Carl Milles
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"Orpheus"
Signed Carl Milles. Foundry mark H Brergman fud, Stockholm and numbered 2/6. Dark patina, height 233 cm (including stone base 16 cm). Conceived 1925-26. Posthumously cast.
Provenance
Millesgården, Stockholm, Sweden.
Exhibitions
This copy was in the winning garden at Chelsea Flower Show 2013.
Literature
Rogers, Meyric R, "Carl Milles", 1940, compare plate 92-95.
Henrik Cornell, "Milles skönhetsvärld", 1957, the motif described at p. 28-31, compare ill at p. 29 and plates 33,
34 and 36.
Henrik Cornell "Carl Milles, hans verk", SAK, 1963, the motif described at p. 92-101, compare ill at pp. 95, 96, 97, 99.
Elisabeth Lidén, "Between Water and Heaven", 1986, compare p. 63.
Erik Näslund, "Carl Milles - en biografi", 1991, the motif described at p. 202-209, compare ill. at pp. 203, 204, 205, list of artwork p. 336.
More information
One cast with the same motif belongs to the Cranbrook collection, Michigan, USA.
Compare with the Orpheus Fountain's larger cast from 1926-36, Stockholm.
One cast with the same motif belongs to the collection of Kansas City´s Music Hall, 1965.
Orpheus
Carl Milles settled in at Cranbrook Academy of Art in early 1930s and it was during that time he transformed the idea of that last sketch into monumental fountain Orpheus Fountain.
The 25th of July 1936 the official inauguration of the sculpture took place outside Stockholm’s Concert Hall. It was already decided that the Concert Hall and the square outside the building would have a classical touch and therefore Milles proposal suited into the plans.
This sketch is a strong expression of balanced strength both in body, spirit and aesthetics. In Greek mythology Orpheus is the god of song and music and he is the son of Apollo. The attribute for recognizing Orpheus is usually the lyre.
In Orpheus Fountain the central figure is surrounded by eight muses. These figures are all attentive and listen to the playing of the lyre.
Carl Milles thought music was very important, he loved the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, the so-called Europe symphony. In the finished sculpture Orpheus Fountain Beethoven is one of the figures that surround him. Some thought of his interpretation of the Orpheus group as equivalent to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Artist
Carl Milles was a Swedish sculptor born in Lägga. He studied at the Technical School in Stockholm, at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Auguste Rodin and on study trips to Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. In Paris he came to stay for many years and made a living as an ornament carver. He studied the animals in the Jardin des Plantes (the Zoological Garden) and was strongly influenced by Auguste Rodin. Milles made a breakthrough with a monument to Sten Sture in Uppsala. He exhibited at the World's Fair in 1900 and was later given a solo exhibition at the Tate Gallery in London. Milles was professor of modeling at the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm. Well-known sculptures in public places signed by Carl Milles are the "Gustav Vasa" statue at the Nordic Museum, "Orfeusgruppen" outside the concert hall in Stockholm and the "Poseidonfontänen" in Gothenburg.
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