Sculpture

Through the years, public sculpture in Indianapolis, often quite visible but largely unnoticed, has followed trends typical throughout the state. It may be categorized into three broad areas—commemorative, religious, and aesthetic—although some pieces defy classification.

Commemorative sculpture first became popular after the Civil War with a proliferation of monuments to Indiana’s soldiers in towns and cemeteries throughout the state. Indianapolis was no exception. Dominating downtown as well as Monument Circle, the gargantuan Soldiers and Sailors Monument was completed in 1902. Wars preceding the Civil War are included on the monument; later conflicts have their own memorials. World War I is commemorated with an imposing building that includes heroic sculptured figures in a Classical frieze, as well as the bronze giant Pro Patria (1929) by Henry Hering. Hering also designed the four bronze relief panels on the Obelisk north of the Indiana World War Memorial and the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln (1934) in University Park.

Indianapolis contains numerous heroic bronzes honoring national notables with Indiana connections, with Lincoln being the most obvious example. A very different depiction from that of Hering stands outside the Indiana Government Center, the Young Abe Lincoln (1963) by David K. Rubins. The State House grounds, the Circle, and University Park have the greatest concentrations of such statues. Among the first Indiana figures to be immortalized in bronze was the unlikely Schuyler Colfax, a piece no doubt more important as a very early work (1887) of the famous sculptor Lorado Taft.

Bronze versions of Civil War governor Oliver P. Morton are prominent both at the State House and on the Circle. These works are by noted sculptors Rudolf Schwarz and John H. Mahoney, respectively. Schwarz was the primary sculptor of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Two of the surrounding statues on the Circle are Mahoney’s work: George Rogers Clark and William Henry Harrison. Perhaps the most interesting commemorative sculptures honor anonymous figures, such as the Pioneer Family (1924) in Fountain Square by Myra Reynolds Richards, one of a handful of female sculptors working in Indiana in the early 20th century. John Szabo sculpted a detailed statue of a coal miner, erected on the west lawn of the State House in 1969.

Crown Hill Cemetery is a sometimes overlooked collection of sculptural art, either commemorative or religious in theme, such as the Forrest monument by Rudolf Schwarz, depicting a woman in repose. Other cemeteries in the area, too, are repositories of sculpture; a fine tribute to the World War II heroes, The Four Chaplains, stands in Washington Park Cemetery (see Cemeteries). Religious sculpture may also be found at churches and religious institutions. Some particularly fine examples include Joseph Quarmby’s St. John Pondering The Scriptures (1871) on St. John Catholic Church downtown and Adolph Wolter’s Door Of The Reformer (1959) on Second Presbyterian Church.

Aesthetic sculpture—or sculpture for art’s sake—was almost nonexistent in the sense we know it today before World War II. Exceptions include Stirling Calder’s Depew Fountain (1919) in University Park. Another example was the collection of ornate ironworks in Woodruff Place, where lifesize lions guarded every entrance. Once there were nine fountains, three of which, since recast, today grace the intersections at Cross Drive.

Until about 1930, buildings often sported noteworthy decorative sculpture, using Classical or other “artistic” themes. The cornice line of the English Hotel and Theater on the Circle featured medallions sculpted by Henry M. Saunders depicting members of the English family and several Indiana governors. The surviving medallions appear today as individual sculptures in a half dozen county seats in Indiana. The heroic Greek goddesses that once graced the old Marion County courthouse suffered a similar fate. Two stand as part of Elmer Taflinger’s Ruins in Holliday Park, a work that features another architectural sculpture, Karl Bitter’s The Races Of Man, from a demolished building in New York.

The 1960s witnessed a movement for public art, much of it abstract, such as David von Schlegell’s untitled giant “L”s erected in the late 1970s on the IUPUI campus. An even more controversial and largely unloved work is Mark di Survero’s Snowplow (1972), first erected at the Indiana Convention Center, later relegated to a remote location on West 30th Street before plans were made to move the piece onto the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), now known as Newfields. The IMA, the Indianapolis Art Center, the Eiteljorg Museum, and even The Children’s Museum all exhibit collections of modern outdoor sculpture. Glenna Goodacre’s Tug O’ War (1988), an exuberant representational work, is on display at The Children’s Museum.

Corporations have commissioned much of the city’s public sculpture. Among the most controversial is Reaching (1987) by Zeno Frudakis at downtown’s Capital Center, a sculpture that consists of a nude male and female. A companion piece, Flying, stands on the other side of the building. John Spaulding’s joyful Jazz On The Avenue (1989) stands at the Indiana Avenue entrance to today’s Lockefield Gardens. Corporate-backed art continued in the 1990s, as represented by Lyle London’s abstract Equipoise 14 in front of the newly constructed Indiana Insurance Company building.

*Note: This entry is from the original print edition of the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (1994). We are currently seeking an individual with knowledge of this topic to update this entry.