Fountain of the Four Seasons, (sculpture).

Fountain of the Four Seasons, (sculpture).

Petersen, Christian, 1885-1961, sculptor.

Fountain of the Four Seasons, (sculpture).

Four Seasons Fountain, (sculpture).

Fountain of the Seasons, (sculpture).

Four Seasons, (sculpture).

Commissioned 1940. 1940. Installed 1941.

Digital Reference:

Figures: Bedford limestone; Fountain: limestone, with perimeter panels of terra cotta or limestone.

Figures: each 42 x 24 x 24 in.; Center pool: 42 x 94 1/2 x 94 1/2 in.

A fountain depicting an Osage legend of the four Seasons. Four female figures, one with a newborn, sit with their backs to the fountain, facing the four compass points. The first figure holds a corn seed; the second the first green seedling; the third, a basket of ripe corn; and the fourth nurses a newborn child. Surrounding the figures is an oval-shaped pool basin.

Figure group -- Female

Figure -- Child

Ethnic -- Indian -- Osage

Allegory -- Season

Allegory -- Quality -- Wealth

Object -- Vegetable -- Corn

Outdoor Sculpture -- Iowa -- Ames

Administered by Iowa State University, University Museums, Brunnier Art Museum, 290 Scheman Building, Ames, Iowa 50011

Located Iowa State University, North courtyard, Memorial Union, Ames, Iowa

In the spring of 1940, in an attempt to put a stop to frequent vandalism, the President of Iowa State University commissioned Petersen, then on faculty, to create a sculpture for the existing Memorial Union Fountain. The fountain was a gift to the College in 1936. Petersen decided on the Osage legend theme and plaster models were completed in 1940. Full scale clay models were exhibited in the fall of 1940. By May 1941, the four statues were installed in the Union fountain, surrounding a new fountain head. The artist also designed new terra cotta (or limestone?) bas-relief panels placed around the fountain basin's perimeter.

Iowa State University, Brunnier Gallery and Museum, 1989.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Iowa survey, 1995.

Bliss, Patricia C., "Christian Petersen Remembered," (Ames, Iowa): Iowa State University Press, 1986, pg. 77-82, 189.

Iowa State University, University Museums, 2017.

Wilson, Geraldine L., "Christian Petersen, Sculptor," (Ames, Iowa): Iowa State University Press, 1962, pg. 72, 73.

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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