CHICAGO PUBLIC ART - #9 - THE BOWMAN AND THE SPEARMAN

Done in 1928 by Ivan Mestrovic, these two statues grace either side of Congress Parkway just east of Michigan Avenue. To me, they are far more quintessential Chicago than is the Picasso in Daley Plaza, and I have always found it rather amusing that both these famous-in-Chicago pieces were sculpted by Europeans.

So these were made only two years later than those pieces in the Oakbrook Terrace cemetery. One year later than Buckingham Fountain, just to get some perspective here. And the Spirit of Music was 1923. Apparently, the 20s were wonderfully productive, art-wise, at least here in Chicago.

To quote Alan Artner yet again "These equestrian sculptures, intended to commemorate the tribes that once lived on Illinois prairies, have actions conveyed entirely through their bodies, straining at weapons the artist has forced his audience to create from memory."













Now I frequently drive into the city right between these two, I bet hundreds if not thousands of times in the years I have lived here. And I do think of them as representing this city. But I have never actually walked around them and looked up at them as I did yesterday. Boy, they are something! Talk about rippling muscled bodies, these are them, in spades.

And of course I also never noticed that they have no weapons in their hands at all.

They are really quite magnificent and entirely worthy of a close-up look-see. Just driving past will not do at all.







































There is something heroically strong about them. And it goes to show that if you really want to see something, you have to get off your horse (car) and walk.

The last picture is somewhat murky. If you look close you can see the two horseman on either side of the road.