Archive for Cass Gilbert
St Louis Art Museum still celebrates Hermon MacNeil.
Posted by: | Comments2026
Working Title/Artist: The Sun Vow
Department: Am. Paintings / Sculpture
Culture/Period/Location:
HB/TOA Date Code:
Working Date: 1919
scanned for collections
“I remember visiting the Art museum in the 1950s with my mother, (Ollie Francis McNeil) and being introduced to my Uncle Hermon’s “Sun Vow” for the first time. I did not know that the mammoth eight works we passed under at the main entry were also from Uncle Hermon. Now seven decades and a website later, I am further delighted to know and appreciate this amazing sculptor’s life and works.
Now in 2026 the website of the Saint Louis Art Museum still highlights the 1904 works of Hermon Atkins MacNeil. These eight is revered as a lasting tribute to his Artistry and the recognition of Cass Gilbert, the architect, a century and a quarter ago.
“Art in the Architecture” is a 1 Fine Arts Blog series dedicated to the ornamental details on the Saint Louis Art Museum’s Main Building, which was designed by Cass Gilbert for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. In 1904, it was flanked by sprawling temporary wings that together formed the Palace of Fine Arts, which presented fairgoers with approximately 11,000 works of art from 26 countries. It is the sole surviving building from the World’s Fair.
Eight works by American sculptor Hermon MacNeil (1866–1947) were featured in the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Ironically, the most inconspicuously placed of MacNeil’s sculptures for the fair became his most enduring.
On the north façade of the Saint Louis Art Museum, built as the Palace of Fine Arts for the 1904 Word’s Fair, is MacNeil’s plaster relief, a two-dimensional sculpture with three-dimensional components. Ars Artium Omnium (Apotheosis of Art), is a series of three panels above the Museum’s main entrance. Originally crafted from plaster, the relief was later carved in stone and embellished with a gold mosaic background thanks to funds generously provided by the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company of 1913. The work was inspired by ancient and Renaissance art; 11 feminine figures stand together, turned inward toward the central form which MacNeil described as an apotheosis.
~~
Allegories for the city’s attributes flank the central figure on both sides. On the right panel, the figures represent sculpture, painting, and music. The fourth figure on the right can go by any name, according to MacNeil. On the left are the allegories for architecture and the allied arts: ceramic and archaeology. On the middle panel, immediately to the central figure’s right and left side, are representations of the beauty of St. Louis.
Born on the East Coast, MacNeil developed his artistic style through an interest in the culture of Native Americans in the late 1800s. His fascination with their traditions, their land west of the Mississippi, and their treatment by the government encouraged the artist to travel west. There, he studied various cultures, specifically of the Hopi in Arizona, according to Shaping the American West: American Sculptors of the 19th Century. This period allowed him to sculpt with extreme ethnographic detail, which led to an increase MacNeil’s reputation as an artist.
After gaining local recognition and receiving the prestigious William H. Rinehart scholarship, a fund that subsidized European study for young American sculptors, MacNeil moved to Rome to study art. This prompted the creation of his signature style at the time: a unique combination of primitivism and classicism, according to former SLAM curator Andrew Walker in Shaping the American West: American Sculptors of the 19th Century. This blend of styles was prevalent in the works he sculpted for the 1904 World’s Fair.
Another MacNeil sculpture featured in the fair was Physical Liberty, 
a life-sized recreation of a young man holding a spear, running alongside a charging buffalo. According to Shaping the American West, the sculpture emphasized MacNeil’s harmful, commonly held belief of “assimilation rather than extinction” regarding Native Americans. Physical Liberty was an allegory for the triumph, joy, and liberty felt by the nation after acquiring the Louisiana Purchase territory, a prevalent theme in his practice. Like most sculptures for the fair, it was made of plaster and most likely destroyed afterward, but featured here as a copy of a printed photograph.
The MacNeil sculpture above the main entrance of the Saint Louis Art Museum is a fine example of the Beaux Arts style of World Fairs of this era. (http://www.slam.org/).
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“JUSTICE” ~~ Hermon MacNeil’s Contribution
Posted by: | Comments“JUSTICE“
is the theme of the
United States Supreme Court
~~~~~ 0 ~~~~~
“Justice the Guardian of Liberty”
are the words under Hermon MacNeil’s
EAST PEDIMENT
To see Hermon MacNeil’s sculpture walk to
the back of the SUPREME COURT Building
SECOND ST NE
May 16, 1932 Note regarding the East Pediment Inscription The text, in the hand of Charles Evans Hughes, reads, I rather prefer “Justice the Guardian of Liberty””
~~~~~ 0 ~~~~~
“Equal Justice Under the Law”
are the words under Robert Aitken’s
WEST PEDIMENT
~~~~~ 0 ~~~~~
Both PEDIMENTS celebrate JUSTICE
“Equal Justice Under the Law”
“Justice the Guardian of Liberty”
These are just two ways that Beaux Arts
Sculptors sought to preserve JUSTICE
for the PEOPLE in our “CITY BEAUTIFUL”
Washington, D. C.
Let’s Hope Our Nine Justices do their Part for Justice in years to come!
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2023 – MacNeil & Fasces at the Supreme Court
Posted by: | CommentsThe Hermon MacNeil’s sculpture of the
East Pediment contains a hidden fasces.
~ The Fasces (located to the left of Confucius) rests on the shoulder of the man holding the boy. They represent the enforcement of the law and its passing on to coming generations.
A Fasces is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbol that had its origin in the Etruscan civilization and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a magistrate’s power and jurisdiction. Wikipedia
~ Is There a
2nd Fasces?
~ The Female figure to the right is resting another bound form on her shoulder.
I had imagined it was a Sheaf of grain with leaves extended to the right. There is also a young girl (half visible to her right). Again the presence of the YOUTH suggests ‘the “Carrying on” of civilization through a internal knowledge of right and wrong’.
But being bound as a fasces,
it shares that same symbolism of
power and jurisdiction”
MacNeil described the right side or the Pediment as
tempering justice with mercy, allegorically treated”.
Visitors often miss the East Pediment of the Supreme Court Building because it is located at the rear of the building. This sculptural group was designed by Hermon A. MacNeil (1866–1947), an artist who studied under the masters of classical architecture and design. Cass Gilbert (1859–1934), the architect of the building, worked closely with MacNeil from 1932 to 1934 to create the thirteen symmetrically balanced allegorical figures. MacNeil submitted the following description of his work to the Supreme Court Building Commission:
“Law as an element of civilization was normally and naturally derived or inherited in this country from former civilizations. The ‘Eastern Pediment’ of the Supreme Court Building suggests therefore the treatment of such fundamental laws and precepts as are derived from the East. Moses, Confucius and Solon are chosen as representing three great civilizations
and form the central group of this Pediment.Flanking this central group—left—is the symbolical figure bearing the means of enforcing the law. On the right a group tempering justice with mercy, allegorically treated. The ‘Youth’ is brought into both these groups to suggest the “Carrying on” of civilization through the knowledge imbibed of right and wrong. The next two figures with shields; Left – The settlement of disputes between states through enlightened judgment. Right—Maritime and other large functions of the Supreme
Court in protection of the United States. The last figures: Left—Study and pondering of judgments. Right – A tribute to the fundamental and supreme character of this Court.Finale—The fable of the Tortoise and the Hare.”~
Fasces is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbol that had its origin in the Etruscan civilization and was passed on to ancient Rome, where it symbolized a magistrate’s power and jurisdiction. Wikipedia
Related posts:
- SUPREME COURT – Arrival at last! (16.7) “Slow but steady wins the race.” So said Aesop in…
- Moses, Confucius, and Solon at Supreme Court (16.5) The East Pediment of the Supreme Court of the United…
- Hermon MacNeil’s Supreme Court Sculptures: ~ ~ ~ Moses Revisited ~ ~ ~ (16.3) When the Supreme Court justices considered whether the Ten Commandments…
- Hermon MacNeil’s Supreme Court Sculptures: ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The Tortoise & the Hare Revisited ~ ~ ~ (15.2) At each corner of the East Pediment of the…
- JOURNEY TO SUPREME COURT: ~ Finds plenty of Sculpture along the way in Washington D.C. … (14.4) I recently visited our nation’s Capitol with family. Sculpture and…
- Tortoise and Hare taken to Supreme Court (13.6) Hermon MacNeil has taken the Tortoise and the Hare to…
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After the adoption of the US Constitution in 1789 and for the next 146 years, the United States Supreme Court had no permanent home. Briefly from 1789 to 1800, the Federal Government functioned out of Philadelphia, and then New York City until the permanent Capitol was built in the District of Columbia. Finally, in 1800 the U.S. Federal Government moved into Washington, D.C.
Painting: “British Burn the Capitol, 1814,” Allyn Cox, 1974, Corridor, House wing, First Floor.
The Supreme Court of the United States, however, changed its meeting place a half dozen times within the Capitol. After the British burned the Capitol in the War of 1812, the Court convened in a private home. Eventually, from 1860 until 1935, the Court sat in what is now known as the “Old Senate Chamber.”
Hermon Atkins MacNeil (1866 -1947)
Cass Gilbert architect (1859 – 1934)
Though considered a co-equal branch, the Judicial function seemed a “nomadic” tenant of space in the growing Capitol until 1929. A former President, who later served as Chief Justice, changed that itinerant existence.
Chief Justice Wm. Howard Taft 1921
In 1929 Chief Justice William Howard Taft, who had been President of the United States from 1909 to 1913, persuaded Congress to end this arrangement and authorize the construction of a permanent home for the Court. Architect Cass Gilbert was charged by Chief Justice Taft to design “a building of dignity and importance suitable for its use as the permanent home of the Supreme Court of the United States.” [Gilbert and Taft were both Ohioans and life long friends.]
Neither Taft nor Gilbert survived to see the Supreme Court Building completed. Construction proceeded under the direction of Chief Justice Hughes and architects Cass Gilbert, Jr., and John R. Rockart. The construction, begun in 1932, was completed in 1935, when the Court was finally able to occupy its own building.
Hermon MacNeil and Architects
Hermon MacNeil trained in Paris at the Ecole de Beaux Arts with both sculptors and architects. He later won the Reinhart Prize and again studied with architects and sculptors from 1896 to 1899 at the American Academy in Rome.
The New York Architectural League wanted an award medallion to present to architects and sculptors. They commissioned Hermon MacNeil to create a suitable medal. Photos of MacNeil’s original clay masters may be viewed here: [CLICK HERE]. These clay were reduced onto the steel dies used press the final medallions pictured below.
Later A. A. Weinman and Hermon MacNeil were both awarded this commemorative creation. Weinman designed the Walking Liberty half dollar and the Mercury dime
The actual medal presented to Weinman is pictured below. It resides in the webmaster’s private collection.
New York Architectural League Medal. Designed by Hermon MacNeil this is the actual medallion awarded to A. A. Weinmann. https://www.pafa.org/museum/collection/item/medal-honor-sculpture-architectural-league-new-york Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
Hermon MacNeil and Cass Gilbert
MacNeil added sculptures to at least two of Cass Gilbert’s many buildings and monument projects.
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United States Supreme Court 1928-1935[9] Washington, DC -
St. Louis Art Museum 1901-1904[12] Saint Louis, MO
MacNeil & the Supreme Court Building
The Supreme Court website suggests Gilbert was directly involved with the sculptor’s designs.
Cass Gilbert, the building’s architect, worked closely with MacNeil from 1932 to 1934 to create the thirteen symmetrically balanced figures above the Corinthian portico.
The central marble figures on this rarely noticed eastern pediment depict the theme “Justice – The Guardian of Liberty.” Sculptor MacNeil’s central figures represent three great Eastern civilizations from which our laws are derived. These figures portray lawgivers: Moses (receiver of Hebrew Ten Commandments) flanked by Confucius (Chinese philosopher and teacher) and Solon (Athenian lawmaker, statesman, and poet). Confucius is on the viewers’ left, Solon to the right, both flanking Moses with his hands on two separate tablets. 1
MacNeil & the St. Louis Art Museum (Palace of Fine Arts).
To view this collaboration from 1912: CLICK HERE
Photos:
- Painting: “British Burn the Capitol, 1814,” Allyn Cox, 1974, Corridor, House wing, First Floor. (https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/blog/most-magnificent-ruin-burning-capitol-during-war-1812)
- “The East Pediment” https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/east_pediment_11132013.pdf. SEE ALSO: “Religious Symbols Inside & Outside the U.S. Supreme Court Building”. Assembled by Nathaniel Segal 2014 http://nathanielsegal.mysite.com/TenCommandments/10SupremeCourtBuilding.html
- This Unique “New York Architectural League” Award Medal links H. A. MacNeil & A. A. Weinman. Posted by: | here on Sept. 01, 2022 https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/2022/09/01/this-unique-new-york-architectural-league-award-medal-links-h-a-macneil-a-a-weinman/
- “New York Architectural League Medal” ~Original Clay Models saved from the MacNeil Studio ~ 1947 Posted by: | here on Sept. 16, 2022 https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/2022/09/16/new-york-architectural-league-medal-original-clay-models-saved-from-the-macneil-studio-1947/
Research Sources:
- Cass Gilbert Society: Selected Works. Retrieved at https://www.cassgilbertsociety.org/works/ on May, 20, 2023
- Cass Gilbert Society: Biography. Retrieved at https://www.cassgilbertsociety.org/architect/bio.html on May, 20, 2023
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Andrew Walker: Praises for Jim Haas and MacNeil’s “Sun Vow”
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Our post of March 9, 2023 shared Dr. Andrew Walker’s praise for Jim Haas’ recent Bio of Hermon MacNeil
Walker, since 2011 has been has been Director at the Amon Carter Museum of Fort Worth, Texas.
His knowledge of MacNeil is evident in the volume “Shaping the West.” MacNeil’s sculpture of the ‘Sun Vow’ graces its cover (see photo above). Published by the Denver Art Museum, Walker contributed the essay entitled: “Hermon Atkins MacNeil and the 1904 World’s Fair: A Monumental Program for the American West.” Praise from Andrew Walker constitutes worthy acclaim.
It is all in the faces – the ideals passed to a new generation.
While highlighting the work of Hermon Atkins MacNeil, Dr. Walker illustrates how the 1904 World’s Fair in St Louis included a monumental sculpture initiative. He does this with narrative and photo description of the major sculptures that formed the grounds, fountains, waterfalls and buildings of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis. The current St. Louis Art Museum (where Walker was previously a curator) was the “Palace of Fine Arts” conceived by Cass Gilbert, architect of the fair grounds (and later the US Supreme Court Building). Over a century later, MacNeil’s three sculpture relief panels still look down from their vantage point above the three sets of doors at the main entrance.
The ‘Sun Vow’ at the MMA – NYC – with Daniel Chester French’s “Angel of Death” in relief in background (See also Webmaster’s <= Comment at left. The ‘Sun Vow’ at the MMA – NYC – with Daniel Chester French’s “Angel of Death” in relief in background (See also Webmaster’s <= Comment at left.
The more I study this sculpture (as other MacNeil pieces?) the more new details I find in MacNeil’s creations.
The photo at right shows MacNeil’s Sun Vow with Daniel Chester French’s “Angel of Death” in the background. French and MacNeil were colleagues and collaborators. The Angel of Death has grasped the hand of the sculptor.
[See more of this Daniel Chester French sculpture, CLICK HERE.]
Webmaster’s Comment: The beauty and ‘irony’ of the two sculptures together, long after the death of the two sculptors and the vanishing of the culture of the Sun Vow that MacNeil has memorialized, are a compounded and profound statement of the power of art and artists.
SOURCES:
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SHAPING THE WEST : American Sculptors of the 19th Century. With additional essays by Alice Levi Duncan, Thayer. Tolles, Peter Hassrick, Sarah E. Boehme, and Andrew Walker.
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SUPREME COURT – Arrival at last!
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“Slow but steady wins the race.”
So said Aesop in the fable of the “Tortoise and the Hare.” And those are the two last figures that Hermon A. MacNeil placed as ‘bookends’ on either end of the East Pediment of the US Supreme Court Building. On our recent visit to Washington, D.C., we slowly made our way to the Supreme Court Building, we walked steadily around to the East Pediment (back side) passing the barricades for all the current landscape construction.
There, hidden high on the seldom-seen back side of **Cass Gilbert’s last architectural achievement, rests the eleven marble figures of Hermon A. MacNeil’s tribute to “Justice: The Guardian of Liberty.” Unless you walk around the building you will miss this massive work of art.
Moses, Confucius, and Solon represent three great world civilizations. Moses (receiver of Hebrew Ten Commandments) is in the center. To his right is Confucius (Chinese philosopher and teacher). To Moses’ left is Solon (Athenian lawmaker, statesman, and poet). MacNeil explained his work as follows:
“Law as an element of civilization was normally and naturally derived or inherited in this country from former civilizations. The ‘Eastern Pediment’ of the Supreme Court Building suggests therefore the treatment of such fundamental laws and precepts as are derived from the East.”
This trio of law makers are framed on left and right by three pairs of allegorical figures. The rest of the grouping is as follows:
“Flanking this central group – left – is the symbolical figure bearing the means of enforcing the law. On the right a group tempering justice with mercy, allegorically treated. The “Youth” is brought into both these groups to suggest the “Carrying on” of civilization through the knowledge imbibed of right and wrong. The next two figures with shields; Left – The settlement of disputes between states through enlightened judgment. Right – Maritime and other large functions of the Supreme Court in protection of the United States. The last figures: Left – Study and pondering of judgments. Right – A tribute to the fundamental and supreme character of this Court. Finale – The fable of the Tortoise and the Hare.“
East Pediment description: CLICK HERE
** NOTE: “Gilbert, Sr. died in 1934, one year before the completion of the Supreme Court Building by his son, Cass Gilbert, Jr. MacNeil and Gilbert first collaborated in 1904 at the Saint Louis World’s Fair. That “Palace of Fine Arts” on Art Hill now houses the St. Louis Art Museum.”
The three MacNeil sculptures above the main entrance of Cass Gilbert’s ‘Palace of fine Arts’ are examples of the Beaux Arts style of World Fairs of this era. (http://www.slam.org/).
For more on Supreme Court Building See Also:
1. https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/2010/05/29/tortoise-and-hare-taken-to-supreme-court/
2. https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/2010/08/07/moses-confusius-and-solon-at-supreme-court/
For more on Saint Louis World’s Fair See Also:
1. https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/2010/08/06/macneil-sculpture-st-louis-art-museum/
3. https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/2011/03/12/expositions-and-worlds-fairs-hermon-a-macneil/
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JOURNEY TO SUPREME COURT: ~ Finds plenty of Sculpture along the way in Washington D.C. …
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Andrew Jackson tips his hat to the White House and the Washington Monument. The statue cast by Clark Mill in 1853 occupies the center of Lafayette Square.
I recently visited our nation’s Capitol with family. Sculpture and history are everywhere. On the way to the Supreme Court to take a few photos of MacNeil’s tortoise and the hare, I was lured away by a few wonderful sites.
So the East Pediment of 11 figures (Moses, Confucius, Solon, the tortoise and the hare, and six others) would have to wait.
In front of the White House in Lafayette Square, I found Andrew Jackson rearing up on horseback and waiving his hat to the White House and Washington monument in the distance. Apparently, he has been doing that pose for over 160 years when Clark Mills’ tribute to Jackson was emplaced. For more perspectives and close-up details on this piece click HERE at DCmemorials.com.
The First Division Monument of WWI was designed by Cass Gilbert. This golden "Victory" was the work of Daniel Chester French.
Behind the Old Executive Office Building, high on a Roman column stood “Victory” by Daniel Chester French. Cass Gilbert was also the architect of this WWI memorial to the First Infantry Division. All of the funds for the monument as well as the additions were provided by the Society of the First Infantry Division.
To see this full monument and others in the Ellipse and D.C. CLICK HERE. The StationStart.com website provides photos and history to accompany your ride on the Metro through the Capitol.
On across the street stands the Washington Monument which is closed for structural repairs following the earth quake last year. Some mortar was loosened and cracks opened. But the spire stands tall and proud like the General himself.
On down the hill to the west rests the WWII Memorial. Nestled into the center of the Mall, this oval dish of fountains, pools, and 56 state and territorial salutes gathers people into a living history. Veterans of WWII, some of the last remaining were there on that sunny Saturday morning giving dignity and flesh and blood to this stunningly compelling tribute. As a VA Chaplain, I found myself shedding more tears here and recalling the veterans I have been privileged to know.
The WWII Monument is just down the hill from the Washington obilisk. Across the pool of fountains we see the 4048 gold stars and the Lincoln Memorial in the distance.
ALL GAVE SOME - SOME GAVE ALL. 4048 Gold Stars commemorate the 404,800 American soldiers who died in World War II.
ALL GAVE SOME – SOME GAVE ALL. These 4048 Gold Stars commemorate the 404,800 American soldiers who died in World War II. Each Gold Star here represents 100 dead.
During the war, each mother of a veteran would place a Blue Star in the front window of the family home. A Gold Star is what a mother placed if a son had been killed in action.
For more photos and history on this monument see HERE.
COMING: Next post will take us to the Lincoln Memorial to see Daniel Chester French’s most renowned sculpture.
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At each corner of the East Pediment of the U.S. Supreme Court Building, Hermon MacNeil placed the figures of a ‘tortoise’ and a ‘hare.’ His local newspaper (“Brooklyn Daily Star”) carried the story below on the MacNeil’s 67th Birthday, February 27, 1933.
Published on Hermon A. MacNeil’s 67th Birthday – February 27, 1933 – In the “Brooklyn Daily Star” – Front Page One, Columns 6 & 7.
MacNeil’s ‘Tortoise’ on the north corner of his east pediment sculpture MacNeil’s ‘Hare’ on south corner of east Pediment sculpture.
The greater figures (Moses, Confucius, and Solon [not Plato]) received more publicity and scrutiny. Some questioned that placement as making some ‘religious’ statement (See previous Posting of Jan 13th, 2012).
MacNeil’s use of the little symbolic animals so familiar to readers of Aesop’s Fables (children’s readings from a century ago) may seem quaint in 21st Century media, but provide an appropriate allegorical meaning and use of confined ‘space.’
Also see previous story on this website at:
MacNeil’s ‘Hare’ on south corner of east Pediment sculpture.
Of further note in the “Brooklyn Daily Star” article is the reference to Alden MacNeil. He was Hermon and Carol’s younger son. Whether he worked ‘for’ Cass Gilbert or ‘with’ the famous architect is unclear. I suspect the later. Either way being “associated” with Cass Gilbert the renowned architectural firm on the Supreme Court Building project is a significant point of the story.
US Supreme Court Building, East Pediment, Washington, D.C.
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Hermon MacNeil’s Supreme Court Sculptures: ~ ~ ~ Moses Revisited ~ ~ ~
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Three great law makers ~ Moses (center) flanked by Confucius (left) and Solon (right) ~ represent three great world cultures ~ (Judeo-Christian, Eastern Asian, Greco-Roman)
While it seems difficult to NOT associate ‘religious connotations’ with representations of ‘Moses,’ wherever they may be, MacNeil’s interpretation of his sculpture is quoted as follows:
MacNeil didn’t intend his sculptures to have religious connotations. Explaining his work, MacNeil wrote, “Law as an element of civilization was normally and naturally derived or inherited in this country from former civilizations. The ‘Eastern Pediment’ of the Supreme Court Building suggests therefore the treatment of such fundamental laws and precepts as are derived from the East.” ( http://architecture.about.com/od/greatbuildings/ss/SupremeCourt_7.htm )
MacNeil's sculptures of Moses, Confucius, and Solon on the East Pediment of the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.
Moses appears as the central figure on the Supreme Court building’s east side holding two stone tablets. The pediment was started in 1932 and completed in 1934. Cass Gilbert was the building architect. He and MacNeil collaborated in 1904 of the Saint Louis Art Museum built as the “Palace of Fine Arts” for the World’s Fair known as the ‘Louisiana Purchase Exposition.”
In her 2005 news article, Andrea James reports multiple appearances of ‘Moses’ in the building housing the last final option for appeals in the U.S. Judiciary Branch of government:
“The Jewish lawgiver is depicted several times in the stone and marble edifice that is the Supreme Court building, and so are the Ten Commandments. In sculpture, Moses sits as the prominent figure atop the building’s east side, holding two tablets representing the Ten Commandments. And on the wall directly behind the chief justice’s chair, an allegorical “Majesty of Law” places his muscular left arm on a tablet depicting the Roman numerals I through X.
Believers are convinced those are indeed the commandments given to Moses as described in the biblical Book of Exodus. Others say the 10 numbers represent the Bill of Rights.”
Regardless of past or future discussions the Supreme Court Building and the implied connotations of the presence of ‘Moses’ depicted there, MacNeil used multiple figures representing a diversity of cultures. These various traditions of laws written on tablets, scrolls or parchment are used throughout the Building.
In addition, this practice is consistent with the plans of Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and patterns used in other government buildings, including the U. S. Capitol Building with its Classic temple architecture.
“In 1792, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Johnson placed of an advertisement announcing a Capitol architectural contest in a Philadelphia newspaper. The ad contained rules and requirements for size and numbers of rooms and such. The judges of the competition were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Commissioners of the District of Colombia. The philosopher Jefferson, a classically educated man like many of the founders, saw in temple designs like the Temple of the Sun, the Parthenon and the Roman Pantheon a symbolism of democracy and philosophy resurrected.
Jefferson, Washington and the committee thought that the new capitol building(s) should symbolize a Temple of Liberty in a secular sense. Entries were mostly Renaissance or Georgian, which is based on Palladian, a classical revival style of the renaissance. But the Graeco-Roman modeled entries were the most liked by the Washington, Jefferson, and the committee. The committee took the symbolic nature of the Capitol seriously. For the committee, the design must symbolize the functions and themes of the capitol.”
For more of the plans and drawings presented in the Library of Congress online exhibits see: ( http://community-2.webtv.net/westernmind/WASHINGTONDC/ )
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1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition ~ ~ Saint Louis World’s Fair
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"The Coming of the White Man" ~ MacNeil posed Black Pipe, the Sioux Warrior in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show that he befriended after the 1893 Chicago Fair. (Antique Postcard courtesy of Gil Shell)
The 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition ~ St. Louis World’s Fair, commemorated the 100th Anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase.
At the 1270 acre Forest Park location and the campus of Washington University the Fair was constructed and the Olympic Games were held.
“Fifteen major exhibition Palaces radiated in fan pattern from central Festival Hall in “setting of lagoons, boulevards, gardens, fountains and sculpture” (1,200 pieces of statuary). Electric light, sign of progress then, used “lavishly” for both decoration and illumination. Featured were motor car, aeronautics and wireless telegraphy–all at their earliest, most exciting stage of development; spotlight on auto which had traveled from New York City to St. Louis, then “an unprecedented feat and a hazardous journey.” Olympic Games held during Exposition in first concrete stadium built in U.S.”
(http://www.so-calleddollars.com/Events/Louisiana_Purchase_Exposition.html)
For the event, MacNeil exhibited three sculptures: “The Moqui Runner,” “A Primitive Chant,” “The Coming of the White Man” (pictured here from period postcard showing the Portland, Oregon setting.)
On a prominent hill of the Forest Park location, Cass Gilbert designed and build the Palace of Fine Arts. This one permanent building remains 106 years later as the home of the Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM).
It also became one of many collaborations of Gilbert and MacNeil over the next 30 year. The most famous of these would be the last in 1932 – the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.
Gilbert designed the front entrance of this Palace of Fine Arts to bear six Corinthian columns. The four central columns frame the three MacNeil reliefs sculptures above the three entrance doors. Inscribed on his center panel are the words “ARS ARTIUM OMNIUM “roughly meaning, “The art of all arts.”
That panel is pictured here.
"ARS ARTIUM OMNIUM" is a MacNeil creation for the 1904 St Louis Worlds Fair
This link below on the SLAM website also offers more detail images of all three panels and the building entrance:
Fine Arts by Macneil in Relief on the SLAM website:
The MacNeil work was a part of that “Palace of Fine Art” and his abilities in the Beaux Arts style seemed to seal his collaborative link to many projects grown from Cass Gilbert’s genius. The inscription “ARS ARTIUM OMNIUM” translates literally from the Latin as “the Art of all Arts.”
Above the columns of the Saint Louis Art Museum are inscribed the words, “DEDICATED TO ART AND FREE TO ALL – MDCDIII.” That Free to All spirit remains today in that admission is free through a subsidy from the ZMD.
A New York Times article offers editorial on “free art” http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/22/arts/design/22admi.html?_r=1
Other works completed by MacNeil for the fair were the “Fountain of Liberty” and the massive sculpture “Physical Liberty.” The artist rendition below shows both. “Physical Liberty” is the large Buffalo sculpture on the right. A young woman on the other side accompanies the powerful beast. Detail photos of the fountain are difficult to attain. Hopefully, more to Come!
In the meanwhile, Enjoy!
Artists View of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition ~ Looking north from the Cascades. The Buffalo figure on the right is MacNeil's "Physical liberty." The Dolphins that stair-step down th the cascades are also MacNeil creations.
The MacNeil sculptures above the main entrance of the Saint Louis Art Museum is a fine example of the Beaux Arts style of World Fairs of this era. (Credit SLAM at http://www.slam.org/).
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Expositions and World’s Fairs ~ Hermon A. MacNeil
Posted by: | CommentsThe MacNeil sculpture above the main entrance of the Saint Louis Art Museum is a fine example of the Beaux Arts style of World Fairs of this era. (http://www.slam.org/).
The Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries were filled with hundreds of World’s Fairs. Hermon Atkins MacNeil began his career as a sculptor in the 1890s. He worked on five of these events that were in the U.S. between 1901 and 1915. He helped design buildings, outdoor art, plazas, exhibits, and entered sculptures in many of these expositions.
MacNeil’s works were entered in the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo (1901); the Charleston Exposition in South Carolina (1902); the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis (1904); [MacNeil Sculpture “Meets Me in St. Louis” (7.3) On a recent trip to Saint Louis, Missouri to visit…] the Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, Oregon (1905); and the Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in (1915)
In future postings we will gather information on these events and MacNeil’s involvement in expos that became extravaganzas of art and sculptures. So more on Chicago, Buffalo, Charleston, Saint Louis, Portland, and San Francisco fairs. Most of the fairs that MacNeil worked on were built in the peak era of the Beaux Arts style of architecture and sculpture in the U.S. He was part of a the American Renaissance from 1890 to 1920, the last phase of Neoclassicism in United States. (See also Beaux Arts link above).
Below is a Wikipedia list of World Fairs from 1700 to the present. Modern Expos tend to be held in outside of the USA in nations with developing economies and growing world trade.
List of World’s Fairs: Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world%27s_fairs#1890s
Stay tuned!
Photo Credit: http://www.slam.org/
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Moses, Confucius, and Solon at Supreme Court
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CONFUCIUS ~ MOSES ~ SOLON center on MacNeil’s East Pediment
The East Pediment of the Supreme Court of the United States designed and sculpted by Hermon A. MacNeil contains the likenesses of three Lawgivers from the history of civilization: Moses, Confucius, and Solon. According to the Office of the Curator in a public INFORMATION SHEET:
“Visitors often miss the East Pediment of the Supreme Court Building because it is located at the rear of the building. This sculptural group was designed by Hermon A. MacNeil (1866 – 1947), an artist who studied under the masters of classical architecture and design. Cass Gilbert (1867 – 1934), the building’s architect, worked closely with MacNeil from 1932 to 1934 to create the thirteen symmetrically balanced allegorical figures. MacNeil submitted the following description of his work to the Supreme Court Building Commission:”
“Law as an element of civilization was normally and naturally derived or inherited in this country from former civilizations. The “Eastern Pediment” of the Supreme Court Building suggests therefore the treatment of such fundamental laws and precepts as are derived from the East.
- Moses, Confucius and Solon are chosen as representing three great civilizations and form the central group of this Pediment.
- Flanking this central group – left – is the symbolical figure bearing the means of enforcing the law. On the right a group tempering justice with mercy, allegorically treated. The “Youth” is brought into both these groups to suggest the “Carrying on” of civilization through the knowledge imbibed of right and wrong.
The next two figures with shields;
- Left – The settlement of disputes between states through enlightened judgment.
- Right – Maritime and other large functions of the Supreme Court in protection of the United States.
The last figures:
- Left – Study and pondering of judgments.
- Right – A tribute to the fundamental and supreme character of this Court. Finale – The fable of the Tortoise and the Hare.” See May 26th post at: https://hermonatkinsmacneil.com/2010/05/29/tortoise-and-hare-taken-to-supreme-court/
May 16, 1932 Note regarding the East Pediment Inscription The text, in the hand of Charles Evans Hughes, reads, I rather prefer “Justice the Guardian of Liberty”
The inscription on the East Pediment – Justice the Guardian of Liberty – is one of the few decisions regarding the architecture of the building that was made directly by one of the Justices. On May 2,1932, David Lynn, the Architect of the Capitol, sent Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes a letter with Cass Gilbert’s suggestions for the East and West Pediment inscriptions. The Chief Justice agreed with the suggested inscription for the West Pediment, Equal Justice Under Law, but did not like the one proposed for the East Pediment, Equal Justice is the Foundation of Liberty. Chief Justice Hughes sent a note (below) with a suggestion for a different inscription to Justice Willis Van Devanter, the only Justice beside Hughes and his predecessor, Chief Justice William Howard Taft, to serve on the Supreme Court Building Commission. Justice Van Devanter responded with a succinct reply: “Good (W.V.)” A few days later, the Chief Justice formally answered Lynn’s request by providing the alternate inscription, stating simply “We think that the inscription for the East Portico can be improved.”
The May 16, 1932 Note regarding the East Pediment Inscription written in the hand of Charles Evans Hughes, reads, I rather prefer “Justice the Guardian of Liberty”
The East Pediment by Hermon A. MacNeil – Office of the Curator • Supreme Court of the United States
Source: Office of the Curator, Supreme Court of the United States – Updated: 5/22/2003
For additional critical discussion on the Supreme Court Building sculptures related to Moses as a law giver see:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/capital.asp
Visit the HA MacNeil‘s “Justice The Guardian of Liberty” at the East Pediment of the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. [mappress]
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MacNeil Sculpture “Meets Me in St. Louis”
Posted by: | CommentsOn a recent trip to Saint Louis, Missouri to visit family, I was met by not by “Louis” but by “Hermon”
For the last 106 years (since the Worlds Fair inspired the song “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis”) a sculpture by Hermon A. MacNeil has been quietly greeting visitors at the front door of the St Louis Art Museum. The piece resides high above the center doors at the main entrance of the building.
"ARS ARTIUM OMNIUM" is a MacNeil creation for the 1904 St Louis Worlds Fair
Saint Louis Art Museum main entrance. The MacNeil sculpture rests above the center doors recessed between the center columns.
The building itself represents one of MacNeil’s first collaborations of with renowned architect, Cass Gilbert. His last project with Cass Gilbert was the US Supreme Court Building in 1933.
The Cass Gibert Society website offers images of his lifetime of architectural achievements.
The Saint Louis World’s Fair of 1904 was formally known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. It was an international exposition commemorating the Louisiana purchase of 1803. It was delayed from a planned opening in 1903 to 1904 to allow for the full-scale participation by more states and foreign countries. The song, “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis” was inspired by the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair.
The Palace of Fine Art, designed by architect Cass Gilbert, featured a grand interior sculpture court based on the Roman Baths of Caracalla. Standing at the top of Art Hill, it now serves as the home of the Saint Louis Art Museum. … Gilbert was also responsible for … (Saint Louis Public Library), state capitol buildings (the Minnesota, Arkansas and West Virginia State Capitols, for example) as well as public architectural icons like the United States Supreme Court building. His public buildings in the Beaux Arts style reflect the optimistic American sense that the nation was heir to Greek democracy, (Wikipedia).
The MacNeil work was a part of that “Palace of Fine Art” and his abilities in the Beaux Arts style seemed to seal his collaborative link to many projects grown from Cass Gilbert’s genius. The inscription “ARS ARTIUM OMNIUM” translates literally from the Latin as “the Art of all Arts.”
Above the columns of the Saint Louis Art Museum are inscribed the words, “DEDICATED TO ART AND FREE TO ALL – MDCDIII.” That Free to All spirit remains today in that admission is free through a subsidy from the ZMD.
A New York Times article offers editorial on “free art” http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/22/arts/design/22admi.html?_r=1
The SLAM is one of the principal U.S. art museums, visited by up to a half million people every year. MacNeil’s art is among some of the first to silently greet them.
The Art Museum at Forest Park in Saint. Louis, Missouri at night. on 27 September 2008. (credit: Kitz000 - Matt Kitces at Wikipedia Commons ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StLouisArtMuseum.jpg
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Tortoise and Hare taken to Supreme Court
Posted by: | CommentsHermon MacNeil has taken the Tortoise and the Hare to the Supreme Court.
There is a rabbit and a turtle at the Supreme Court! No this is not some legal joke. Not an insult of the U.S. Justice system. This is a concrete truth. Actually, it is a truth in marble. Not only did he take this ‘Fabled pair’ all the way to the Supreme Court, he left them there. So, inconspicuously for the last 78 years the whimsy of Hermon Atkins MacNeil has been hidden in plain sight, high on the back side of the highest court of the land. These two marble carvings represent the smallest pair of groupings in his work, “Justice the Guardian of Liberty” are nearly invisible in the corners below.
HARE ON LEFT<< East Pediment-Supreme Court Building - >>TORTOISE ON RIGHT
MacNeil's 'Hare' springs from the south corner of his east pediment sculpture
MacNeil's 'Tortoise' on the north corner of sculpture
Like Aesop’s fable, perhaps the moral of MacNeil’s sculpture may be “Slow but steady wins the race.” Of course, the figurines offer MacNeil’s reference to Aesop’s Fable of the “The Hare and theTortoise.” A Hare one day ridiculed the short feet and slow pace of the Tortoise. The latter, laughing, said: “Though you be swift as the wind, I will beat you in a race.” The Hare, deeming her assertion to be simply impossible, assented to the proposal; and they agreed that the Fox should choose the course, and fix the goal. On the day appointed for the race they started together. The Tortoise never for a moment stopped, but went on with a slow but steady pace straight to the end of the course. The Hare, trusting to his native swiftness, cared little about the race, and lying down by the wayside, fell fast asleep. At last waking up, and moving as fast as he could, he saw the Tortoise had reached the goal, and was comfortably dozing after her fatigue. [George Fyler Townsend, Three Hundred Æesop’s Fables: Literally Translated from the Greek (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1867), pp. 19-20.] SeeWikipedia
Conceived in the early 1930’s after another economic crisis, MacNeil filled the sculpture with hundreds of serious allegorical references and illusions (more about these in later posts). The figure of Confucius (to the left of the centered Moses) caused more public comment.
MacNeil worked with Cass Gilbert, the architect for the US Supreme Court Building project, who gave his artists interpretive license in designing their works.
Architect Cass Gilbert was charged by Chief Justice Taft to design “a building of dignity and importance suitable for its use as the permanent home of the Supreme Court of the United States.” (InfoPlease)
The complementary pediment on the east side of the building bears an inscription devised by Chief Justice Hughes: “Justice, the Guardian of Liberty.” In his frieze sculptor Herman A. MacNeil pays tribute to the civilizing effects of legal authority. A trio of ancient lawgivers—Moses, flanked by Confucius and Solon—occupies the center of the panel, which otherwise features allegorical figures intended to symbolize beneficent aspects of judicial dispute resolution. (Answers.com)
None of the thirteen figures on MacNeil’s east pediment grouping, however, are quite as gentle and amusing as the turtle and bunny that bracket the piece.
So, Thanks for the memories Uncle Hermon! 😉
The Supreme Court as it appeared in 1935 complete with vintage automobiles. The East Pediment was on the reverse side to these front steps. Behind MacNeil's East pediment sculptures is the office of the Chief Justice. Source: Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SupremeCourt-1935.jpg
