Henry J. Heinz Memorial Plaques, (sculpture).

Henry J. Heinz Memorial Plaques, (sculpture).

Fuchs, Emil, 1866-1929, sculptor.

Henry J. Heinz Memorial Plaques, (sculpture).

1924. Relocated 1986.

Digital Reference:

Reliefs: bronze; Base: granite.

Each relief: approx. 2 1/2 ft. x 8 in. x 1 in.

(Proper right bottom of lower relief and proper left bottom of upper relief:) EMIL FUCHS signed

Two bronze relief plaques set in granite marker. The upper relief, divided into three panels, symbolizes Industry. In the center panel, two women (one standing, one seated) are placed before a landscape scene with houses, a river and bridge. On the two surrounding side panels, young men are depicting sowing and harvesting. In the lower panel, Henry J. Heinz is seen teaching Sunday school at the Grace Methodist Church. The two lower side panels depict a woman helping another women who sits on the stairs, and a man sitting on a rock with a herd of sheep.

Portrait male -- Heinz, Henry J.

Religion -- Church

Architecture interior -- Religious -- Grace Methodist Church

Animal -- Sheep

Architecture -- Detail -- Stairs

Occupation -- Farm -- Harvesting

Occupation -- Farm -- Sowing

Figure group -- Female

Outdoor Sculpture -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh

Administered by Borough of Sharpsburg, Public Works, 1021 North Canal Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15215

Located Heinz Memorial Plaza, Main & Canal Streets, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Formerly located H. J. Heinz Company, Administration Building, Prospect Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The plaques were originally part of a larger memorial to Henry J. Heinz, installed in the rotunda of the old Administration Building. The memorial was dismantled in the 1950s and the reliefs were installed at their current site in 1986. For related portrait statue of Henry J. Heinz see IAS record 64480030.

Plaque on base reads: HEINZ MEMORIAL PLAQUES/Following the death of H. J. Heinz in 1919, an elaborate memorial was installed in/the main office building of the Heinz Company on Progress Street in Pittsburgh. That/Memorial, which included a full bronze figure of Heinz and two bronze plaques/sculpted by Emil Fuchs, was dismantled in the 1950's. The panels, installed here in/1986, depict H. J. Heinz teaching Sunday School in the Grace Methodist Church,/Sharpsburg, and illustrate the Christian principles by which he lived.

Second plaque on base reads: HENRY JOHN HEINZ (1844-1919)/H. J. Heinz came to Sharpsburg in 1849. For nearly 40 years he grew/vegetables in the fertile soil of the surrounding Allegheny River flood/plain. During that time, he resided in Sharpsburg, taught Sunday School/in the Grace Methodist Church (15th Street) and became a highly/respected member of the community. In the late 1800's, he relocated/his rapidly growing company to its current location on Pittsburgh's/North Side, leaving behind numerous gifts to the community, including/a playground and ballfield and the elaborate metal drinking fountain/topped by a life-size sculpture of an Indian which stood at the/intersection until 1930.

IAS cataloger notes that although relief plaque indicates Heinz Company address was on Progress Street, Marilyn Evert's text on "Discovering Pittsburgh's Sculpture," Univ. of Pittsburgh Press, 1983, pg. 62 gives former headquarters address on Prospect Street. For information on the drinking fountain that Heinz donated, see IAS record 64480206.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Pennsylvania survey, 1995.

Evert, Marilyn, "Discovering Pittsburgh's Sculpture," Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983.

Component part: 64480030.

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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