Theodore Thomas Memorial, (sculpture).

Theodore Thomas Memorial, (sculpture).

Polasek, Albin, 1879-1965, sculptor.

Shaw, Howard Van Doren, 1869-1926, architect.

Roman Bronze Works, founder.

Theodore Thomas Memorial, (sculpture).

Spirit of Music, (sculpture).

1923. Dedicated April 24, 1924. Relocated 1941.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite; Relief panel: granite.

Sculpture: approx. H. 15 ft.; Base: approx. 5 x 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 ft.

Albin Polasek 1923 / Cast by Roman Bronze Works N Y (On base:) Erected by the Trustees of/the B. F. Ferguson Monument Fund/1923/Albin Polasek - sculptor Howard Van Doren Shaw Architect. Theodore Thomas Scarcely Any Man in/Any land has done/so much for the musical educa/tion of the people as did/Theodore Thomas/in this country/the nobility of his/ideals with the /magnitude of his/achievement will/assure him ever/lasting glory/1835-1905 signed Founder's mark appears.

A large female figure with drapery from the waist down is positioned on a bronze dome which rests on a polished granite base. She holds a lyre in her proper left hand and raises her proper right arm upward. The lyre features a small classical mask at its lower end. Polasek maintained that it was his own face which peered out from behind the mask. Behind the sculpture is a low granite wall with a relief panel depicting an orchestra.

Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Music

Homage -- Thomas, Theodore

Performing Arts -- Music -- Orchestra

Outdoor Sculpture -- Illinois -- Chicago

Administered by Chicago Park District, Preservation Planning Division, 425 East McFetridge Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605

Located Grant Park, Balbo at Michigan, Chicago, Illinois

Formerly located Grant Park, North of Buckingham Fountain, Chicago, Illinois 1958-1991.

Grant Park, North end of Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois 1941-1953.

Art Institute of Chicago, Michigan Avenue & Adams Street, across from Orchestra Hall, Chicago, Illinois 1923-1941.

The memorial was donated by the B. F. Ferguson Monument Fund. It was first moved to Grant Park in 1941 and placed in a Greco-Roman peristyle, but when the peristyle was demolished in 1953 to make way for underground parking, the monument was placed in storage for five years. In 1958, it was reinstalled in Grant Park in the area north of Buckingham Fountain, but the relief panel remained in storage. In 1991 when the sculpture was moved to its current site at Balbo and Michigan, the relief panel was reunited with the bronze sculpture. Architect Howard Van Doren Shaw designed the low granite panel which is adorned with figures carved in relief by Polasek. The Chicago Park District Monument and Sculpture Photographic Archives contains photos of the sculpture in all of its previous locations. The Chicago Park District Monument and Sculpture Preservation Files contain correspondence, news articles, and conservation treatment reports with slide and black and white photographic documentation.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985

Bach, Ira J., and Mary Lackritz Gray, "A Guide to Chicago's Public Sculpture," Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983, pg. 25-26.

Riedy, James L., "Chicago Sculpture," Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1981, pg. 239-241.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Illinois, Chicago survey, 1992.

Bach, Ira J., and Mary Lackritz Gray, "A Guide to Chicago's Public Sculpture," Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. pg. 25

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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