Last updated: November 12, 2024
Place
Information Panel: Art for the People
NPS Photo/ R Maher
Quick Facts
Amenities
3 listed
Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Public Transit, Wheelchair Accessible
The Art for the People wayside sits along the west side of Meridian Hill Park, in the upper terrace area at the top of the stairs from the 16th Street entrance.
Congress ordered sculptures installed at Meridian Hill Park long before the park's completion . So many sculptures were authorized that Horace Peaslee, the park's architect, called for a moratorium on installations. He told the Commission of Fine Arts that the park's master plan was in jeopardy unless future memorials were restricted to decorative urns in niches designed for that purpose. Nature, vandals, and thieves have long threatened the park's public art. For years, Joan of Arc did not wield her sword. Serenity lost her nose, a toe, and a hand. The Armillary Sphere, which was once located south of the reflecting pool beyond the cascades, was removed after it was vandalized.
The right two-thirds of the sign shows a black and white photograph of a man digging amongst a large area of dirt and debris. To the right is a statue of Joan of Arc, with a sword in her right hand and riding atop a horse. A four-story building with towers that rise an additional level is across the street in the background. Text in the upper left corner of the image reads: On January 6, 1922, the bronze state of Joan of Arc, sculpted by Paul Dubois, was dedicated in the center of the Great Terrace. This gift from the French people celebrated both the history of the alliance between the United States and France and the suffrage of American women, who won the right to vote in 1920. Along the bottom of the sign is a seven by five-inch color picture of a statue with a wreathed crown and wearing a long flowing robe. Text in the bottom left corner reads: On December 1, 1921, a statue of Dante Alighieri, author of the epic poem, "The Divine Comedy", was dedicated in the park's Italian hillside garden area on the 600th anniversary of the poet's birth. The statue was a gift of Carlo Barsotti, editor if an Italian American newspaper, in the name of all immigrants from Italy. The bronze figure is a replica of the original, unveiled in New York City that same year and sculpted by Ettore Ximens of Rome. Further right along the bottom of the sign is a three by two-inch black and white picture of a white marble statue of a woman with long hair and wearing a robe. She sits and arms outstretched across the back of the statue. Text to her left reads: Jose Clara's marble figure, Serenity, was dedicated in the Grotto on March 12, 1925. Charles Deering, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, donated the sculpture to honor the career of his friend and classmate, Lieutenant Commander William Henry Schuetze. Schuetze is remembered for his part in the 1882 expedition to Russia to retrieve the bodies of arctic explorers from the ill-fated USS Jeannette, and later for his service aboard the USS Iowa in the Spanish-American War.
For more information about Meridian Hill Park, visit the Meridian Hill Park Landing Page on the Rock Creek Park Website.