Walking Tour Tour Walking Philadelphia Museum of Museum Philadelphia Art . 2004 , ) 22 1952 , 53 – on view at the , 1952 , th Street 1976 ) 1960 , cast 26 1945 , cast through August August through 1944 , cast , by Arnold Newman , by 70 19130 54 – 27 – 1944 begun 1967 1953 , c. 0604-1351 Philadelphia Museum of Museum Philadelphia Art Photographs by Graydon Wood Graydon by Photographs Philadelphia, PA PA Philadelphia, www.philamuseum.org 2004 (Gift of R. Sturgis Ingersoll, Ingersoll, of R. Sturgis (Gift © The Spirit ofThe Spirit Enterprise, Jacques Lipchitz and Philadelphia, Lipchitz Jacques Government of the People, Government Portrait of Jacques Lipchitz of Jacques Portrait and donated to the Fairmount Park Commission) Park and donated to the Fairmount Philadelphia Museum of Museum Philadelphia Art Prometheus Strangling the Vulture, the Strangling Prometheus Benjamin Franklin Parkway at Parkway Franklin Benjamin The exhibition is made possible by grants from grants from The exhibition is made possible by Cover: Cover: by Jacques Lipchitz (Purchased with the Lisa Norris Elkins Fund, Fund, Elkins with the Lisa Norris Lipchitz (Purchased Jacques by by Jacques Lipchitz (Commissioned with private and public funds by the and public funds by Lipchitz (Commissioned with private Jacques by Fairmount Park Art Association and donated to the City of Park Fairmount Philadelphia) by Jacques Lipchitz (Commissioned by the Fairmount Park Art Association Park the Fairmount Lipchitz (Commissioned by Jacques by This walking tour guide was produced in conjunction with This walking tour guide was produced the exhibition Philadelphia Museum of Art from June of Art June from Museum Philadelphia The Pew Charitable Trusts and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; Foundation; Goldsmith W. The Horace and Trusts Charitable The Pew it is also supported by a generous contribution from Mari and Peter Shaw. and Peter Mari contribution from it is also supported a generous by P t e t S t t n S n S S K h el ly Dr s y t 1 W d h l h r R 6 v t a a t i 3 2 d t 4 er n 5 Fairmount Ave g w i 2 2 o a 2 e To the Zoo & rk A lace St s v Wal A D e v Fairmount r e Mount Vernon St Park Houses Dr Green St um t t e t t t t Philadelphia S t s t t t S t t t t t t t t t t t u S S s S S S S t S S S S e S S S S S S d S M S d S t h W h d h h Museum h a h r t h h h h t h h t h n h h r t t t d h t t t t t t t t t t o A t 1 s 0 3 2 3 4 n 2 r 5 7 6 6 8 5 7 2 8 9 9 0 1 1 1 t of Art 1 2 1 B 1 1 s 1 1 1 2 a 2 E 2 Spring Garden St Eakins Rodin Oval Museum Hamilton St 95 76 Be nj am Callowhill St in F ra nk lin Vine St P 676 676 kw y Vine St Winter St Logan Square N 676 Prometheus Government Race St and ending at Convention 3 22 1 Enterprise Vulture The Spirit of Strangling the of the People Cherry St Center 30th Suburban is approximately 2 miles. Street Station Station Arch St (Amtrak) t 3 S JFK Blvd Market East Station d r The Spirit of Enterprise 3 City Hall g 2 Market St n i d t Suggested walking tour route n S Ludlow St a h L t 0 Chestnut St ’s Lipchitz Walking Tour Total distance of suggested walking tour route, beginning at Government of the People, PHLASH, Philadelphia’s visitor shuttle, provides direct service between Penn’s Landing and the Museum every 10 to 15 minutes from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For more information, visit www.gophila.com/phlash. 3 n n Sansom St e P . in and 1967 , and in Jacques 1964 , Lipchitz 1909 1941 , when renowned 1922 ers of sculptor ). Works from all periods from Works ). The Spirit of Enterprise The Spirit 1973 – Government of the People Government 1891 ( A Jewish immigrant from Lithuania, immigrant from A Jewish and With its rich tradition of public art, With has long been a landmark Philadelphia destination for admir Lipchitz American collector Dr. Albert C. Barnes Albert C. Barnes American collector Dr. studio and commissioned visited his Paris carvings relief seven for the him to create building in Merion, Foundation Barnes After arriving in the United Pennsylvania. in as a war refugee States visited Philadelphia frequently. He was He frequently. visited Philadelphia Academy the Pennsylvania by twice honored Arts, selected a critically of the Fine exhibition at the acclaimed retrospective of Art in Museum Philadelphia of the artist’s long and prolific career have an have career long and prolific of the artist’s inside and outside the important presence of Art, opposite City Museum Philadelphia and along the banks of the Schuylkill Hall, in the city, lived Although he never River. affection for its people, Lipchitz had a great its art, and its architecture. in to Paris Lipchitz moved sculptor soon emerged as the leading Cubist ties to The artist’s of his generation. began in Philadelphia received two major commissions for public received monuments — 1950 Lipchitz remains an artist of tremendous Lipchitz remains rede- work popular appeal, whose powerful fined the possibilities of modern sculpture. The Spirit of Enterprise was Lipchitz’s first Prometheus Strangling the Vulture is based Government of the People follows an intri- major public commission in the United States. on the Greek myth of Prometheus, which cate, three-tiered structure: a family group of In 1950 Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park Art became the dominant theme in Lipchitz’s work father, mother, and child entwine at the base, Association asked the artist to create a large in the years leading up to World War II. As pun- while a man and a woman turn in a spiral bronze sculpture on the theme of “constructive ishment for stealing fire from the gods and giving motion at the center of the composition as they enterprise,” which would embody “the vigor, the it to humans, Zeus condemned Prometheus to hold aloft a cloudlike formation of reclining power of harnessed nature, or the strength of be chained to a rocky cliff, where a giant vulture nudes at the top. The work’s title suggests the The Spirit of Enterprise men harnessing nature and making it conform to plucked at his liver, which regenerated nightly. themes of civic pride and good government, Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial Sculpture Garden their uses and desires. The physical power of Eventually freed by Hercules, Prometheus was but the sculpture also embodies Lipchitz’s view Kelly Drive north of Boathouse Row men, their imaginative dreams, the surge of their hailed by the ancient Greeks as the father of of humanity’s struggle to make a better world material expansion, the skill of craftsmanship, the arts and sciences. For Lipchitz, Prometheus through mutual support and dedication. the power of labor.” represented the ideal of heroic spiritual suffering Government of the People was Lipchitz’s The theme of American enterprise inspired and the eventual triumph of good over evil. last—and most controversial—public commis- Lipchitz to propose a triumphant explorer of the Lipchitz made his first large-scale version of sion in the United States. In 1972, Philadelphia New World, who peers into the distance with Prometheus Strangling the Vulture for the 1937 Mayor Frank L. Rizzo abandoned funding one hand shading his forehead as if surveying World’s Fair in Paris. That work was destroyed for the work, saying that it looked “like some the land of opportunity ahead. In his left hand, by right-wing sympathizers, who correctly plasterer dropped a load of plaster.” R. Sturgis he carries a caduceus, the winged staff with assumed that Lipchitz had invoked the Greek Ingersoll, Lipchitz’s great friend and former entwined serpents that is the symbol of Mercury, myth as a political allegory in which Prometheus president of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Prometheus Strangling the Vulture the Roman god of commerce and transportation. represented the forces of democracy defeating immediately came to the artist’s defense, Philadelphia Museum of Art (East Entrance) A great eagle, perched on a stump, guides him in the vulture of Nazi Germany. Undaunted by calling Rizzo’s remarks “sickening.” Lipchitz Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street his quest, a reference to the westward journeys of this violent opposition, Lipchitz went on to was extremely surprised and disappointed by the pioneer settlers as they crossed the plains and exhibit a plaster Prometheus at the Pennsylvania the controversy. Fortunately, the Fairmount mountains in search of a new life. The Spirit of Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia in Park Art Association stepped in to ensure the Enterprise has a resolutely optimistic message. A 1952. When a fire gutted the artist’s New York sculpture would be installed for the nation’s symbol of unchained motivation and unfettered studio that same year, the Philadelphia Museum Bicentennial in 1976. In the end, Mayor Rizzo ideals, the sculpture stands in stark contrast to of Art moved swiftly to help Lipchitz by pur- changed his mind about the work, admitting, Lipchitz’s earlier portrayal of Prometheus locked chasing the plaster for $25,000 after the “The statue by Mr.