Sculpture at Judiciary Square

I never cease to enjoy the lion sculptures at the police memorial above Judiciary Square. Since I was there the other day, I thought I’d share a few shots.

Emergency Call Boxes as Art

The Sunday Post had a good article the emergency call boxes that have been slowly turning into art since 2002. According to the article,

… the Art on Call project, created by Cultural Tourism D.C., has turned 122 of the 1860s-era fire and police call boxes into public pedestals for local art and quirky history markers. More are coming this summer, even as the project, funded by the city’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities, is losing its original leadership, far short of the more than a thousand call boxes that still dot city streets.

You can read the entire article here>>

Daniel Webster Sculpture

The sculpture of Daniel Webster on the west side of Scott Circle, at Massachusetts Ave. and 16th Street, was created by sculptor Gaetano Trentanove in 1900.

The panel in the center of the base of the memorial (below) shows Webster debating in the Old Senate Chamber, giving a speech in which he declared that the secession of a state from the Union would be illegal.

Sculptures at National Geographic Society

I was meeting a friend at the National Geographic Society the other day, and its the first time I’ve ever been in there courtyard. I was surprised to find large sculptures of insects there. Here are two that I saw.

Party Animals Revisited: Donkey Hotey

I found this Party Animal on New Hampshire Ave. between Dupont Circle and Q Street, NW.

According to Kimberlyfaye, it was originally at 12th & F Street, NW. You can see her picture of Donkey Hotey in its original location below.

David Bakalar’s Renaissance

This sculpture is in front of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) 12th street entrance and is titled Renaissance by David Bakalar. If I read the AAAS Web site correctly, the sculpture dates to 2000 or a little before. The Web site also states that Bakalar sculptures can be seen at M.I.T., Harvard, Brandeis, Columbia Law School and other universities, as well as at the Marine Biology Laboratories at Woods Hole, the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston, and the Nike Corporate Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.

Party Animals Revisited: Metrophant

This Metrophant, one of the 2002 Party Animals, is currently located outside the MLK Library at the northwest corner of 9th and G Streets.According to Kimberlyfaye this Party Animal was originally outside the Farragut North Metro station at Connecticut & L Street, NW. She provides the 2002 photograph below.

When DuPont Was in the Circle

The park in the center of Dupont Circle originally featured a statue of Admiral Samuel Francis DuPont (1803-1865), but the DuPont Family deemed it too insignificant to honor their ancestor.

Wanting a fitting memorial, they got permission to move the original statue to Delaware and hired Henry Bacon and Daniel Chester French to design the fountain that is well known today. The new fountain was completed and dedicated on May 17, 1921. It features three allegorical figures that represent the three elements necessary to navigation: wind, sea, and stars.

Today, the original sculpture is located at the entrance to Rockford Park in Wilmington, Delaware. You can see better images of the statue here>>

Another 2002 Party Animal Discovered

As a mate to Dream 2 and also located on 5th Street, SE, is Oliphan Elephant.

Kimberlyfaye was also able to provide an image from 2002 with the following information about this creation.

Inspired by the Portrait Gallery’s collection of political cartoons by famed illustrator Pat Oliphant, staff from the National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum spent numerous hours pasting photocopies of Oliphant’s drawings on the 150-pound polyurethane resin elephant.

Public Sculpture on 19th Street.

I could use a little help here. I saw this biomorphic/abstract sculpture outside of 1020 19th Street, and it wasn’t labeled. Can anyone help identify it?

I actually think its rather attractive. As I walked around it, the angles and voids kept changing which really intrigued me.