Marshall Fredericks
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Marshall Maynard Fredericks (January 31, 1908 – April 4, 1998) was an American sculptor.
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[edit] Biography
Fredericks was born of Scandinavian heritage in Rock Island, Illinois on January 31, 1908. His family moved to Florida for a short time and then settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where he grew up. He graduated from the Cleveland School of Art in 1930 and journeyed abroad on a fellowship to study with Carl Milles (1875-1955) in Sweden. After some months he studied in other academies and private studios in Denmark, Germany, France, and Italy, and traveled extensively in Europe and North Africa.
In 1932 he was invited by Carl Milles to join the staffs of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Cranbrook and Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, teaching there until he enlisted in the armed forces in 1942. In 1945 Fredericks was honorably discharged from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel.
In 1936, Fredericks won a competition to create the Levi L. Barbour Memorial Fountain on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan, and this was to be the first of many public monuments created by Fredericks.[1] After World War II, the sculptor worked continuously on his numerous commissions for fountains, memorials, free-standing sculptures, reliefs, and portraits in bronze and other materials. Many of his works have spiritual intensity, lighthearted humor and a warm and gentle humanist spirit like that found in Fredericks himself.
Fredericks was the recipient of many American and foreign awards and decorations for his artistic and humanitarian achievements. He exhibited his work nationally and internationally; many of his sculptures are in national, civic, and private collections.
He resided in Birmingham, Michigan with his wife Rosalind Cooke until his death on April 4, 1998; they had five children and eight grandchildren. He also held studios at 4113 North Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak and on East Long Lake Road in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan until 1998. After his death the contents of his studios were gifted to the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University.[2]
[edit] Major Works
Cleveland War Memorial Fountain: Peace Arising from the Flames of War
The Cleveland War Memorial Fountain: Peace Arising from the Flames of War was installed in downtown Cleveland, Ohio to commemorate those who served in World War II. It bears the inscription, IN HONORED MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY. The work was 20 years in the making and was dedicated on May 31,1964.
Four groups in Norwegian emerald pearl granite, each 4 feet by 12 feet represent the religious aspirations from all over the globe that are the foundation for the soaring figure that represents eternal life. The figure was cast in Norway, where also the granite groups were carved. The globe under the figure was cast in Brooklyn, New York. The four groups represent the four "corners" of the earth from which come the major religions, which in turn gave birth to the idea of eternal life, here represented by the human figure in the center of the sculpture.
Boy and Bear
Fredericks was one of six artists commissioned to design sculpture for Northland Shopping Center in Southfield. At the time it opened in 1954, Northland was the country's largest shopping center as well as the first regional shopping center. The architects planned for sculpture to play an important role in the shopping center's courts and malls. It is obvious that Fredericks designed this sculpture with children in mind. As with his other large animal sculptures, he gave the bear a benevolent quality so it would not frighten children. This bear could be a child's best friend. The contrast of the massive body of the bear with the almost frail body of the boy on his back emphasizes this special relationship. The bear's head is down, communicating only amicable intentions. Its erect ears and furrowed brow suggest interest in a viewer at this low eye level. Frederick's portrayal of the bear is not totally realistic, but like several of his other sculptures of animals, he has portrayed the bear as in a child's imagination. The sculpture at Northland still attracts as much attention today as when it was first placed there, pleasing children and adults alike.
Despite similarities between this sculpture and the characters in Walt Disney's movie The Jungle Book, Fredericks disavows any influence from Walt Disney or Rudyard Kipling, the author of The Jungle Book which was originally published in 1894. Fredericks has said that he simply wanted to make a sculpture of a boy and bear because it would be fun In a display case at the front of the gallery is a smaller and earlier version of this sculpture in bronze. A cast similar to this is on display in the children's room of the Grosse Pointe Public Library.
Christ on the Cross
Fredericks was commissioned to sculpt a 6 foot tall crucifix, but instead designed this twenty-eight foot, full-scale model, for a bronze to be placed at Indian River Catholic Shrine in Indian River, Michigan. The bronze Corpus is mounted on a fifty-five foot tall redwood cross. When it was erected in 1959, it was believed to be the largest crucifix in the world. Since then, a sixty-five foot crucifix has been positioned in the cemetery of St. Thomas Catholic Church hear Bardstown, Kentucky. [NOTE: the Corpus on this work is only 14 feet in height]
The Indian River figure required only three years to complete, but this plaster model was in restoration for seven years before being put on permanent display in the Main Exhibit Gallery. It had suffered from neglect during the two decades it was in storage at the foundry in Norway, Sweden after the bronze was cast. Note the absence of the crown of thorns and the wound in the figure's side. Fredericks chose not to depict the pain and suffering of Jesus. Instead, he shows the powerful body of Jesus at peace in the moment after death.
Freedom of the Human Spirit
The Freedom of the Human Spirit was originally sculpted for the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. It stood in the Court of States area of the fair.
Fredericks is quoted explaining the Freedom of the Human Spirit:
"I tried to take the male and female figures and free them from the earth. The only reason they stand up in the space at all is because they are suspended by sort of semi-visible abstract forms that keep them in the air, and then there are three giant wind swans flying with them. The idea was that these human beings, these people-us, do not have to be limited to the earth, to the ground. We can free ourselves mentally and spiritually whenever we want to, if we just try to do so."
This sculpture was moved in 1996 to the main entrance of the Arthur Ashe US Tennis Center in New York City.
Leaping Gazelle
This sculpture was the first commissioned work Marshall Fredericks was paid to do. In 1936 the sculpture won first prize in a national competition, and as a result, made Fredericks well known as a public sculptor. Since the gazelle is not native to Michigan, Fredericks made four animals that are, and placed them around the gazelle on Belle Isle. These animals are the otter, grouse, hawk and rabbit. Fredericks sculpted the gazelle in a characteristic movement called wheeling, which is when an animal quickly changes direction while being pursued by a predator.
The Leaping Gazelle is one of the most duplicated of Fredericks's sculptures. It can be found at numerous locations, including Brookgreen Gardens where it was one of four purchase prize winners of a nationwide open sculpture competition in 1972.
Lion and Mouse
Fredericks has said that this sculpture illustrates the story of "The Lion and the Mouse." In that story a lion caught a mouse, but as he was about to eat him the mouse pleaded for mercy, promising to help the lion one day. The lion was so amused by the prospect of a tiny mouse helping the king of the jungle that he let the mouse go. Some time later the mouse came across the lion tied up in a hunter's net. The mouse gnawed through the ropes to free him. In a different version of the story, the mouse extracted from the lion's paw a troublesome thorn too tiny for the massive lion's claws to catch. A fitting moral to the story is that kindness is seldom thrown away, be it given to the mightiest or lowliest of creatures. Notice how Fredericks captured the whole story in a single image that contrasts the tiny mouse with the larger lion.
The J. L. Hudson Company commissioned this sculpture for Eastland Shopping Center in Harper Woods. Like many of Fredericks' sculptures, he designed it specifically for children. Both animals are humanized with friendly facial expressions. The lion's reclining position and his crossed legs are very human-like, yet his huge round head is stylized with uniformly coiled ringlets and his knees are abstracted. These alterations of nature make the king of the jungle unthreatening to children and adults alike.
Lord Byron The Poet
When Fredericks was a teenager his inspiration was Lord Byron, the nineteenth-century Romantic poet who became associated with a haughty, melancholy mood. Fredericks presents Lord Byron in a dramatic pose with his head thrown back and hand raised to his forehead. He seems to suffer inner turmoil suggestive of the melancholic life of the poet. Lord Byron's left leg was slightly shorter than his right and he was sensitive about his lameness. Fredericks captured this aspect of Byron's personality by posing him draped in a long cape which partially conceals his legs. Fredericks is currently enlarging LORD BYRON to about twice life-size for placement outside the Arbury Fine Arts Center.
Man and the Expanding Universe
The Man and the Expanding Universe Fountain is located in the South Court of the United States State Department Building in Washington, D.C.
The fountain was erected to celebrate the nation's first exploration of outer space. The monumental central figure suggests a superhuman mythological being. He is seated upon a ten-foot sphere, encrusted with a multitude of stars of various magnitudes set in a pattern of the bright-star constellations of the celestial system. In his hands, he holds two planets that he is sending off into space. His hair, designed with jagged lightning-like forms, is studded with clusters of multi-pointed stars. The dynamic spiral orbit-form swirling around the sphere represents the speed and perpetual movement of the heavenly bodies in space. Play of the water in a spiral pattern from numerous star-shaped sprays is intended to increase the feeling of movement upon the figure, sphere, and orbit.
The basin of the fountain is lined with colored glass mosaic tiles. The central figure and sphere are cast in bronze while the orbit, planets, water spouts, and the stars in the hair and on the surface of the sphere are of nickel alloy. According to Fredericks, the sculpture "represents this age of great interest, exploration and discovery in outer space...[and] the immensity, order and mystery of the universe."
Night and Day Fountain
The Night and Day Fountain was commissioned for the Henry J. McMorran Auditorium in Port Huron, Michigan. Fredericks also created a gold anodized aluminum Sculptured Clock on the building that was completed two years before the fountain's installation. The sculptures and clock were conceived as a unified design concept.
In keeping with a long tradition in western art, the sculptor personified time with figures representing night and day. Night has long, smooth, graceful curves that are repeated in the lines of the swan in flight beneath her. In comparison, Day is more angular and his muscles are more pronounced, as are the veins in the arms and hands. Day rests upon an otter, hunting in a school of Northern pike and Night floats upon a swan in flight, holding a small bird in her hand.
The Night and Day Fountain can also be seen in the Sculpture Garden. An image of the clock and sculptures can be seen on page 141 of Marshall Fredericks, Sculptor.
Spirit of Detroit
Working from a small model, Fredericks made the full-scale model for the sixteen-foot tall figure at the entrance to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan. For monumental sculpture, sculptors typically create a small model or maquette, then a one-third or one-quarter scale model, then the full-size model. This provides an opportunity to work out compositional details prior to construction of the large, expensive, and time-consuming full-scale model. Enlargement of the model is done with a point-up or pantograph machine. Three are on display in the Sculptor's Studio. Note the rough surface and compare it to the smoother surface of the full-scale model for the Head of the Spirit of Detroit, central in the Main Exhibit Gallery.
Fredericks stated he never named the piece. He said: "The theme was a verse from the Bible (2 Corinthians 3:17); 'Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.' I tried to express the spirit of man through the deity and the family,"
Gradually people began calling it Spirit of Detroit. He also waived his creative fee for this sculpture and it actually ended up costing him money to produce; he thought a mere part of his civic responsibility.
The Thinker
Fredericks created this sculpture after George Gough Booth, the founder of Cranbrook Educational Community, asked him to make a "Thinker" for the steps of the Cranbrook Art Museum similar to Auguste Rodin's renowned Thinker, a cast of which is on the steps of the Detroit Institute of Arts. The pose Fredericks' Thinker assumes is a direct reference to Rodin's sculpture; however, Fredericks' replacement of Rodin's heroic male nude with a bemused chimpanzee is a thought provoking variation on the earlier statue. Fredericks' choice of a chimpanzee reveals his fondness for primates. Fredericks indicated that when Booth saw the compact composition of the chimp stroking his chin, he commented that it was not like Rodin would have done, but Booth was sure the chimp was thinking much more interesting thoughts than most of us are.
Two Bears
Two Bears was originally created for Lincoln Square, Urbana, Illinois. A large and small bear sit back to back in quiet contemplation. In nature, these two animals are enemies, however, Fredericks portrays the two in a gentle humanistic way, stressing tolerance. Notice the differences in the bears ears and noses. Also if you look closely at the small bear's knees you will notice a tear drop sculpting style, known as one of Fredericks' trademarks. Other sculptures that display this characteristic are The Thinker, Lion and Mouse, and the Male Baboon and Female Baboon sculptures.
[edit] Other selected works
- Levi L Barbour Memorial Fountain, Detroit, Michigan, 1936
- Spirit of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan,
- Christ on the Cross at Cross in the Woods National Shrine, Indian River, Michigan, 1959
- Flying Pterodactyls, at the Detroit Zoo, Royal Oak, Michigan, 1961
[edit] Architectural sculpture
- Horace H Rackham Building, Detroit, Michigan, 1942
[edit] Bibliography and Further Reading
- Fisher, Marcy Heller and illustrated by Christine Collins Woomer. The Outdoor Museum: Magic of Michigan's Marshall M. Fredericks. (Wayne State University Press, 2003). Cloth / ISBN 0-8143-2932-2 Paper / ISBN 0-8143-2969-1 Winner Save Outdoor Sculpture Achievement Award Honorable Mention -- a pictorial guide to Fredericks Sculptures.
- Fredericks, Marshall M., Suzanne P. Fredericks, Edgar Preston Richardson, Marcy Heller Fisher, Marshall M. Fredericks, Sculptor (Saginaw Valley State University Press, 2003) ISBN 0-9726929-0-8.
- Kvaran and Lockley, Guide to Architectural Sculpture in America, unpublished manuscript.
- Opitz, Glenn B , Editor, Mantle Fielding’s Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers. (Apollo Book, Poughkeepsie NY, 1986). ISBN 0938290045.
[edit] References
- ^ Zacharias, Pat (September 5, 1999). Monuments of Detroit Michigan History, Detroit News. Retrieved on November 21, 2007.
- ^ Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum home page
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Marshall Fredericks Museum official blog
- Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum home page -- Be sure to view the "multimedia" three dimensional pictures of sculptures
