Tuesday, July 2, 2013

The Wind and the Wild at Brookgreen Gardens

PeaceFountain
Peace Fountain, Sandy Scott. 1996.

Brookgreen Gardens near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina includes over 500 figurative sculptures by more than 200 American artists. In 1931, Archer and Anna Huntington established the sculpture garden on their own estate. Anna was a successful sculptor, and her work is prominently featured throughout the gardens.

     Naturalistic representations of animals may also have allegorical or mythological meaning.  For example, the bronze cast Peace Fountain by Sandy Scott is topped by a bird with wings extended for full flight. Visually, we are convinced that this bird is completely free to glide with the wind. Conceptually, doves and eagles have been recognized symbols for peace and freedom.

     John Borglum’s fascination with wild horses was nourished by direct observations near his own Sierra Madre ranch. Years later, based upon memory and sketches, he created a dynamic group of seven horses in his New York City studio on East 38th Street. The entire group was donated to New York’s Metropolitan Museum, and was originally located at the museum’s main stairway.  The equine triad at Brookgreen is only part of the original group, which was assigned a mythological title by a critic.  The title refers to one of the Twelve Labors of Hercules.  Borglum is probably most famous for his design of the Presidential portraits carved into the peaks of Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota.

BorglumMares
Mares of Diomedes, John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum. 1904.
Anna Huntington’s Centaur is also related to ancient Greek mythology.  Cheiron, a composite creature of man and horse, was rewarded with immortality due to his knowledge of medicinal herbs. 


HuntingtonCentaur

The Centaur Cheiron, Anna Hyatt Huntington. 1936
According to a Brookgreen curatorial plaque, “Cheiron was wounded in battle and preferred death instead of eternal pain. So, Zeus placed Cheiron in the heavens where he became a constellation known as The Archer, Sagittarius.”

 Other famous artists whose sculptures are included in the Brookgreen collection are Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Glenna Goodacre, and Frederic Remington. The fifty acre site is landscaped with magnificent live oak trees and beautifully cultivated flower gardens.






References:

Borglum, John. The Mares of Diomedes. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
2000-2013. http://metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/20010544
 (accessed June 25, 2013).

Proske, Beatrice Gilman.  Brookgreen Gardens Sculpture. South Carolina: Brookgreen Gardens, 1968.


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