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Catalog Data

Architect:
Maybeck, Bernard 1862-1957  Search this
Sculptor:
Bufano, Beniamino 1898-1970  Search this
Contractor:
Miletin, Steve  Search this
Mission Marble Works  Search this
Architectural firm:
Maybeck & White  Search this
Medium:
Sculpture: green verde antique marble, light onyx marble, blue onyx marble, travertine marble, and Tennessee pink marble; Base: green verde antique marble, travertine marble, Tennessee pink marble, and bronze
Type:
Sculptures-Outdoor Sculpture
Sculptures-Exedra
Sculptures-Relief
Sculptures
Owner/Location:
Administered by City of Tucson Parks and Recreation Department 900 South Randolph Way Tucson Arizona 85716
Located Tucson Public Library 200 South 6th Avenue In front Tucson Arizona
Date:
1920
Notes:
Save Outdoor Sculpture, Arizona, Tucson survey, 1992.
SOS Conservation Treatment Award, 1999.
Image on file.
(On top of platform base in front of exedra, in recessed bronze lettering:) "TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE PIONEERS OF ARIZONA WHO HAVE GIVEN THEIR LIVES THAT WE MAY LIVE IN PEACE AND UNAFRAID IN THIS SUNKISSED BORDERLAND." (On upper part of exedra seat back, incised lettering:) Erected by Merrill Pingree Freeman, Pioneer 1920 (On north end of exedra:) Executor's(sic) Fenner Goldschmidt Franklin
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:
The memorial consists of a semicircular exedra seat topped with a freestanding amphora and adorned with a relief of a reclining man and woman engraved on the curving back of the exedra seat. The relief is a Classical Revival style relief depicting a woman and a man. The woman is asleep with her head back and resting on her proper left shoulder. Her proper right arm is raised and rests on the side of her head. Her long, straight hair hangs over her proper right arm and down her back. She is partially covered with drapery that leaves her proper right shoulder bare. At her feet is a sleeping child. The woman represents night, or the period when Tucson and the surrounding area was undeveloped. The awakening of the area is represented by a man reclining to her proper left holding a torch in his proper right hand. He is draped from the waist down and a child at his feet raises his drapery as though looking out upon a new day. Nearby two small children offer the fruits of the land.
The exedra seat rises on the west side of a circular marble faced platform base. Two large planters at the end of the exedra are made of yellow marble with inserts of dark green marble. A tall, free-standing amphora made of onyx marble with a green cap and base stands left of center on top of the exedra seat back above the relief. The exedra relief is made of pink Tennessee marble. The top the exedra seat is green verde antique marble with a rope-like border of travertine at the back. The riser supporting the seat is onyx marble. The cap on the seat and the buttresses and back of the exedra are travertine marble. The exedra seat rises on the west side of a circular marble faced platform base consisting of two steps. The larger bottom step extends behind the exedra and around the sides in an area designed for planting. Concentric circles of pink, green and travertine marble on the top step lead inward toward the foot of exedra seat.
Topic:
Figure group  Search this
Children  Search this
State of Being--Other--Sleep  Search this
Allegory--Time--Night  Search this
Allegory--Quality--Truth  Search this
Object--Other--Torch  Search this
Object--Fruit  Search this
Control number:
IAS AZ000575
Data Source:
Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museums
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_ari_335111