Boy and Turtle, (sculpture).

Boy and Turtle, (sculpture).

Crenier, Henri, 1873-1948, sculptor.

G. Seigle Foundry, founder.

Boy and Turtle, (sculpture).

1916. Installed 1923.

Approx. 60 x 36 x 36 in.

"The young boy balances on his proper right leg, holding his proper left leg high, bent at the knee, as he leans over to look down at a small turtle climbing up toward him. Cattails surround the boy and turtle."

Figure male -- Child

Animal -- Reptile -- Turtle

Object -- Foliage -- Cattail

Outdoor Sculpture -- Maryland -- Baltimore

Administered by City of Baltimore, Recreation and Parks, 2600 Madison Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21217

Located Mt. Vernon Place, West Garden, Baltimore, Maryland 21201

This piece was exhibited in 1923 as part of an outdoor sculpture exhibition brought to Baltimore from New York to celebrate the opening of the Baltimore Museum of Art. The exhibition of garden and fountain sculpture was put together by the National Sculpture Society. The piece was perceived to be so perfect for the spot that members of the Municipal Art Society contributed the funds (eighteen thousand dollars) to purchase the piece for the city. This piece may be signed on its base. The original cast iron skirt with cattails was replaced by a cast bronze one, done by the G. Seigle Foundry in Baltimore. An inscription on a nearby plaque reads: Funds for the/Restoration and Renovation/of/The Mt Vernon West Garden/were contributed/in memory of/Caswell J. Caplan/by his family and friends./1929-1986

The cast iron cattails that surround the boy and turtle had disintegrated over the years. As part of a larger restoration of the fountain, bits and pieces of the old cattail skirt were used to recast a similar feature in bronze. Statue and fountain were completely restored in summer of 1992. For further information see Kathleen Kotarba's "The Baltimore Bronze Project," Baltimore: Baltimore City Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, July 1989 (pamphlet).

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985

The Peale Museum.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Maryland, Baltimore survey, 1992.

Naylor, Henry and Caroline, "Public Monuments & Sculpture of Baltimore: An Introduction to the Collection," 1987.

"The Rinehart School of Sculpture 75th Anniversary Catalogue 1896-1971," Baltimore: Maryland Institute, College of Art, 1971, pg. 16-17.

Brown, Warren Wilmer,"The Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City: Its Aims and Accomplishments," 1930.

Brown, Warren Wilmer, "The Municipal Art Society of Baltimore City: Its Aims and Accomplishments," 1930, pg. 33.

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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