Administered by Friends of the Hartman Rock Garden Springfield Ohio
Located Hartman Rock Garden 1905 Russell Avenue Springfield Ohio 45506
Date:
1932-1944. Rededicated June 26, 2010
Notes:
Save Outdoor Sculpture, Ohio survey, 1994.
Smith, Richard P., Mrs., 1999, 2010.
Image on file.
Springfield News Sun, Sept. 24, 1990, pg. 1.
(On wall, behind ox and covered wagon, raised:) MAN
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.
Summary:
Sculptures installed on the grounds of the artist's former home include: Enon Mound, Jews journeying to the Promised Land, Valley Forge, Mount Vernon, Death Valley, a church, stone houses and cabins, Easter baskets, loving cups and cradles, and metal figurines and poured cement statuettes. In one area, Barbara Fritchie raises the American flag from her attic window as Stonewall Jackson's Confederate troop march by her Maryland home. There are models of cabins, the Rock of Ages, Daniel in the Lions' Den, the Nativity, doughboys locked into battle in No-Man's Land, the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, Peter Pumpkin Eater, Mae West, and Nellie Grey. Another part of the garden includes the Madonna of the Trail, Indians of the Everglades, and the horse Spark Plug, and Barney Google. An ox pulls a covered wagon. There are replicas at the north porch of the White House, Independence Hall, the first public high school in the United States, Noah's Ark, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, Custer's Last Stand, and the Hoover Dam. Also included in the garden is a castle modeled after one in West Virginia that stands as tall as a house with a drawbridge, moat, and ramparts. There is also a cathedral with statues of saints lining the roof and niches along the walls. And, there is a column in the north garden's central flower beds which includes an eagle atop an American flag above an anchor. The arms of the anchor support a church and a school. At the base of the anchor is a rabbit warren with a white-washed cement rabbit. Surrounding the base are animals, including horses, deer, and dogs. Lessons are written in rectangular pieces of mirror and round brown stones embedded in the cement walk. A white picket fence made of cement surrounds the garden, and each of the 400 stakes in the fence are individually molded.