Post by Cliff Krainik on Aug 5, 2010 20:07:49 GMT -5
Taft's "Black Hawk" Sculpture Marks 100th Year on River Bluff
By THEO JEAN KENYON
for the Journal Star
Posted Jul 18, 2010 @ 10:47 AM
OREGON, Illinois
He’s been looking westward, towering above the Rock River, for the past century, but Lorado Taft’s monumental Indian near Oregon, Ill., only recently was designated an Illinois landmark.
Taft, born in Elmwood in 1860, became a foremost American sculptor, lecturer and teacher whose work continues to impress new generations.
His “Spirit of the Great Lakes” group sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago and “The Fountain of Time” at the University of Chicago are among his classics.
But by far the largest is his sculpture commonly known as “Black Hawk,” and it compares to similar sculptures nationwide or worldwide.
Arms folded at shoulder height in the long draping of a concrete blanket, with sculptured braids falling to his shoulder, the Indian’s massive profile looks out across the Rock River valley.
This colossal figure — 50 feet high — is dramatic in summer, and in the snows of winter it is even more powerful. And it was in the cold winter of 1910 that the statue was created. Now, 100 years later, the statue still stands, although it is in need of repair.
Taft first approached John Prasuhn, a young German sculptor, in 1907 with his idea for a large Indian figure on the bluff above the river. Prasuhn had engineering experience and knowledge of working with concrete, the medium that Taft proposed to use. Together the two chose a site along the bluff on the east side of the river so the figure would be visible from all directions.
They also determined that for the best visibility the finished figure needed to be seven times the height of the working model, which was then six feet. The body would be 42 feet tall on a base of six feet.
While Prasuhn set to work building up the body of the giant statue, using steel rods, wood, wire and plastered burlap to simulate the draped folds of the Indian blanket, Taft worked at modeling the large head of the Indian at the nearby Eagle’s Nest Camp, an art colony in Oregon where fellow artists met in the summer.
After Prasuhn finished reinforcing the body with scaffolding to hold the molds in place, the giant 10-foot tall head sculpted by Taft, which had been cast in plaster, was moved to the construction site by horse-drawn wagon and hoisted into place by a derrick.
Molds were made of the head and secured in place atop the body, forming a dome.
When concrete was poured the body of the statue would be hollow, like a silo, but the head would be reinforced by steel rods and cast in concrete.
Then came the tricky part.
By the time they were ready to pour the concrete, winter had set in. Prasuhn borrowed a steam engine, radiators and other heating devices to warm the water and gravel — and the workers.
Starting Dec. 10, 1910, they began the giant construction process, pumping water up from the Rock River 200 feet below, at a rate of 720 gallons per hour to mix the concrete. Pouring of the concrete was continuous, for 24 hours a day for 10 days in sub-freezing conditions in December 1910. Then it was left to “cure” through the rest of the winter and into spring.
Not until May 1911 was the mold removed and the monument finally revealed.
It proved an awesome sight, as it still does today, even beyond Taft’s expectations or those of Prasuhn whose reinforced concrete strategy proved successful.
“The ingenuity of John Prasuhn and the imagination of Lorado Taft must be remembered as unique qualities which made this project succeed,” Jan Stilson wrote in a biography for Lowden State Park at Oregon.
Dignitaries came from throughout Illinois for the dedication of the statue on July 1, 1911.
Visitors do not see the rods and wires that are anchored into 18 feet of bedrock, or the thickness of the walls, which vary from eight inches to three feet.
Visitors who take the winding road up through the park to the top of the bluff, suddenly come upon the overwhelming immensity of the monument, which dwarfs the human figures at its base.
Prasuhn, before turning to art, had worked for a construction company building concrete highway bridges. Taft left him in charge of erecting the mold and pouring the concrete, and gave him credit for the statue’s success. The bulk of the statue is ordinary concrete, but Taft chose an outer layer of screened pink granite chips to give it a bright cast and luster.
While it has usually been referred to as “Black Hawk,” the leader of a regional band of the Sac-Fox tribe remembered for the Black Hawk War of 1832, Taft neither named it or intended it as a representation of Black Hawk.
He referred to the monument as “the Indian” or “the colossus” calling it a composite of the Foxes, the Sacs, the Sioux and the Mohawks,
Major restoration and repair projects were undertaken in 1945 and 1973, but time and harsh weather have taken their toll on the statue.
Now more than a casual fix-up is needed and the Department of Natural Resources, with support from the Sterling-based Dillon Foundation, hopes to assemble the means for a major restoration.
Directions
Lowden Memorial State Park can be reached from I-39. Travel north on I-39 and take exit 104 on Route 64 west 16 miles to Oregon, take River Road and go right two miles to the park.
Cliff Krainik
By THEO JEAN KENYON
for the Journal Star
Posted Jul 18, 2010 @ 10:47 AM
OREGON, Illinois
He’s been looking westward, towering above the Rock River, for the past century, but Lorado Taft’s monumental Indian near Oregon, Ill., only recently was designated an Illinois landmark.
Taft, born in Elmwood in 1860, became a foremost American sculptor, lecturer and teacher whose work continues to impress new generations.
His “Spirit of the Great Lakes” group sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago and “The Fountain of Time” at the University of Chicago are among his classics.
But by far the largest is his sculpture commonly known as “Black Hawk,” and it compares to similar sculptures nationwide or worldwide.
Arms folded at shoulder height in the long draping of a concrete blanket, with sculptured braids falling to his shoulder, the Indian’s massive profile looks out across the Rock River valley.
This colossal figure — 50 feet high — is dramatic in summer, and in the snows of winter it is even more powerful. And it was in the cold winter of 1910 that the statue was created. Now, 100 years later, the statue still stands, although it is in need of repair.
Taft first approached John Prasuhn, a young German sculptor, in 1907 with his idea for a large Indian figure on the bluff above the river. Prasuhn had engineering experience and knowledge of working with concrete, the medium that Taft proposed to use. Together the two chose a site along the bluff on the east side of the river so the figure would be visible from all directions.
They also determined that for the best visibility the finished figure needed to be seven times the height of the working model, which was then six feet. The body would be 42 feet tall on a base of six feet.
While Prasuhn set to work building up the body of the giant statue, using steel rods, wood, wire and plastered burlap to simulate the draped folds of the Indian blanket, Taft worked at modeling the large head of the Indian at the nearby Eagle’s Nest Camp, an art colony in Oregon where fellow artists met in the summer.
After Prasuhn finished reinforcing the body with scaffolding to hold the molds in place, the giant 10-foot tall head sculpted by Taft, which had been cast in plaster, was moved to the construction site by horse-drawn wagon and hoisted into place by a derrick.
Molds were made of the head and secured in place atop the body, forming a dome.
When concrete was poured the body of the statue would be hollow, like a silo, but the head would be reinforced by steel rods and cast in concrete.
Then came the tricky part.
By the time they were ready to pour the concrete, winter had set in. Prasuhn borrowed a steam engine, radiators and other heating devices to warm the water and gravel — and the workers.
Starting Dec. 10, 1910, they began the giant construction process, pumping water up from the Rock River 200 feet below, at a rate of 720 gallons per hour to mix the concrete. Pouring of the concrete was continuous, for 24 hours a day for 10 days in sub-freezing conditions in December 1910. Then it was left to “cure” through the rest of the winter and into spring.
Not until May 1911 was the mold removed and the monument finally revealed.
It proved an awesome sight, as it still does today, even beyond Taft’s expectations or those of Prasuhn whose reinforced concrete strategy proved successful.
“The ingenuity of John Prasuhn and the imagination of Lorado Taft must be remembered as unique qualities which made this project succeed,” Jan Stilson wrote in a biography for Lowden State Park at Oregon.
Dignitaries came from throughout Illinois for the dedication of the statue on July 1, 1911.
Visitors do not see the rods and wires that are anchored into 18 feet of bedrock, or the thickness of the walls, which vary from eight inches to three feet.
Visitors who take the winding road up through the park to the top of the bluff, suddenly come upon the overwhelming immensity of the monument, which dwarfs the human figures at its base.
Prasuhn, before turning to art, had worked for a construction company building concrete highway bridges. Taft left him in charge of erecting the mold and pouring the concrete, and gave him credit for the statue’s success. The bulk of the statue is ordinary concrete, but Taft chose an outer layer of screened pink granite chips to give it a bright cast and luster.
While it has usually been referred to as “Black Hawk,” the leader of a regional band of the Sac-Fox tribe remembered for the Black Hawk War of 1832, Taft neither named it or intended it as a representation of Black Hawk.
He referred to the monument as “the Indian” or “the colossus” calling it a composite of the Foxes, the Sacs, the Sioux and the Mohawks,
Major restoration and repair projects were undertaken in 1945 and 1973, but time and harsh weather have taken their toll on the statue.
Now more than a casual fix-up is needed and the Department of Natural Resources, with support from the Sterling-based Dillon Foundation, hopes to assemble the means for a major restoration.
Directions
Lowden Memorial State Park can be reached from I-39. Travel north on I-39 and take exit 104 on Route 64 west 16 miles to Oregon, take River Road and go right two miles to the park.
Cliff Krainik
