Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial: Spanning the Continent, (sculpture).

Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial: Spanning the Continent, (sculpture).

Laurent, Robert, 1890-1970, sculptor.

Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial: Spanning the Continent, (sculpture).

Spanning the Continent, (sculpture).

1937. Dedicated 1938.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite.

Sculpture: approx. 9 ft. 2 in. x 7 ft. 10 1/2 in. x 3 ft. 11 in.; Base: approx. 2 ft. 11 1/4 in. x 8 ft. 10 in. x 4 ft. 10 in.

LAURENT 1937 (Front:) GORHAM CO. FOUNDERS signed Founder's mark appears.

This sculpture is part of a six-piece group (two bronze monuments and four stone figures installed on the Central Terrace) that depicts the themes of westward expansion and America welcoming immigrants. Spanning the Continent illustrates American pioneers moving into the western portions of the country. A barefoot male and female pioneer walk toward the west pushing a large wheel between them. The woman wears a long dress and a bonnet. She carries an ax down at her side with her proper left hand. Her proper right and rests on the front inside edge of the wheel and her body is turned so that her back is against the wheel. A bare-chested man stands on the other side of the wheel, facing the woman. He is dressed in only a pair of knee britches. His proper left hand rests on the front outer edge of the wheel.

History -- United States -- Westward Expansion

Dress -- Historic -- Pioneer Dress

Object -- Tool -- Axe

Outdoor Sculpture -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia

Coadministered by City of Philadelphia, Fairmount Park Commission, Memorial Hall, West Park, P. O. Box 21601, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19131

Coadministered by Fairmount Park Art Association, 1616 Walnut Street, Suite 2012, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103

Located Fairmount Park, Central Terrace, Kelly Drive south of Girard Avenue Bridge, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Inscription on the stone wall behind the sculpture reads: SPANNING THE CONTINENT. Inscription on the right side of the stone wall behind sculpture reads: THE VALLEYS AND GORGES ARE WHITE WITH THE COVERED WAGONS/MOVING OUT TOWARD THE WEST AND THE NEW FREE LAND/STEPHEN VINCENT BENET. Inscription on the left side of the stone wall behind the sculpture reads: AMERICA IS WEST AND THE WIND BLOWING/AMERICA IS A GREAT WORD AND THE SNOW, AWAY, A WHITE BIRD, THE RAIN FALLING/A SHINING THING IN THE MIND AND THE GULLS CALL/ ARCHIBALD MCLEISH.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985

Fairmount Park Art Assoc., "Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia's Treasures in Bronze & Stone," NY: Walker Publ., 1974, pg. 250-257.

Bach, Penny Balkin, "Public Art in Philadelphia," Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992, pg. 222.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia survey, 1993.

Fairmount Park Art Assoc., "Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia's Treasures in Bronze & Stone," NY: Walker Publ., 1974, pg. 253.

Companion to: 88320069.

Companion to: 88320070.

Companion to: 77002764.

Companion to: 76008194.

Companion to: PA001132.

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.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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