LovingDC

The Serpents of 16th Street

This is a remarkable brass or bronze design of serpents on the side of the Masonic Temple designed by John Russell Pope on Sixteenth Street.

It's a remarkably intricate bit of design work that extends to the inside of the building.  This is on the second floor and the design is repeated inside on the walls of the main ceremonial temple room.

I was surprised to find out they conduct regular free tours of the building.  Pope also designed the Jefferson Memorial and the West Wing of the National Gallery of Art.

The temple also features two giant sphinxes that is featured in close up on the banner of this website.

Von Steuben - Albert Jaegers

The great German-American sculptor  Albert Jaegers has only one example of his work in Washington, DC.  The Baron Von Steuben memorial in Lafayette Park.

According to his obituary in the New York Times Jaegers was an accomplished sculptor whose work included statuary at the Buffalo and St. Louis World Expositions.  His most controversial work was his statue at the U.S. Customs House in New York.  He was commissioned to create a sculpture representing "Germany" for the main entrance to the Customs House.  Before the building could be completed World War I began and the powers that be requested Jaegers to change the bronze to represent America's new ally in the war "Belgium."  I'm sure the demand that his work which he'd designed and completed be defaced to represent a completely different country insulted Jaeger's cultural heritage.  He also later remarked that it was a "dubious honor for pluckly little Belgium."  Belgium was clearly a lesser-power and Jaegers didn't feel like submitting to ridiculous anti-German hysteria.

  The Von Steuben statue honors the Revolutionary War hero General Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Von Steuben, a Prussian nobleman who was credited with bringing order to the rag-tag revolutionary Army.  Von Steuben's memorial, which consists of three statues on a marble base, also stands as one of the most, if not the most, homoerotic statuary in Washington, DC.  Fitting as Von Steuben had a bit of a colorful past -- he was accused of homosexuality and thrown out of the Prussian Army for his relationships with his junior officers.  This led to his traveling throughout Europe searching for employ.  Good thing for the United States that he was available as he assured the American victory over the British by bringing discipline to the troops.  It's a lavender page in our Revolutionary War history that is not known well enough.  For more information visit the Human Rights Website.

The center statue is of Von Steuben and stands 11 feet tall from spurred boots to cocked hat as the general wears the Continental uniform.  On one side is a figurative pairing re presenting "Commemoration."  America is represented as a seated nude female teaching a kneeling child the history of the country.  The most beautiful section, and haunting in ways, is the "Military Instruction" side, which features an older soldier reaching for a younger soldier's sword.  It's a beautiful piece of work.

The statues in Lafayette Park are interesting as they serve as ethnic pride statues of a sort.  Von Steuben for the Germans, Kosciusko for the Polish, Lafayette and Rochambeau for the French, etcetera.  The corner statues were all executed around the same time and according to accounts their dedications made up ENORMOUS celebrations for the ethnic communities being "honored."  Sculpture dedications were BIG DEALS back then.  President Taft gave government employees the day off and Taft's daughter Helen unveiled the statues and there were artillery salutes to the dedication.  The Washington Post wrote about how all the hotels in town were so full that they had people sleeping in the lobbies.  Crazy stuff!

The same kind of anti-German animus that dashed Jaegers Customs House statue later dogged the Von Steuben but it was more difficult to do anything about it once it was erected.

Von Steuben is remembered through this memorial and also statues in the Valley Forge and Monmouth military historical sites.  Steubenville, Ohio is also named after him.   

Casper Buberl

So, the inaugural posting for this site will be about a sculpture that stands in the center of Old Town Alexandria.  This is slightly ironic as I foresee this site/blog dealing mostly with sculpture and artwork in Washington, DC.  It is after all titled "LovingDC."  However Alexandria was originally part of the District of Columbia and certainly in the original Capital diamond so I don't consider it a stretch for this site.

This site is my attempt to share my love and appreciation for the sculpture and architecture of Washington, DC and its surrounds.

Anyway, today's work is by the Bohemian-immigrant sculptor Caspar Buberl. He's remembered mostly for his Civil-War statuary.  Interestingly enough he executed works in both the North and the South.  He was clearly in high demand.

In Washington, DC his most outstanding work may be the gorgeous 1,200-foot-long sculptured frieze that wraps around the Pension Building (now the National Building Museum).  I recently drove by this building around dusk and was delighted to see how Buberl's frieze sort of glows like a belt around this beautiful building.

The piece is the second big commission Buberl did in the United States (the first being the top of Adolph Cluss' lovely Arts & Industries Building). 

At some point Buberl seems to have moved towards freestanding bronze statues and found a niche doing the Civil War memorials that were cropping up at the end of the 19th century. 

Today's photos are of the beautiful Alexandria Confederate Memorial which is on George Washington Highway in Old Town. 

A handsome statue with such detail, this statue's location in the middle of a very busy thoroughfare leaves it ignored by most.  Certainly the amazing amount of work involved is lost on most viewers. 

It actually required my stopping, parking, and walking around the sculpture (which involved going through four crosswalks) to realize how much care Buberl took in this work. 

For example I was struck by the detail in the folds of cloth along the legs of the soldier.  The back seams in his jacket are extremely lifelike.  It's a stunning piece of work.

Also note the great canteen slung over his shoulder.  The ringed vessel and napsack are incredibly well executed.

Given its location on a highway I'm surprised this sculpture hasn't been wrecked in some way.  While it's position certainly lends it some gravitas, it seems a precarious place for a sculpture of such delicacy.

According to James Goode's Sculpture of Washington, DC (sadly long long long out of print) some time ago the State of Virginia enacted a law making the removal of the statue impossible.  So it's not going anywhere anytime soon.   At one time it stood in a nice circular island but with increased traffic the circle shrunk until all the remains is a foot or so around the base of the statue.

Update: Since the original publication of this post, Goode has released an updated volume of his Sculpture book.