Type: Limited edition prints
Size: 48cm x 33cm
Tirage: 50 copies
A pencil drawing of the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Monument, created by Herman Hahn in 1913, located at Lincoln Park in Chicago.
This heroic statue pays homage to famous German writer and philosopher John Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). In 1910, the Goethe Monument Association held a competition to select a sculptor for the memorial. The committee did not want a figurative portrait of Goethe, but rather, a sculpture that would embody the “spirit of Goethe.” The members of the committee hoped to release artists “from the trammels of costume and conventionality” and permit them “to give free flight to their imagination and enthusiasm.” At the time, the Lincoln Park Commissioners had also decided to discourage the installation of conventional portrait busts in the park. Nine sculptors submitted proposals to the Berlin-based jury, and after the winner was selected, the Art Institute of Chicago hosted an exhibit in 1911 of all nine competition models.
Herman Hahn (1868–1944), a professor and sculptor from Munich, Germany, submitted the winning proposal.
He envisioned an enormous figure of a young man - reminiscent of a Greek god (possibly Zeus) - holding an eagle on his knee that symbolizes Goethe’s “Olympian achievements.”
Hahn’s design includes a low wall with a bas-relief portrait of Goethe, as well as a quotation from his famous tragic play, Faust, in both German and English. The installation also has a seating area with benches.
Modeling and casting the monument in Germany, Hahn rendered the sculpture in bronze with a rich brown patina. The massive 5.5meter-tall statue weighs 80 tons.
