Brookgreen Gardens, June 2020: part 8

Post published:August 11, 2020

I’ve posted on Brookgreen Gardens before (see here), cropping the photos to show just the sculptures. But one of the marvelous features of Brookgreen is that many of the sculptures have a small garden or another area specifically designed to set them off. In this series of posts, with photos taken in early June when the gardens were full of flowers, I’m trying to give a sense of those gorgeous settings.

Dionysus, 1936

By Edward Francis McCartan (1879-1947), who also sculpted the clock with Hermes and Ceres on the north facade of the Helmsley Building, at the south end of Park Avenue. For more on the artist, including a close-up of the clock, see Timothy Sandefur’s “McCartan Delighted in the Sensual World.”

Boy with Dolphin and Girl with Dolphin, 1929

By Milton Horn (1906-1995), a native of Russia who collaborated with Frank Lloyd Wright from 1939-1949. Between the two: Nathaniel Choate’s Alligator Bender, 1937.

Forest Idyl, 1930

By Albin Polasek (1879-1965). There’s a museum of Polasek’s work in Winter Park, Florida, which I haven’t visited yet but plan to. (The Morse Museum is not far away from it.)

Triton on Dolphin, ca. 1933

By Benjamin Franklin Hawkins (1896-1989), who specialized in architectural sculpture. The crazy crewcut makes me laugh every time I see it – as does the fact that the child has a double fish-tail, yet loves to ride a dolphin.

Call of the Sea, 1924

By Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (1880-1980), whose forte was exuberance. See The Vine at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or do a Google search for “Harriet Whitney Frishmuth sculpture images”.

Shark Diver, ca. 1952

Frank Eliscu (1912-1996) was fascinated by the human figure underwater. This piece, with its plants and fish, must have been quite a challenge to cast. On bronze casting, see my post on the Modern Art Foundry in New York City.

View from cafe toward McCartan’s Dionysus.

View from cafe toward McCartan’s Dionysus, with the Peace Fountain by Sandy Scott (b. 1943) in foreground: a group of birds in flight.

For more of my posts on Brookgreen, click here. The official site is here.
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