  Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 2022 Registered: 12-2005 |
Scott Fountain, Sept. 5, 1956 (full size)  Scott Fountain, May 18, 1958 (full size)  Marshall Fredericks' wounded gazelle sculpture on the Barbour Memorial Fountain, Sept. 1952. (full size)  Canoe Rental building, Sept. 5, 1956 (full size)  Fish Pond, Sept. 1955 (full size)  (full size)  Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory, Sept. 1955 (full size)  (full size)  | ||
Cub Member Username: Cub Post Number: 886 Registered: 02-2007 |
Too bad it doesnt look like that now. Those are some greats pictures. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 3347 Registered: 01-2004 |
nice pics ! the Coy pond is certainly thriving in that photo. is the gazelle supposed to be "wounded" ? I though it was just in a dynamic pose. | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1621 Registered: 01-2007 |
Wow. The best of the bunch! | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 6766 Registered: 10-2003 |
The Levi Barbour Fountain (the gazelle) is a awesome piece of sculpture, and is hands down my favourite Marshall Fredericks work. There is a second copy of the work at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 2023 Registered: 12-2005 |
quote: Several on-line articles, including this one, make reference to the "wounded gazelle": In 1936, in the midst of the Great Depression, Marshall Fredericks won a national competition to design a sculpture for the garden area on Belle Isle in front of the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory. His wounded gazelle, a 16 foot bronze statue leaping in a simple fountain in the center of a formal garden, started the city's long love affair with the artist. More information about Levi Barbour and the Memorial Fountain is contained on this page of the book "Art in Detroit Public Places", by Dennis Alan Nawrocki and David Clements. The authors of this piece simply refer to the sculpture as being that of a "spirited gazelle". My conclusion is that there appears to be no single, definitive description of the gazelle. | ||
Lodgedodger Member Username: Lodgedodger Post Number: 834 Registered: 05-2008 |
Wow! More beautiful work, Mikeg. I'd like to post a few of my Belle Isle photos later today if you don't mind... Btw, I don't recall seeing the canoe rental building...is it still there? Bet some of those fish are still in the koi pond...anyone noticed how large some of them are? | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 6767 Registered: 10-2003 |
I have an architectural magazine (Pencil Points, I think...) that has an article about the fountain when it was installed. I'll have to dig it out and see what it says about the Gazelle. | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 2025 Registered: 12-2005 |
Lodgerdodger, post away! I believe that the canoe rental building is long-gone and that it used to stand just to the right of the bridge as soon as you arrived on the island. I'm just starting to scan eight more slides for this thread. They represent some of the photographer's better Belle Isle flower photos. The should be up shortly and that will conclude my contributions to this thread. There are a number of 1952-1963 Kodachrome slides taken on the grounds of Cranbrook that will go up as a separate thread in the near future and which will conclude the "Vintage Kodachrome" series of threads. | ||
Detroitbred Member Username: Detroitbred Post Number: 146 Registered: 06-2008 |
Beautiful pictures of a beautiful place. | ||
Mauser765 Member Username: Mauser765 Post Number: 3349 Registered: 01-2004 |
I got my take on the gazelle from Art in Detroit Public Places - which btw is in its third edition now with great updates. Wondering what the significance of being wounded would be ? | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 2026 Registered: 12-2005 |
Belle Isle flowers: March 1956 (full size)  April 1956 (full size)  (full size)  Sept. 1956 (full size)  Sept. 1957 (full size)  Nov. 1957 (full size)  Feb. 1959 (full size)  April 1959 (full size)  | ||
Mikeg Member Username: Mikeg Post Number: 2027 Registered: 12-2005 |
These three photos were not taken on Belle Isle but they fit in well with the others. Dahlias at the Detroit Zoo: Sept. 25, 1955 (full size)  Sept. 30, 1962 (full size)  Columbine, J.L. Hudson's, June 9, 1983 (full size)  | ||
Aiw Member Username: Aiw Post Number: 6769 Registered: 10-2003 |
Ok, from the February 1937 issue of Pencil Points, in an article entitled: The Levi L. Barbour Memorial Fountain quote: Here are a couple of shots from the copy in South Carolina:   | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 1623 Registered: 01-2007 |
Mikeg again, a thousand thanks for all of the provided information pertaining to the photos posted in the wonderful "Vintage Kodachrome" run. These shots represent the enduring quality of the slide medium itself. Also, one cannot forget the sharp eye of the photographer, and the not-so-obvious fine camera and camera lens that were chosen for these outstanding floral images. A+ work, and a gold star too! |
