PUBLIC ART IN CHICAGO # 10 - CERES 1930

Now we enter the 30s and Art Deco. This statue, atop the Chicago Board of Trade Building is of the goddess Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, of grains, of wheat. It too is rather quintessential Chicago, but darn if I know why it was put way up there where, really, nobody can see it.

It was created by John Storrs.

To quote Mr. Artner: "A treatment in aluminum of the Roman goddess of grain holding a bag of corn in her right hand and sheaf of wheat in her left; her blank face and classical gown show the ultimate degree in Art Moderne streamlining."












These two horrible pictures are the best I can do with my equally horrrible cheap digital. I do own a magnificent Nikon with all kinds of lenses, including a good zoom, but of course I cannot upload that. And no pedestrian on LaSalle can begin to see the features that Mr. Artner describes. The Chicago Board of Trade, by the way, is at 141 West Jackson Boulevard; LaSalle Street dead-ends there from the north, then takes a zigzig behind to continue south of that building. Perhaps we should all go around Chicago with a pair of binoculars. Some great stuff is way up high.
As to Ceres, you can perhaps, if you look hard, see that her face is blank, but no way you would ever suspect she is of aluminum, or what she is holding.
I move she be relocated to the lobby, or at least a copy, so we can all enjoy her.

January 16, 2009.

Well, wonder of wonders, there are indeed copies. I stumbled across one in the Art Institute before Christmas, sans camera, alas. So three days ago I went back and took some pictures. It is in Gallery 271, just inside the door, in a glass case, about three feet high. It seems, according to the info I read there, that Storrs, seeing how popular the Ceres was, did make smaller copies for private investors, and this one was donated to the Art Institute in 1981. It is copper alloy plated with nickel and then chrome. What she is holding is a grain bag in one hand ( I thought it was a bag full of money, which seems appropriate, given what the Board of Trade does, but then I guess goddesses are above such crass concerns), and in the other a sheaf of wheat. Further info says that the fluting on the gown echoes the vertical stripes on the roof of said Board of Trade, but of course, nobody can see that from street level.



















Here you can indeed see that her face is blank.