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More Smithsonian Searches     Who else has...     Bright, Barney,     Allegory -- Place     Portrait male -- Jefferson, Thomas     Portrait male -- Louis XVI     Portrait male -- Boone, Daniel     Portrait male -- Clark, George Rogers     Portrait male -- Watterson, Henry     Portrait female -- Anderson, Mary     Portrait male -- Griffith, D. W.     Portrait male -- Taylor, Zachary     Portrait male -- Cook, Oliver     Figure female -- Full length     Ethnic -- French     Occupation -- Political     Occupation -- Political     Occupation -- Political     Occupation -- Law     Occupation -- Education     Occupation -- Writer     Occupation -- Other     Occupation -- Other     Occupation -- Other     Occupation -- Writer     Occupation -- Writer     Occupation -- Military     Performing Arts -- Theater     Performing Arts -- Theater     Performing Arts -- Music     Architecture -- Other     Architecture -- Commercial     Architecture -- Boat     Object -- Other     Object -- Musical Instrument     Equestrian     Outdoor Sculpture -- Kentucky -- Louisville     Kinetic     Clock     Sculpture

Louisville Clock, (sculpture). Artist:  Bright, Barney, 1927- , sculptor. Title:  Louisville Clock, (sculpture). Other Titles:  Derby Clock, (sculpture). River City Clock, (sculpture). Mall Clock, (sculpture). Horse Race Clock, (sculpture). Dates:  1974-1976. Dedicated Nov. 1976. Relocated 1981. Relocated 1986. Relocated April 1993. Digital Reference:  Medium:  Painted aluminum and steel. Dimensions:  Approx. H. 40 ft. x Diam. 26 ft. Description:  A large, horse race clock, reminiscent of an old-fashioned wind-up toy, with moveable parts and figures that travel around a racetrack and cheer from a gazebo. The clock consists of a grandstand gazebo on Victorian-style, richly ornamented columns, raised above and behind a racetrack, elevated at a sloping angle on similarly appointed columns. Crowning the gazebo is a clock, four loudspeakers, and a pair of flags. At 12:00 noon daily, five mechanical racers, resembling well-known characters in Louisville's past, and their steeds, circle the racetrack keeping time to music. Each figure not only moves around the track, but each one has animated parts that move separately. Mechanical spectators, also resembling local Louisville celebrities, stand and sit in the grandstand gazebo and cheer on the racers. The famous racers are King Louis XVI, Thomas Jefferson, the steamboat Belle of Louisville depicted as a female propelling a paddle with her feet, Daniel Boone, and George Rogers Clark. The famous characters in the gazebo include actress Mary Anderson, Courier-Journal newspaper editor and publisher Henry Watterson, President Zachary Taylor, movie producer D. W. Griffith, and trumpet player Oliver Cook. Subject:  Allegory -- Place -- Louisville Portrait male -- Jefferson, Thomas Portrait male -- Louis XVI Portrait male -- Boone, Daniel Portrait male -- Clark, George Rogers Portrait male -- Watterson, Henry Portrait female -- Anderson, Mary Portrait male -- Griffith, D. W. Portrait male -- Taylor, Zachary Portrait male -- Cook, Oliver Figure female -- Full length Ethnic -- French Occupation -- Political -- President Occupation -- Political -- Statesman Occupation -- Political -- Diplomat Occupation -- Law -- Lawyer Occupation -- Education Occupation -- Writer -- Author Occupation -- Other -- Aristocrat Occupation -- Other -- Pioneer Occupation -- Other -- Explorer Occupation -- Writer -- Editor Occupation -- Writer -- Publisher Occupation -- Military -- General Performing Arts -- Theater -- Performer Performing Arts -- Theater -- Filmmaker Performing Arts -- Music -- Trumpet Architecture -- Other -- Gazebo Architecture -- Commercial -- Recreation Architecture -- Boat -- Belle of Louisville Object -- Other -- Flag Object -- Musical Instrument -- Trumpet Equestrian Object Type:  Outdoor Sculpture -- Kentucky -- Louisville Kinetic Clock Sculpture Owner:  Administered by City of Louisville, Louisville Development Authority, 600 West Main Street, Suite 300, Louisville, Kentucky 40202 Located Louisville Maintenance Depot, Logan Street, Louisville, Kentucky Provenance:  Formerly located Kentucky Kingdom Amusement Park, Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center, Louisville, Kentucky 1986-1993. Formerly located Guthrie Green, 500 block of Fourth Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky 1981-1986. Formerly located Fourth Avenue Mall, 400 block of Fourth Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky 1976-1981. Remarks:  The sculpture was commissioned by Henry Heuser Sr., Chairman of the Henry Vogt Foundation. In November of 1972, Louisville Central Area (LCA), a private downtown business and corporate group dedicated to revitalizing the city, began interviewing artists for the sculpture project. The clock was constructed between 1974 and 1976. The artist consciously chose to make his design "uniquely Louisville." The clock was designed to present a "paddock parade" every hour and a big horse race every day at noon. The sculpture cost $210,000, which was paid for by the Henry Vogt Foundation and the Jefferson County Foundation for the Beautification of Public Property. An additional $20,000 of labor was donated by the artist, $20,000 by the mechanical engineer, and $10,000 by the electrical engineer. The City of Louisville originally maintained the sculpture at a cost of $20,000 a year. The sculpture was originally located in the 400 block of Fourth Avenue, on the Fourth Avenue Mall (formerly called the River Street Mall), and was installed on a brick and concrete platform. In 1981 it was moved near the Guthrie Green in the 500 block of Fourth Avenue to make way for the Galleria, a new downtown development project. Galleria developers paid the city $100,000 to relocate the sculpture. In 1986 the sculpture was moved to the entrance of the Kentucky Kingdom Amusement Park, at the Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center, to make way for a downtown trolley path. The clock has suffered mechanical problems and the city has not always been able to devote the funds necessary to maintain the clock. In April 1993, the city chose to dismantle the sculpture and move it into storage. A private group known as Friends of the Derby Clock are raising funds to pay for repairing and relocating the sculpture. Some of the clock figures were refurbished in 1994. IAS files contain an excerpt from Samuel W. Thomas' "Louisville Since the Twenties," Louisville, KY: The Courier-Journal and the Louisville Times, 1978, pg. 50-53, and articles from Louisville Magazine (July 1990): pg. 41; and The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), April 3, 1993 and Feb. 23, 1993. References:  Save Outdoor Sculpture, Kentucky survey, 1995. Illustration:  Image on file. Thomas, Samuel W., "Louisville Since the Twenties," Louisville, Kentucky: The Courier-Journal and the Louisville Times, 1978. Note:  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. Repository:  Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 Control Number:  IAS KY000263   Copy/Holding information Smithsonian AmericanArt Museum Control Number   Inventory of American Sculpture KY000263 Add Copy to MyList Format: HTMLPlain textDelimited Subject:   Email to:

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