Great God Pan

  • Sculptor: George Gray Barnard
  • Date: 1894-1899; given to Columbia University in 1907.
  • Location: Enter the campus on the west side at 116th St., turn left toward the Low Library (which has French’sAlma Mater in front of it), bear left again into the quadrangle between Earl, Lewisohn and Dodge.

George Gray Barnard, Great God Pan, 1894-1899. Columbia University, New York. Photo copyright © 2019 Dianne L. Durante

End of Semester: Time to Panic

Pan, a Greek deity half goat, half man (here he has goat ears and legs), was blamed by the Greeks for “panic” – sudden, extreme and irrational fear. Zamfir fans should thank him for the invention of the Pan pipes. Pan’s association with Dionysus, Greek god of wine and sponsor of rowdy parties, may have been what led early Christians to particularly detest Pan. Satan’s cloven hoofs and horns seem to be based on Pan’s.

Alfred Corning Clark, a big name in the Singer Sewing Machine Company, was a patron of young George Gray Barnard. Clark’s widow offered this statue to Central Park, but there was some difficulty finding a site for it – perhaps its pagan nudity seemed out of place among the frock-coated sculptures already in residence. In 1907 it was offered instead to its present owner, Columbia University.

George Gray Barnard

Barnard (1863-1938) designed the figures of Arts and History on the façade of the New York Public Library at 42nd St. and Fifth Avenue.

The Clark family donated his 1894 Struggle of Two Natures of Man (a work I particularly dislike, for philosophical rather than esthetic reasons) to the Metropolitan Museum, where it’s usually displayed in the American Wing Courtyard.

Barnard’s collection of medieval art, kept in Washington Heights, formed the basis for the Metropolitan Museum’s Cloisters.

For more on Barnard, see here (a biography) and here (a TIME Magazine article of 2/11/1929, with Barnard’s very odd definition of art).

More

  • The Great God Pan, an 1894 novel by Arthur Machen (Welsh-born author of sci-fi and horror stories), may or may not have a connection with this sculpture: go read it, and let me know. (Summary in Wikipedia).
  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning (d. 1861) refers to “the great god Pan” in “A Musical Instrument,” so perhaps the phrase was more widely used in the nineteenth century than it is today.
  • In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Available on Amazon in print and Kindle formats. More here.
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