(Our Lady of Perpetual Help School Facade Reliefs), (sculpture).

(Our Lady of Perpetual Help School Facade Reliefs), (sculpture).

Gosselin, Lucien H., 1883-1940, sculptor.

Provost, Wilfred, architect.

(Our Lady of Perpetual Help School Facade Reliefs), (sculpture).

Digital Reference:

10 figures. Each figure: approx. H. 6 ft. x W. 1.5 ft.; Icon: approx. H. 6 ft. x W. 2 1/2 ft.

Ten high-relief figures and a high-relief icon adorn the facade of a school building. The icon depicts a waist-length portrait of Mary, wearing robes and a crown, holding the infant Jesus in her arms. Her proper right hand holds Jesus' proper right hand. On either side of the pair are smaller bas-relief cherubs surrounded by Greek script. The icon is situated on the front facade, high above the main entrance to the building.

Each of the ten high-relief figures decorates the front of a buttress on the facade of the building. The robes of the waist-length figures blend into the buttresses below. The south (front) facade of the building features six high-relief figures. From left to right is male figure holding a book against his chest; a woman wearing a cape and holding a lyre; a woman holding a torch in her upraised proper right hand and a book in her proper left hand. The next figure to the right is a mirror image of the previous figure: a female holds a torch in her proper left hand and a closed book in her proper right hand. The next figure to the right is female. She holds a cross against her proper right shoulder with her proper right hand. In her proper left hand she holds a closed book. The figure on the far right is male. He has a page-boy haircut and cradles an object against his chest.

There are two figures on the east facade of the building. The male figure on the left holds a tablet against his chest with both hands. The figure on the right holds a globe in both hands. The American continents are visible on the globe. There are two figures on the west facade of the building. The female figure on the left holds a tablet with numbers on it in her proper left hand. She holds a writing instrument in her proper right hand. The figure on the right is male. He holds a quill in his proper right hand and a small book in his proper left hand. He wears a shirt, cravat and long robes.

Religion -- New Testament -- Mary

Religion -- New Testament -- Christ

Religion -- Angel

Figure male -- Waist length

Figure female -- Waist length

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Education

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Music

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Mathematics

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Geography

Object -- Written Matter -- Book

Object -- Musical Instrument -- Lyre

Object -- Other -- Writing Tool

Object -- Other -- Globe

Object -- Other -- Torch

Emblem -- Cross

Outdoor Sculpture -- New Hampshire -- Manchester

Architectural component

Our Lady of Perpetual Help School, Hayward Street, Manchester, New Hampshire 03103

The school was built between December 1927 and September 1928. The ten figures cast in the buttresses represent various educational studies. IAS files contain copy of related article from Manchester Union, Dec. 9, 1927; and copy of related excerpt from "Our Lady of Perpetual Help 75th Anniversary 1911-1986", 1986, pg. 22.

Title supplied by Inventory cataloger.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New Hampshire survey, 1993.

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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