Login My List - 0 Help
	Search   Search Images   About

Keyword Browse Combined Highlights Search History All Catalogs

Search:  Artist BrowseTitle BrowseSubject BrowseObject Type Browse Owner Browse       Refine Search     Return to results > You are only searching: Art Inventories

More Smithsonian Searches     Who else has...     Borglum, Gutzon,     Gorham Manufacturing Company,     Homage -- Wheeler, Nathaniel     Literature -- Character     Animal -- Fish     Portrait male -- Borglum, Lincoln     Outdoor Sculpture -- Connecticut -- Bridgeport     Fountain     Light fixture     Sculpture

Nathaniel Wheeler Memorial, (sculpture). Artist:  Borglum, Gutzon, 1867-1941, sculptor. Gorham Manufacturing Company, founder. Title:  Nathaniel Wheeler Memorial, (sculpture). Other Titles:  Wheeler Memorial Fountain, (sculpture). Dates:  1912. Digital Reference:  Medium:  Sculpture: bronze; Basin: polished gray granite; Floor: cast pebble stone and terrazzo. Dimensions:  Sculpture: approx. 6 x 1 x 1 ft.; Basin: approx. 3 ft. 9 in. x 11 ft. x 16 ft.; Troughs: approx. 2 ft. x 6 ft. 6 in. x 4 ft. 10 in. Inscription:  (Incised on lower rear of figure:) GORHAM CO. FOUNDERS (Incised on base of central fountain:) 1820-1893/THE NATHANIEL WHEELER MEMORIAL/ERECTED 1912 unsigned Founder's mark appears. Description:  Fountain and accompanying troughs are installed on a triangular traffic island. A central mermaid figure stands in a round basin within a lower round basin, and the three animal troughs stand on the corners of the island. The mermaid stands on a sphere and holds a baby mermaid on her proper left hip. Her proper right arm is upraised and holds a round glass globe for a light fixture. There is a dolphin at her feet. Four children's faces on the rim of the mermaid's basin spout water. The troughs are roughly triangular in shape. Two have a dolphin or other sea creature water spout installed vertically along one side. Each creature is flanked by two conch shells. The third has a child's torso on the interior basin with its arms outstretched around the basin. Subject:  Homage -- Wheeler, Nathaniel Literature -- Character -- Mermaid Animal -- Fish Portrait male -- Borglum, Lincoln -- Child Object Type:  Outdoor Sculpture -- Connecticut -- Bridgeport Fountain Light fixture Sculpture Owner:  Administered by City of Bridgeport, Parks & Recreation Department, 45 Lyon Terrace, Bridgeport, Connecticut 06604 Located Park Avenue at intersection of Fairfield Avenue, Bridgeport, Connecticut Remarks:  Erected by the heirs of Nathaniel Wheeler (1820-1893), founder and principal in Wheeler & Wilson Sewing Machine Company, a Bridgeport firm. The fountain was formerly encircled with hitching posts, along the edges of the island. The posts were topped with sculpted human skulls. The sculptor reportedly modeled the baby mermaid after his son, Lincoln Borglum. It is also said that Borglum baptized the five month old Lincoln in the fountain in 1912. IAS files include an excerpt from "Bridgeport: A Pictorial History," which includes a photograph of the fountain with the hitching posts in place. References:  Save Outdoor Sculpture, Connecticut survey, 1993. Illustration:  Image on file. Palmquist, David W., "Bridgeport: A Pictorial History," Virginia Beach, VA: The Donning Company, 1981, pg. 83. Note:  The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide. Repository:  Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 Control Number:  IAS CT000378   Copy/Holding information Smithsonian AmericanArt Museum Control Number   Inventory of American Sculpture CT000378 Add Copy to MyList Format: HTMLPlain textDelimited Subject:   Email to:

Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9382

About | © 2020 Smithsonian | Terms of Use | Privacy | Contact