Name/Title
Booklet, Waupun, City of Sculpture, by June KellyDescription
Waupun, City of Sculpture, booklet, June Kelly, 1967.
Extended Description: Waupun, City of Sculpture, booklet done by June Kelly in 1967.
Waupun
City of Sculpture
by
June Kelly
WAUPUN
city of
SCULPTURE
by
JUNE KELLY
1967
"I must work to be happy; and I love the beautiful above everything else."*
*CLARENCE ADDISON SHALER
Printed by THE WAUPUN LEADER-NEWS
JOHN 0. KIRKPATRICK, Publisher
Preface
"Without food no man can live; without creative artists, no race can reach its highest cultural level."
These words, spoken thirty-six years ago by Alex Tillotson, are as fitting today as they were in 1931, at the time the Dawn of Day statue was dedicated.
Mr. Tillotson outlined facets necessary for active community art participation: 1) A realization of the value of bringing artistic influences into everyday life; 2) An acquaintance with the philosophy of art; 3) A communication with and contemplation of art of the past as well as of our own time; 4) Creative expression in fine and applied art; and 5) Possession of products of creative genius.
"Confession of ignorance of the arts should be as embarrassing as inability to read and write," Mr. Tillotson said. "Americans have an inferiority complex when it comes to possession of creative art, especially painting and sculpture. They want the biggest car, finest house, but are afraid to possess the best in art.
"To show appreciation of art, we must cease to be passive acceptors and become active participants," he said. "No other midwestern city is so fortunate in having gifts of fine pieces of sculpture as is Waupun.
"However, if the community allows things to rest here, it will be tragic - these gifts a helpless gesture.
"MR. SHALER WANTS THESE WORKS OF ART TO BEAR FRUIT AND HE WOULD BE HAPPY TO KNOW THAT THEY BROUGHT TO WAUPUN AN ACTIVE WAKING CONSCIOUSNESS OF ART."
Dedication
This book is dedicated in humble reverence and deep respect as a symbol of appreciation and an expression of gratitude to CLARENCE ADDISON SHALER (1860-1941)
Industrialist, philanthropist, humanitarian, artist and sculptor ...
Who knew the value of ART IN A COMMUNITY
"Tomorrow is Today's Dreams"
Recording Angel
Clarence Addison Shaler, who had the courage to take up sculpturing at the age of 70, not only sculpted the day dreams of his imaginative and inventive life, but sculpted a priceless heritage for the people of Wisconsin and especially for the community of Waupun.
As the years passed, Mr. Shaler brought to Waupun piece after piece of sculpture, some of his own work, others the work of world-famous American sculptors, until this community could be called the sculpture Mecca of the Midwest.
Many people in Waupun take the sculptures for granted, living with them everyday thinking of each separately, not realizing that collectively, they represent one of the finest and largest collection of statuary in any one community.
Suddenly, through activity of the Waupun Area Arts council, and incredulous exclamations of the resource people from the Wisconsin Idea theatre, it has been brought to our attention, "What have we here ?!"
The Recording Angel
The first piece of sculpture Mr. Shaler brought to Waupun was one he commissioned his old friend, Lorado Taft to do in memory of his wife, who died Nov. 1, 1921.
Years before, during a period of illness, Mr. Shaler accidentally wandered into the Chicago studios of the sculptor, Taft, and was held spellbound by the messages of love and beauty which his works had to offer.
In his bereavement, he turned to art for the help he needed to express his great loss. Lorado Taft fulfilled that need in his statue, The Recording Angel, which Mr. Shaler had placed at the head of the grave of his wife, Blanche Bancroft Shaler, in commemoration of the twenty-six happy years of their union.
The Recording Angel is a larger-than-life figure of a woman, depicted with the wings of an angel. The figure is seated, holding on her lap the Book of Life. The closed eyes and relaxed serenity of expression on the face gives to the beholder a benignity, a tranquility in his pause of reflection.
Cast in bronze, the figure is placed against a background of polished marble which stands ten feet high. The base for the monument and the figure is also of the same polished marble and stands twenty inches above the ground.
The artist worked one year and eleven months on the piece before its completion. At the time it was placed in Forest Mound cemetery, Oct. 11, 1923, it was informally presented to the city as a gift with no legal arrangement as to its transfer of ownership. It had formerly been deeded over to the Forest Mound cemetery association.
Lorado Taft, (1860-1936) was an American sculptor, teacher and lecturer on art. Born in Elmwood, Ill., he was a graduate of the University of Illinois. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, for three years. He taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the universities of Chicago and Illinois.
Some of his most noted sculptures include a symbolic group called The Spirit of the Great Lakes, placed at the Chicago Art Institute, and Fountain of Time, found near the campus of the University of Chicago. Two of his major works include the Thatcher Memorial Fountain, Denver. Colo., and a statue of the Indian chief, Black Hawk, Oregon, Ill.
The placing of The Recording Angel in Waupun, where thousands of visitors feel a benediction in the outstretched wings and the solace of renewed conviction transcend from the Eternal Book, marked the beginning of an era when Mr. Shaler was to give to its people the gifts of an art which will outlive their lifetime, that of their children, and of their children's children.
End of the Trail
Because two men, each great in his field, shared an empathy for the plight of the American Indian and the tragedy of the American policy of Indian extermination, Waupun received its second notable sculptural masterpiece, The End of the Trail, world-famous equestrian statue.
The men were Clarence Shaler, (1860-1941) multi-millionaire Waupun manufacturer who commissioned the bronze casting of the $50,000 statue and presented it to the city; and James Earle Fraser, (1876-1953) winner of the Gold Medal for Sculpture of the Academy of Arts and Letters, and one of America's most gifted and prolific sculptors, who sculptured the statue.
The history of The End of the Trail reaches back many years to the days of a small boy living in the Dakota Territory who lived in close contact with the Sioux Indians during the period between 1880 and 1888. The young Fraser played with the Indian children and liked them and their games.
Often hunters, wintering with the Indians stopped over to visit his grandfather on their way South, and in that way he heard many stories of the Indians. On one occasion a fine fuzzy bearded old hunter remarked, with much bitterness in his voice, "The Injuns will all be driven into the Pacific Ocean." The thought so impressed him that he couldn't forget it. It created a picture in his mind which eventually became "The End of the Trail."
Fraser's father, mechanical engineer engaged in building railroads throughout the territory, often made drawings of machinery. The boy followed in his footsteps, but rather drawing animals. He found some chalk-stone and began carving animals at the same time.
Eventually they moved to Minneapolis and later to Chicago where he began working in a sculptor's studio, and studied at the Art Institute. At the age of 15 he was working with Richard Bock on work for the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. At the age of 17, in 1894, he created the first model of The End of the Trail, the thought he had carried since his boyhood in Dakota. At the age of 20 the young Fraser went to Paris to study in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts,. taking his model with him which won for him, along with some other things, a $1,000 prize.
It was also the means which introduced him to the great sculptor, Saint-Gaudens, with whom he studied for about three years, assisting him in a number of sculptural projects. He then went to New York and established a studio. He was asked to make a reproduction of the famous statue for the San Francisco World Fair of 1915 (where it and his other work won the gold medal).
He chose for his model a young Senneca chief, Chief Johnny Big Tree, whom he saw at the Wild West show at Coney Island. He convinced the tall, stately full-blooded Indian to pose for him for the heroic sized statue. It was at this same time Fraser was modeling the Indian Head nickel or Buffalo nickel as it was popularly called. Chief Big Tree posed for six months spending the mornings for the nickel and afternoons for The End of the Trail.
Following the San Francisco exposition, the statue was disassembled as Fraser lacked the funds to reproduce it in lasting form. Chipping and modeling steadily for over 60 years, Sculptor Fraser had a hard time keeping up with his commissions. Fraser allegories and heroes stand in conspicuous spots all over the United States.
Among them are the statue of Theodore Roosevelt in front of the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, the General George S. Patton, jr. at West Point, the Thomas Jefferson in front of the State Capitol, Jefferson City, Mo., the allegorical figures flanking the steps of the Supreme Court and National Archives buildings and the Alexander Hamilton outside the Treasury building in Washington.
One of the finest statues of Abraham Lincoln in existence was done by Fraser to mark the beginning of the famous Lincoln highway in Jersey City.
When the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco closed, some of the statues were available for Public parks. Visalia, Calif., was awarded the End of the Trail, which arrived in pieces Sept. 10, 1919. The statue was erected on the bank of the creek in Mooney Grove park.
This must have been a formidable job as the parts had to be pieced together with new internal bracing and probably considerable repair work of the surface. The plaster-like material of the statue was not designed for prolonged exposure. When displayed at the fair the statue was light in color. It is now painted which protects the surface.
Mr. Shaler, who believed that dreams mold the life of tomorrow, bought his first piece of statuary on a business trip to New York in 1893. It was the bust of a little girl. He was so attracted by the beautiful piece of art that he bought it, even though it meant a financial sacrifice at that time.
It was the beginning of his life-long interest and eventual pursuit in the sculptural art form which were to leave his creations scattered throughout the country.
When Mr. Shaler saw Fraser's End of the Trail statue at the 1914 Exposition in San Francisco, he was fascinated by the Indian and his pony. He saw it as the most artistic piece of sculpture he had ever seen, and visited it every day of his stay at the exposition.
He not only recognized the mastery of the sculpture, but he saw in it all of his own feelings, his sympathy, and childhood memories of the American Indian. He thought of this again later when he commissioned Fraser to cast it in bronze as a gift to the city.
In a letter written to a friend, Mr. Shaler referred to the statue, describing his feelings about the Indians. He wrote;
"I well remember as a child seeing the tepees of the Indians lining the shore of the nearby lake (Lake Emily) and it was not unusual to see a dark face appear at the half opened door of our home without knock or warning of any kind, followed by the bright colored blanketed forms of several of his tribe, asking for food, asking only for that which he had a just right to expect.
"When I had grown to manhood the Indian, together with the many flocks of pigeons that sometimes darkened the sky with their numbers, had totally disappeared. We have left only the mounds of earth around our lake shores where the fields are too stony for the share of the plow, their burial places.
"On the hillsides around Waupun, through the haze of our Indian summer days, that are now only a memory, last fall I saw an Indian village. Their tepees were in rows just as in the days of long ago. But when I got nearer I found only a field of hemp in the shock, a sad commentary on the rapacity of the white man.
"I thought it fitting that in Wisconsin, where the Indian made one of his last stands and where even now the plow turns up the flint with which he tipped his arrow and the stone battle axes and crude dishes that entered into his simple domestic life are found, beside the rippling water he loved so well, I could offer this slight tribute to his memory; and also that it might add its beauty and its significance to those who sleep on the neighboring hillsides and who also have reached the end of the trail.
"And when the day of forgetfulness shall come to me, naturally it is back to the place where I have spent so many happy years and where so many of my friends are resting that I hope my trail will also end."
In another letter dated Feb. 24, 1926, Mr. Shaler wrote ... "Just received a letter from Fraser acknowledging order for End of Trail, but he wants two years in which to finish it, and will come to Waupun before starting on large figure so as to see location and know just the right size to make it.
"He says it ought to face south, though spear, of course, is on the right side, but says that will make no difference, as each side is equally good, but on account of light - all statues north of equator should face south...."
In a post script he added, "You can absolutely depend on getting statue now."
The site for the statue was selected by Mr. Shaler. He felt the setting on the dam would, to a considerable degree, duplicate the ideal setting Mr. Fraser pictured on the cliff overlooking the ocean.
The sculptor, Fraser, came to Waupun to view the site and determine the size which would be most fitting. He had with him a cardboard facsimile of the model, a life-size horse, which he used in ascertaining the proper size. The artist was deeply impressed with the natural beauty of the setting and took a number of photographs of the river and adjoining hillsides.
He was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Hanisch during his short stay in the city. He visited the Shaler plant with Mr. Hanisch and Walter Graham.
Chief Big Tree told a newspaper reporter in Monrovia. Calif., that it took a period of five months to complete the work for the model, and that Mr. Fraser worked tirelessly, and with the unexplainable feeling that it was to be his masterpiece.
In August of 1928 the pedestal which was to hold the statue was completed and ready to be shipped, although the bronze statue was not entirely finished. In a letter Fraser wrote Mr. Shaler, "I am not yet entirely finished with the statue. I have so many things to do and only my own two hands to do them, that it seems impossible to finish when I expected."
The statue was placed Thursday, June 6, 1929, by Archie Brothers, Waupun, cemetery memorial merchants, after long delay and disappointment.
The formal unveiling ceremony took place June 23, 1929, at 3 p.m., and a large crowd was on hand for the program. An opening selection of Indian music was played by the Prison City band directed by W. K. Eagleburger.
Shaler Hanisch, tiny curly-headed grandson of Mr. Shaler released the veil which surrounded the statue. The Rev. Sylvester Dowling, who had been a pastor of the Waupun Catholic church for 17 years before, made the presentation of the statue to the city on behalf of Mr. Shaler. In his talk, Father Dowling told the Indian's story about the blue haze surrounding the hills in Indian Summer.
"At this time, the red man says, Manitou comes from the rising sun to rest on one of the Apostle Islands, and smokes his pipe of peace while he meditates on the things he will do for his people. It is the smoke of his pipe which is seen hovering over the hills in October.
"The Indian has only a memory of what he might have had if the white man, with a cross in one hand and sword in the other, had stayed where he belonged, or had come with Christianity in both hands," Father Dowling said.
Chief Yellow Thunder, a resident of Kilbourn, Wis., accepted the statue in the name of the Indian race. Silver Tongue, another Indian chief, sang "Land of the Sky Blue Water" and "By the Waters of the Minnetonka."
Dr. Fay T. Clark, mayor of the city, accepted the statue in the name of Waupun. "I' seems fitting that The End of the Trail should be placed in Waupun*, thus completing the beginning and the end of the Indian's day," the mayor said. He then called Mr. Shaler to the stand and he received an ovation from the people.
To close the program, Silver Tongue sang "The Indian Love Call" and, as encores, "My Wild Irish Rose" and "The Star Spangled Banner." The band played a closing selection.
*The Indian name, Waubun, means Dawn of Day.
That evening the road past the statue was crowded by people who came to see the statue illuminated by the flood lights which Mr. Shaler had installed and which the city agreed to keep supplied with electricity and maintain.
Because the site had to be filled in, a complete landscaping project had to be planned, and Miss Lucinda M. Baker, Fond du Lac, was hired to design such a plan. But when she submitted her plan to Mr. Shaler, he was unhappy with it as it was designed as a formal English garden. Her second plan was satisfactory and Mr. Shaler gave the city $2,000 for the project and up keep.
Blue and yellow with some white and a spot or two of red were the predominating colors in the perennial flower bed. Other beds, which contained shrubs and tiny evergreens, were placed on either side of the statue and around toward the back of the figure. Other plots of shrubbery were placed near the highway.
From the statue, which stands on a sod-covered Indian mound, to the bridge there was to be no artificial decoration of any kind. A long sweep of grass, broken only by the crossing of the roadway, was presented. Lobelias were planted along the front of the flower bed, with wandering Jew, galardia, coryopsis and iris, seeds and plants arranged so that there were flowers of some sort in blossom all summer. This was done in 1931. The following spring poplar trees. another gift of Mr. Shaler, were planted along the river making a frame for the statue and shutting off the view across the river.
Aluminum replicas of The End of the Trail were placed by Mr. Shaler at highway intersections in the city for the benefit of tourists who were directed to the bronze statue in Shaler park. Twelve of these figures, which were about two feet high, which bore the name of the statue made in Beaver Dam, and ten of them were put in place by the street commission, directed by Mr. Shaler.
Several years later, in the spring of 1939, when Waupun was preparing for its centennial celebration, the Waupun Women's club undertook to improve the appearance and setting of the famous landmark and instructed Professor Franz Aust of the state university to blueprint the improvements.
Dawn of Day -
Although Clarence Addison Shaler felt early in his sensitive, creative life the precursive passion for all forms of art and beauty, fanned into being by the purchase of a beautiful sculptured bust of a little girl, and the beginning of a lifelong friendship with one of America's foremost sculptors, Lorado Taft, it was not until the late years of his life that he actually put his hands to bring form from latent clay.
He had, throughout his years of accumulating a fortune, surrounded himself with works of noted artists, including some fine examples of bronze intaglio figures. Writing and literature had for some time taken his interest, but during the winter of 1930, Mr. Shaler began creating figures, first in bas-relief, then in complete form.
His first statue was a twenty-two inch representation of Lawana, the Indian maiden whom he had brought to life several years before in a short story he had written. Lawana, cast in bronze, was the figure of a young Indian girl, representing the ideal Indian, slim and graceful, rather than the squat, somewhat square, average Indian.
Lawana, her head thrown back and her face uplifted, "is throwing off the deerskin robe of savagery and looking forward to donning the garments of civilization," according to the idea of the sculptor. The figure is shown in the act of moving forward, discarding the deerskin. Lorado Taft wrote high praise of the little figure to its sculptor. He also commented on the ability of Mr. Shaler to develop in so short a time, from the amateur state to that of the gifted professional.
The Waupun artist worked in his studio in Pasadena, Calif., where he spent his winters. The studio was constructed from a bridge which had formerly connected two hotels, and it was filled with windows. Black panels separated the windows, and the white figure of Lawana against white walls formed a startling picture.
One day, according to an article in the June 30, 1930, issue of the Waupun Leader-News, before the statue was finished, a violinist who lived in the same apartment building and who had seen the statue, although he was a stranger to Mr. Shaler, came to the studio and asked permission to play to the little Indian girl. Permission was given, and the man went into the room where the figure stood, and for an hour or more, improvised before it. The musician, when asked to play the Indian Love Call, confessed that he was not familiar with the selection, but he improvised an echoing Love Call which Mr. Shaler believed even lovlier than the widely known song from Rose-Marie.
The sculptor was unable to find anyone who exactly portrayed his idea of the idealistic figure, so he used several models. The hands of the figure were modeled from those of the nurse who cared for Mr. Shaler when he became ill as a result of the too strenuous work on the statue. The long, slim, straight feet of the young girl also presented a problem, as the sculptor found the feet of the models, even the real Indian girls who came to him, deformed by modern shoes.
The figure, which Mr. Shaler named The Awakening, was cast in bronze, and he received an invitation from the Wisconsin State Fair committee to exhibit it at the 1930 fair, which he did.
During the next year, the sculptor worked on an heroic figure using the same theme, but with different models, which he felt would symbolize the spirit of Waupun, and which he named "Dawn of Day," the Indian translation of the name of that city.
The statue, over six feel tall, was sculptured in the same studio. Because he was unhappy with the enlarging tools and instruments which he was able to buy, he called upon his retired inventive genius and devised his own enlarging machine. When he began work on Dawn of Day, Mr. Shaler made a long search for the face which would portray the hope and vision he desired. Countless models were sent by friends and other artists. The girl he selected was one he passed on the street, one day. He found her shortly before his return to Wisconsin, and when he went back in the fall, she started work with him. She proved, however, to be less satisfactory than he hoped for, and the search was resumed. At last he found a student model with just the expression he wanted. He solved the problem of the feet by forming them partly from a study of his own and partly from his picture of an ideal foot.
His troubles were not ended, however, for when he had finally finished, the face came to grief at the hands of a girl who was finishing the rough figure down smooth to be ready for the casting. While the girl did beautiful work on the body of the statue, she had done just enough sculpturing herself to have ideas on the matter, and she managed to change the face so that much of Mr. Shaler's work had to be done over.
After the work was finished, the figure of the Indian maiden, who is striding forward with hope and vision in her eyes was cast and finished in a rich, dark bronze. It is said to have been cast in ten separate sections, but even upon close inspection, one fails to see the points at which the parts were joined together by the Italian ex-sculptor who did the casting. The base on which the figure stands was made in four parts; the legs and lower part of the body one part; upper part of the body, head and hair, another; feather, a third; each arm cast separately; and the deerskin robe which she is discarding was made by itself.
Upon its completion, the statue was presented to the city of Waupun by Mr. Shaler, his third gift of this nature, and a committee was named to select a site for it, Members of the committee, named by Mayor W. A. Wagner, included Dr. F. T. Clark, Mrs. R. D. Tillotson, Miss Clara Lindsley, Mrs. Arthur Hanisch, Mrs. G. W. Greene, and Miss Mary Atwood. After considering four suggested places, the committee decided on the corner of the terrace in front of the city hall. The statue, weighing approximately six hundred pounds, was placed June 15, 1931, and plans were made for the formal dedication.
Several hundred persons gathered Sunday morning, Sept. 13, 1931, to witness the ceremonies which were held fully as much in honor of the sculptor as in tribute to the statue. Mr. Shaler, who had usually refused to make any appearance or to take part in programs relating to his gifts to the city, surprised everyone when he appeared and spoke briefly. Wishing for the city the fulfillment of all the hope symbolized in the statue, Mr. Shaler expressed his love for Waupun and his pleasure in presenting a memento of his regard. "Like this Indian maiden who is casting off the old garments to put on the new and who will ever look forward into the dawn of a new day of greater possibilities, so I hope the people of Waupun will look into the dawn of a new day of greater prosperity and happiness," he concluded.
An Indian named Evergreen Tree, in ceremonial garb with feathered bonnet and beaded wristlets, gave a number of bird and animal calls, and sang four Indian songs each with its symbolism and story. singing them to the beat of tom-tom or rattling gourd.
Alexander Tillotson, son of Mrs. R. D. Tillotson and a teacher of art in the Milwaukee school system, talked on the topic, A Social Group Becomes a Patron of Art. "Without food no man can live: without creative artists no race can reach its highest cultural level."
The Pioneers of Wisconsin -
"In the name of your distinguished citizen and donor, Clarence Addison Shaler, permit me to present to you citizens of this community and the city of Waupun, this monumental group, The Pioneers. May it always be symbolic of the spirit within you that reaches forward to those higher values of truth and order, beauty and faith, which are epitomized in the youth as well as in the child in arms. May it also be symbolic of the spirit of mature life which reaches those eternal values of love and loyalty, honor and integrity, discipline and perseverence, which are the essence of every pioneer."
With these words, Professor Franz Aust, speaking in behalf of Mr. Shaler, formally presented to the city the group of statues, called by the sculptor, The Pioneers of Wisconsin. His speech was part of the dedicatory program for the unveiling of the statuary, which took place at 1:30 p.m.. Sunday, October 20, 1940, in Wilcox park, Watertown and Lincoln streets. Mayor L. A. Smith accepted in behalf of the city.
The Pioneers, sculptured by Mr. Shaler in his Pasadena studio, consisting of three figures, was dedicated to the memory of his mother. In this sculpture is expressed the sculptor's feeling for the pioneers of Wisconsin, among whom his parents were numbered.
"The man's face is lighted with burning enthusiasm as he points to the wonderful prospects in the distance while the other hand rests lightly on the woman's shoulders." Mr. Shaler wrote in describing the work. "The woman is looking into the distance also - not with his enthusiasms, but with the high resolve that she will carry on well knowing, however, that the brunt of the battle will fall on her shoulders." The man stands nine feet tall beside the woman who is seated, holding a young child on her lap.
Mr. Shaler's mother came from New York state to Michigan and from there she and her young husband by the name of Graham, with two small children, one and three years old, entered Wisconsin and settled on Mackford Prairie. The nearest railroad station was Milwaukee and all the lumber for their home was hauled from Milwaukee by ox team. Lumber was too scarce to use for fences so sod, fences were built to pen in the livestock.
The statue arrived in Waupun from California at 9 a.m. Friday, October 8, 1940, by railway express. A special car was used to ship the sculpture. By 2 p.m. Friday the statue had been delivered to Wilcox park and set. The sculpture had been cast in bronze in California by Guido Nelli,, taking about one year to cast. At the time, the statue was valued at about $40,000.
Three other communities had requested The Pioneers. A small northern Wisconsin town had long wanted to acquire a piece of sculpture depicting the pioneer spirit; Appleton sought the work for the campus of its new senior high school; and Forest Lawn Memorial park in Pasadena. Five Waupun sites were considered for the setting of the work, including Dodge park. City Hall lawn, Shaler park, High school grounds, and Wilcox park. All of the sites were investigated by Professor Aust, (who was commissioned to draw up plans of the placing of the statue by the common council) and Mr. Shaler, and Wilcox park was designated as the most suitable.
"A monume... [truncated due to length]Acquisition
Accession
2009.0024Source or Donor
White, OrienAcquisition Method
Gift
