Fountain of the Four Winds, (sculpture).

Fountain of the Four Winds, (sculpture).

Alferez, Enrique, 1901-1999, sculptor.

Fountain of the Four Winds, (sculpture).

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: ceramic, concrete, and stone, painted; Pool: concrete.

Each figure: approx. H. 7 ft. 8 in.; Each falcon: approx. 22 in. x 2 ft. 3 in. x 16 in.; Elliptical fountain pool: approx. Diam. 100 ft.

An elliptical fountain pool with four nude figures, one male and three females. The male figure represents the north wind and the female figures represent the east, south and west winds. The nude figures kneel on stylized rocks and waves on a disc in the center of the pool. The figures are stylized and hold various objects. The outside of the pool wall is decorated with low relief depictions of birds and clouds. Around the circumference of the pool are eight falcons which sit facing in towards the center of the pool.

Figure group -- Nude

Allegory -- Place -- Winds

Animal -- Bird -- Falcon

Outdoor Sculpture -- Louisiana -- New Orleans

Administered by New Orleans Levee Board, New Orleans Lakefront Airport, Terminal Building, Suite 202, New Orleans, Louisiana 70126

Located New Orleans Lakefront Airport, Park, New Orleans, Louisiana 70126

Built by the Works Progress Administration, 1936-1937. This piece was the subject of much controversy during the 1930s. The principal issue was the nudity of the male figure. At one point the artist, Alferez, stood guard over the fountain with a rifle to protect his sculpture from being disfigured. The controversy went as far as the White House when Eleanor Roosevelt intervened to say that the statue should remain as it was originally created.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Louisiana, New Orleans 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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