Spine, (sculpture).

Spine, (sculpture).

Fine, Jud, 1944- , sculptor.

Reese, Harry, designer.

Halprin, Lawrence, 1916-2009, landscape architect.

Kafer, Steven, modeller.

Kalstrom, Jeff, sculptor.

Sanders, Jeff, assistant.

Spine, (sculpture).

Digital Reference:

Polished stainless steel, pink quartz, black granite, bronze, concrete and tile.

(Lengthy inscriptions in a variety of languages and symbols appear throughout the work)

A landscaped area consisting of a long row of three fountains, each placed between flights of stairs. The area is a walkway from the street, through a formal garden, which leads to a library entrance. Each fountain has a unique head serving as a spout; a fish, an amphibian and a woman. The half-circle basins, bearing the words "bright," "lucid" and "clear" respectively each protrude from larger rectangular pools and are directly under the spouts. Boulders sit in the pools. Animals, including a falcon, frog and a skeleton are placed on or around the boulders. Each of the surrounding steps have sculptural elements whose text is in many languages, representing written language from archaic to the printing eras. Also known as the "Well of the Scribes," this walkway is designed to resemble the spine of a book. From the street to the library entrance, the walkway is an evolutionary process, tracing both physical and intellectual evolution.

Architecture -- Detail -- Stairs

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Literature

Allegory -- Quality -- Prudence

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- History

Object -- Written Matter -- Book

Allegory -- Time

Animal -- Amphibian -- Newt

Animal -- Other -- Skeleton

Figure female -- Head

Allegory -- Time

Outdoor Sculpture -- California -- Los Angeles

Administered by City of Los Angeles, Public Library Department, Central Library, 630 West Fifth Street, Los Angeles, California 90071

Located Los Angeles Public Library, Central Library, 630 West Fifth Street, Robert F. Maguire III Gardens, Los Angeles, California

This project was part of the City of Los Angeles' Community Redevelopment Agency's "Percent for Art" Program and of the Central Business District Redevelopment Project. Funding was provided by the Maguire Thomas Partners, Inc. from a $300,000 fund allocated for West Lawn projects. Harry Reese researched and provided the text of the stairs. Jeff Sanders created the post-literate scallop, spout connections and the attachment for the falcon. Jeff Kalstrom sculpted the clay models of the falcon, newt, the "Well of the Scribes" and bones of the labrynthodont. Steven Kafer modeled the fish heads and oversaw work on the milta ceramic niche. Other credits appear in the foreword of the book "Spine," by Jud Fine and Harry Reese.

IAS files contain a copy of the foreword, as well as the following related articles and documents: an article dated Jan. 17, 1994 from an unknown source; the Los Angeles Public Library "Central Library News," July 23, 1993, Artweek, Feb. 3, 1994, Downtown News, March 8, 1993; the Central Library West Lawn Art Plan; the site plan; the artists' proposal which provides detailed information about the layout and the inscriptions on the stairs, an explanation for some of the symbols which appear in the work; a number of photocopied sketches, photographs and diagrams, historic site plans and pictures from an unknown source, and memos and correspondence pertaining to the work. While the whole of the site, the Maquire Gardens, was designed to represent an open book, this work is analogous to the spine of a book. Artists were contractually mandated to design their work in the spirit of the original design of Bertram Goodhue, who with his partners, first conceived the "Well of the Scribes" concept in 1924.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, California survey, 1995.

Fine, Jud, & Reese, Harry, "Spine: an Account of the Jud Fine Art Plan at the Maguire Gardens, Central Library, Los Angeles," Los Angeles: Los Angeles Library Association, 1993.

Los Angeles Times, Oct 6, 1993, Sec. F. pg. 1, 3.

Daily News (Los Angeles, CA) Oct. 3, 1993, pg. 13.

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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