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http://sfplamr.blogspot.com/2007/06/leo-lentelli-sculptor-of-city-beautiful.html Art, Music and Recreation Center Monday, June 18, 2007 Leo Lentelli: A Sculptor of the City Beautiful Though Italian-American sculptor Leo Lentelli lived in San Francisco a relatively short time (from 1914 to 1918), he was an active participant in the artistic renewal taking place in the City at that time. As San Francisco rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake and fire, the City Beautiful movement was reaching its zenith. Noted architectural historian Banister Fletcher in A History of Architecture has written that proponents of the movement sought to “give form and direction to the rapid development of urban areas, to make them more efficient and more attractive areas.” In the new Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, James Stevens Curl also notes that this beautification was part of a civic desire to “enhance prestige and attract wealth” for cities.

Lentelli's "Water Sprites" in the Court of Abundance at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (Image from the Bancroft Library, through the Online Archive of California)

San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts and Civic Center are the two principal testaments to the influence of the City Beautiful Movement. The Exposition was a temporary city within the city that emulated the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago that gave birth to the entire City Beautiful movement. The Palace of Fine Arts is the sole remaining structure from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The Exposition grounds were one large indoor and outdoor art exhibition full of sculptures. Many structures also featured mural painting or inlayed sculpture. One of the striking features of art of this event in hindsight was its transitoriness. A. Stirling Calder (the father of Alexander Calder), the Exposition’s Chief of Sculpture, wrote that the sculpture of the Exposition “a passing matter. In a few years, interesting and beautiful as it is, it will be a memory ...”

"Aspiration" Above an Entrance to the Palace of Fine Arts (Image from the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection) Leo Lentelli, an assistant to Calder, was one of the contributors to this visual memory with sculptures that today we can view through the Library’s San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection and the Online Archive of California. He did a series of equestrian statues that were part of the Court of the Universe and his sculptures of Water Sprites for the Court of Abundance was well-received. His sculpture “Aspiration” then placed above the door to a gallery of the Palace of Fine Arts caused a stir because of its seemingly precarious position.

"Five Symbolic Figures" Above the Larkin Street Entrance to the Old Main Library (Photograph from the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection)

The other major City Beautiful project that San Francisco undertook at this time was its Beaux-Arts style Civic Center. Lentelli created “Five Symbolic Figures,” a series of five statues representing Art, Literature, Philosophy, Science and Law, that were placed between the pillars above the entrance to the Old Main Library at Larkin Street. These works, made of cast stone (a cement-like substance) were installed in 1918, the year after the Library opened, and were not intended to be permanent. Sadakichi Hartmann, writing for the Architecture and Engineer in 1918, praised these works for “their sturdiness of conception and attitude, their decorative expression, and a certain swing and freedom of handling.” Unfortunately, by the time the Asian Art Museum renovated the Library these works had deteriorated so much that no attempt was made to retain or restore them.

Perhaps Lentelli’s most significant contribution to San Francisco was to the design of the "Path of Gold" Light Standards that line Market Street from the Ferry Building to Castro Street. The conception of these standards originated with Willis Polk, the sculpture at the base of the lights was created by Arthur Putnam. Lentelli was responsible for the design of the lighting itself.

"Two Decorative Figures" at the Mission Branch Library, 24th Street and Bartlett

There are still a few examples of Lentelli’s work in San Francisco. Visitors to the Mission Branch of the Library will recognize the “Two Decorative Figures” – an image of a boy and a girl holding a book between them - above the 24th Street entrance. Additionally at 111 Post Street (originally the Hunter-Dulin Building) there is a figure of Mercury at the entrance as well as relief medallions representing “The Seasons.”

"Mercury" at 111 Sutter Street, San Francisco

Library Resources consulted:

Our department has a very helpful and extensive Vertical File that includes photocopies of several articles and documents about Lentelli. This file includes a copy of Sadakichi Hartmann’s article “An Expression of Decorative Sculpture – Leo Lentelli,” published in The Architect and Engineer volume 52, number 3 (March 1918).

On the sculpture of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, see Sculpture of the Exposition Palaces and Courts; Descriptive Notes on the Art of the Statuary at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco by Juliet James, and The City of Domes; a Walk With an Architect about the Courts and Palaces of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition by John D. Barry. The A. Stirling Calder quote may be found in “Fine Arts at the Exposition,” the Transactions of the Commonwealth Club of California (Nov. 1915).

The Historic Structure Report, Old Main Library created by Page & Turnbull for the San Francisco Planning Dept. and the Asian Art Museum provides the most detailed information about Lentelli’s “Five Symbolic Figures.”

For the Market Street Light Standards see Splendid Survivors: San Francisco's Downtown Architectural Heritage by Michael R. Corbett. Information about Lentelli’s other public art can be found in A Survey of Art Work in the City and County of San Francisco prepared by Martin Snipper for the Art Commission, City and County of San Francisco.

A footnote:

Some research in the library’s New York Times Historical Database led to the discovery that Lentelli created the sculpted lunette above the entrance to Steinway Hall in New York City at 111 West 57th Street. A December 9, 1990 article describes how this work had been covered by the Manhattan Life company in 1958 and later revealed and restored by new owners in 1990. (Search the database using the terms “lentelli” and “steinway”).

Posted by San Francisco Public Library, Art, Music and Recreation Center at 9:26 AM  Labels: architecture, Civic Center, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, sculpture

http://www.books-about-california.com/Pages/Sculpture_of_the_Exposition/Biographies.html Home -> H. S. Crocker - > Sculpture of the Exposition Palaces and Courts -> Biographies of the Sculptors Appendix The Sculptors Leo Lentelli

Leo Lentelli was born in Bologna, Italy, in 1879. He came to the United States in 1903, where he has been permanently located in New York. His most notable work is seen in the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York, where he has done "The Savior with Sixteen Angels" for the reredos. He has recently completed a group which has been placed over the entrance to the new Branch Public Library of San Francisco. He is still another of the sculptors who is self-taught. http://www.artnet.com/artwork/424976939/424908522/leo-lentelli-bather.html Artnet Best known for his sculpture at Rockefeller Center, Lentelli exhibited this panel at the New York City Council for Art Week in 1940 ( the original submission label survives on the reverse). The bather subject here is a variation of the freestanding “Bagnante” sculpted by Lentelli and celebrated in a publication issued by Brookgreen Gardens in 1937. Lentelli was born in Bologna and trained in Rome, before immigrating to America at the age of 24. He achieved fame for his work on the reredos at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York and his public sculpture for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915. Lentelli sculpted panels and bas-reliefs for many distinguished buildings, including the Steinway Building in New York.

http://www.museumplanet.com/biographies.php/nyc/L#12 Museum Planet Historical Biographies and Dictionary Leo Lentelli (b. 1879 Bologna, Italy – d. 1961) was a self-taught sculptor. He taught at the Art Students League in New York, but was in San Francisco by 1915 to participate in the Pan Pacific International Exhibition. There he worked with Stirling Calder and Frederick George Richard Roth on the 'Arch of the Setting Sun,' topped by the 'Nations of the West' and 'Nations of the East.' He worked on the base of the 'Water Sprites' column in the 'Court of Abundance.' Afterwards, he accepted a teaching position at the Institute of Art where he taught until 1918. He made five figures for the façade of the San Francisco Main Public Library, and also a group sculpture for the entrance of the Mission Branch Library. Lentelli has work in Brookgreen Garden, South Carolina; the Department of the Interior in Washington, DC; the U.S. General Service Administration in Washington, DC; the Oakland Museum in Oakland CA; Sullivan Gateway in Denver, CO; the Steinway Building in NYC; the Pennsylvania Academy of Design and the Cathedral Church of Christ the King in Kalamazoo, MI. In Buffalo, NY, he made replicas of the Statue of Liberty for the Liberty Building. Links to slideshows mentioning Leo Lentelli: LOCATION: New York City, New York --- SITE: Rockefeller Center http://www.museumplanet.com/tour.php/nyc/rc/20 Museum Planet Rocckefeller Center Tour

Leo Lentelli (b. 1879 Bologna, Italy – d. 1961) was a self-taught sculptor. He taught at the Art Students League in New York, but was in San Francisco by 1915 to participate in the Pan Pacific International Exhibition. There he worked with Stirling Calder and Frederick George Richard Roth on the 'Arch of the Setting Sun,' topped by the 'Nations of the West' and 'Nations of the East.' He worked on the base of the 'Water Sprites' column in the 'Court of Abundance.' Afterwards, he accepted a teaching position at the Institute of Art where he taught until 1918. He made five figures for the façade of the San Francisco Main Public Library, and also a group sculpture for the entrance of the Mission Branch Library. Lentelli has work in Brookgreen Garden, South Carolina; the Department of the Interior in Washington, DC; the U.S. General Service Administration in Washington, DC; the Oakland Museum in Oakland CA; Sullivan Gateway in Denver, CO; the Steinway Building in NYC; the Pennsylvania Academy of Design and the Cathedral Church of Christ the King in Kalamazoo, MI. In Buffalo, NY, he made replicas of the Statue of Liberty for the Liberty Building.

contemporary Times article on Purity
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/purity_or_virtue_1909/

Entry from February 24, 2006 Purity or Virtue (1909) The huge statue of a snow-white woman, "Purity" or "Virtue," stood briefly in Times Square in 1909. Pictures of the statue appear frequently in books about Times Square, but the statue was temporary and did not even last those full few temporary months. It was erected by the Association for New York.

This "Purity"/"Virtue" statue is not to be confused with the 1915 film Purity by Miss Audrey Munson, or her famous statue of "Civic Fame" that still stands on top of the Municipal Building (still the tallest statue in Manhattan).

http://home.nyc.rr.com/jkn/nysonglines/broadway.htm East: Duffy Square This triangular traffic island is named in honor of Father Francis P. Duffy, who after serving as chaplain to the "Fighting 69th" Division in World War I helped to clean up Hell's Kitchen. He was also Broadway's spiritual advisor, which is why his statue can be found here, next to a Celtic cross. Also here is George M. Cohan, forever giving his regards to Broadway.

In 1909, a 50-foot statue of Purity was erected here that lasted two months.

At the north end of the island is the TKTS booth, offering half-priced tickets to selected plays on the day of the show. See images.

5 October 1909, New York Times, pg. 1: STATUE OF PURITY FOR TIMES SQUARE

Heroic Figure of a Woman to Typify the White City and Confound Mudslingers.

TOO LATE FOR FULTON SHOW

So Now It May Remain a Fixture at Least for Several Months -- Built by a Society by the City's Permission.

For the last ten days thousands of persons traveling up and down Times Square have been wondering what might be the meaning of the strange high scaffolding at the upper end of the square between Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Streets, and the heroic-sized, snow-white figure growing up within it. Tow days ago the figure began to put on the face of a woman, whereupon the interest of Broadway concerning it grew more intense than ever.

Shopkeepers on both sides of the square, restauranters (sic) and hotel men, theatrical men and box office and ticket sellers questioned each other and every one they met, but no one knew just why or what the strange figure was to represent. Cigar stores and barrooms did a thriving business by merely introducing discussions of it.

The wideawake traffic policeman at that post tried his "sleuthiest" to unravel the mystery. Some of the storekeepers had said the figure was to be a Hudson or a Fulton. But the celebration passed, and the figure put on a woman's face. Others said it was to be a great white symbol of Purity to shine a moral upon the Great White Way. A newsboy assured the traffic man that it was to be another Statue of Liberty.

The traffic policeman and some few thousand other people inquired of the two laborers at work upon the huge plaster cast. One shook his head sadly; the other, a small Japanese, smiled like a Bret Harte Chinaman and declared:

"I don't know nothing. Find out. Good-bye."

Then he skipped into the scaffolding.

The Japanese workman would not tell who was honorable boss or honorable sculptor, not even hint of who might be the honorable figure. The policeman learned that a permit to erect a temporary statue had bee ngranted and suspected that it might be for political or election purposes of the powers above him, and did not inquire further.

A search yesterday, however, disclosed the identity and purpose of the great white lady in the scaffold, and to-night, when the lights begin to flicker on Broadway there will shine out in the heart of the city's twenty-four hour centre a snow-white lady of some fifty feet and eighty tons -- plaster, it is true, but full of moral and meaning -- to stand as the emblem of the city's purity and beauty, defending herself against the mud-throwers and slanderers that so often assail her.

The great white statue, which is to be called either "The Defence of New York" or "The Defeat of Slander," is being erected under a permit from the Bureau of Incumbrances, in accordance with a resolution passed by the Board of Aldermen on Sept. 14 and approved by the Mayor on Sept. 24, granting to the "Association for New York" on 111 Broadway permission to build and maintain such a statue at its own expense until Dec. 1, 1909.

At the office of the association, whose President is William Harmon Black, former Commissioner of Accounts, it was said yesterday that the original intention had been to unveil the huge emblem of civic pride and confidence in the city's integrity, in time for the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, so that others might see us as we sought to see ourselves; but that the Mayor's approval had come too late for that. The purpose of the association, it was said, is "to challenger indiscriminate abuse and criticism of New York City, to set forth her advantages as a place of residence for the citizen, as a point of production and distribution for the manufacturer, and as a mart for the merchant." The association, which was organized last Spring, has among its members S. P. McConnell, ex-President of the George A. Fuller Company; H. H. Raymond of the Cyde Steamship Line, THomas J. McGuire, Joseph F. Simmons, Chester A. Alexander, Floyd Charles Furlow, William H. Black, and Thomas W. Hotchkiss. Among the slanders and unjust criticism which it aims to put down, according to Mr. Black, are the frequent assertions that the city has reached its debt limit and has poor credit, and the aspersions constantly cast upon the integrity and honesty of the municipal authorities. This purpose, it is believed, can be served as well now as during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration; and the statue will therefore survive the occasion that gave rise to it.

"The figure will be fifty feet high, built of fifty barrels, or eight tons of plaster, at a cost of several thousand dollars," said Mr. Black yesterday. "It is the work of Leo Lentelli, a young Italian sculptor of this city, and will represent a tall and snow-white woman of majestic figure and mien, somewhat angry and even disgusted at the slander and unjust fault-finding she has been subject to.

"On her left arm she will bear a great white shield, on which is inscribed 'Our City,' and whereon, too, will be visible great dark blotches and spots to typify the mudslinging she had warded off. The statue will be cast into bold relief by strong searchlights cast upon it from the near-by Acme Building; and above her forehead will be a classic fillet, rimmed with soft blu electric lights."

Mr. Black said that there was no political motive behind the erection of the statue, and that it would not be used as a centre for political gatherings or speeches. It would simply, he said, stand as an artistic, silent exhortation to civic pride and confidence.

20 November 1909, New York Times, pg. 2: MISS PURITY DISPLACED.

Back to the Dust Pile for Her, Election Being Over.

A workman crawled on the neck of the eight-ton plaster Lady of Virtue at the head of Times Square yesterday afternoon, and hit her a heavy blow on the head with a hammer. A crowd gathered to see the huge white figure pass back to dust after so short a life.

Her last moments were typical of her life. Hardly had the first workman hit her over the head than three bill stickers rushed frantically from nearby theatres and began to plaster advertisements on the sides of the pedestal on which she had stood for a few weeks. All the words graven in the plaster base about the Association for New York standing for our fair city against defamers were blotted out by lurid sheets telling respectively about musical and plain comedy.

The first workman was presently joined by a second, who climbed on the shoulders of Miss Virtue and began to hammer away at her left arm, which held the shield with which she fended off the mud supposed to have been thrown against the city in the ante-election period.

As the pieces of Miss Virtue's upper half dropped around the base the bill stickers dodged around to save their heads. But they went on with their work. They calculated that they would get eight or ten hours' use of the perverted pedestal of the statue, anyway. Meantime the two destroyers kept up their work, and the crowd began to see how little there had been to Miss Purity all the time.

When the huge head had fallen in pieces to the street below it made a very small pile of white bits. The left arm which had held the buckler was a pathetically weak looking thing when the outer covering was knocked off. It was only a slender wooden stick, and the shield, which had looked so formidable, was but a circlet of wire pasted over with dried plaster of Paris.

Miss Purity has not stayed her full time at the head of Times Square. She had permission to remain there until early in December, but after the election she seemed to think that her work had been done. Tammany's defeat -- for she was a Tammany daughter -- must have made her sorrowful, and maybe she didn't care whether she liver her full span out or not.

Anyhow she goes back to the dust pile to-day.