Washington DC is a city rich in outdoor sculpture, crafted by some of the top sculptors in American history. But we hustle by these remarkable works of art without really stopping to understand the people they depict, the events they commemorate, the artists who create them, and their contribution to the symbolism of the Nation’s Capital.
When: Sunday, April 23, 2017, 10:00 am. For those interested, we will have brunch after the tour at Logan Tavern at 1443 P Street, just east of Logan Circle.
Price: Tour $5.00 - Member; $7.00 Nonmember. Brunch is pay your own way.
Where: Please meet at the DuPont Fountain in the center of Dupont Circle. Rain or Shine.
Note: Since we will be walking several miles in all, although when possible we will sit while listening to the narrative about the sculpture, please wear comfortable clothing and walking shoes, and please have rain gear and umbrellas if rain seems likely.
Tour Description: For this event, we slow down our hustle to a leisurely walking tour of the finest works on a street rich with sculpture, particularly of Civil War heroes: Massachusetts Avenue.
We will gather at the Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Dupont Memorial Fountain, with architecture by Henry Bacon and sculpture by Daniel Chester French—the same duo who created the Lincoln Memorial and the great statue of Lincoln himself. We’ll proceed west along the north side of Massachusetts Avenue to the Braque Bird at the Phillips Collection, the walking sculpture of Gandhi before the Indian Embassy, and the equestrian statue of Civil War General Philip Sheridan in Sheridan Circle. The tour will then double back past the Buffaloes and Indian heads of the Dumbarton Bridge; the portrait sculpture of Ukrainian patriot Taras Shevchenko; the Society of the Cincinnati’s Anderson House, with its rich sculptured pediment; the Balinese Demons at the Indonesian Embassy; and the Australian Seal at the Austrian Embassy.
On the east side of Scott Circle is an imposing portrait sculpture of Daniel Webster, the “Great Compromiser” of the era before the Civil War. In the middle of Scott Circle is the commanding equestrian statue of Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, the greatest US military figure of the early 19th Century, who participated in the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. On the west side of Scott Circle is a memorial to Dr. Samuel Hannemann, the founder of homeopathic medicine.
Continuing east on Massachusetts Avenue, we will come to yet another equestrian statue of a Civil War hero: Major General George H. Thomas, in the middle of Scott Circle. On the north side of Thomas Circle is a powerful portrait sculpture of Martin Luther—appropriate as we celebrate this year the 500th anniversary of the Reformation which Luther commenced in 1517. Continuing in a spiritual mode, we will pass the sculpture of Christ, Light of the World, at the National Catholic Welfare Conference; then the statue of Edmund Burke, the historicist philosopher; and then the sculpture of Samuel Gompers, the founder of the American Federation of Labor.
Proceeding north to Logan Circle, we will conclude our tour with a final equestrian statue of a Civil War hero, Major John A. Logan.
Questions: For questions, please contact Chuck Schilke, Law ’88, at cschilke2@verizon.net.
