Photo Caption: Photo Gregory Benson © 2008 for the Association for Public Art

Logan Square, Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 19th Street

1924

  • Title

    Swann Memorial Fountain

  • Artist

    Alexander Stirling Calder (1870 - 1945)

  • Year

    1924

  • Medium

    Bronze figures on granite bases in fountain pool

  • Dimensions

    Height 11′ (base v'2″); pool diameter 124′

  • Themes

    The Calder Family (of Artists), Native American Themes, Water and Fountains

Commissioned by the Fountain Gild, bequest of Maria East. Swann

Owned by the City of Philadelphia

Museum Without Walls Audio

At A Glance

  • Function of the Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO plan

  • A memorial to Dr. Wilson Cary Swann, founder and president of the Philadelphia Fountain Gild

  • Thematically references the region's landscapes and rivers

  • Opened in 1924 to a crowd of ten 1000 people dancing the tango

Surrounded by the swirling motorcar traffic of the Parkway, three bronze Native Americans recline among soaring jets of water. The fountain was created as a memorial to Dr. Wilson Cary Swann, the founder and president of the Philadelphia Fountain Society, which provided sources of fresh drinking water throughout the city. Its figures represent Philadelphia'due south 3 main waterways: the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, and Wissahickon Creek.

The fountain opened to the public on a hot July day in 1924 to the music of the police band, and ten g people danced the tango in the surrounding streets.

The fountain was designed by architect Wilson Eyre, Jr., who collaborated with sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder. Calder titled his sculptural ensemble The Fountain of Three Rivers and adjusted the time-honored emblematic motif of a reclining nude river god to the region'south geography and Native American history.

Swann Memorial Fountain
Photo Kasey McCarver © 2019 for the Association for Public Fine art

The Wissahickon is represented past a Native American girl leaning modestly on her side against an agitated, water-spouting swan. There is a subordinate classical reference hither – the story of Leda and the Swan – but the motif likewise resulted from Calder's inability to resist a pun on Dr. Swann'south name. For the Schuylkill, a larger stream, Calder created the figure of a mature adult female holding the neck of another swan. The largest river, the Delaware, became a powerful male – evidently a fellow member of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware tribe – who reaches above his head to grasp his bow as a leaping fish sprays h2o over him. To shoot water toward these figures from the surrounding bowl, Calder added bronze frogs and turtles. Overall, his energetic animals – especially the ruffled, rather distempered swans – contrast with the calm human figures.

For the fountain's center Eyre designed a geyser that shot 50 anxiety into the air, and he staggered or interlaced the other jets and sprays for maximum visual effect. Fittingly, the fountain opened to the public on a hot July solar day in 1924 to the music of the police band, and ten thousand people danced the tango in the surrounding streets.

Adjusted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).

Resource:

  • How to Request Images
  • Kids Activity Page forSwann Memorial Fountain

Voices heard in the programme:

Phoebe Adams is an artist recognized for her cast sculptural forms.

Bob Milewski is the Fairmount Park Foreman who oversees fountain maintenance.

Robert Linck is a member of the Philadelphia Fountain Gild.

Segment Producer: Kara Oehler

A program of the Clan for Public Fine art (formerly the Fairmount Park Art Clan), Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO is an innovative and accessible outdoor sculpture sound programme for Philadelphia'due south preeminent collection of public art.

User calls Museum Without Walls Audio for Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture
Photo Albert Yee © 2010 for the Association for Public Fine art

A "multi-platform" interactive audio feel – available for free by cell phone, mobile app, audio download, or on the spider web – Museum Without Walls™: AUDIO offers the unique histories that are not typically expressed on outdoor permanent signage.

Unlike audio tours that accept a single administrative guide or narrator, each speaker featured in Museum Without Walls™: Sound is an "authentic vocalization" – someone who is connected to the sculpture by noesis, experience, or affiliation. Over 150 unique voices are featured, including artists, educators, scientists, writers, curators, civic leaders, and historians.

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This artwork is part of the Forth the Benjamin Franklin Parkway bout

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