back at Columbus and South Water at about 4:10.

Another grand day.

Fifth one down