Bach in Arts
Bach Statues, Monuments, Memorials & Plaques

Memo-0425

Type:

Bach Statue

Title:

Bach Statue at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Description:

Medium: Bronze

Seated figure of Bach wearing ruffled blouse, jacket, and a drape thrown over his legs. He looks down to his proper right at some sheet music which rests on a low pedestal. His proper right hand rests on top of the music.

In creating one building for The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and The Carnegie Institute, Andrew Carnegie envisioned this building as a place to bring together the disciplines of Literature, Science, Art, and Music, what he called "The Noble Quartet." He had four statues created, and placed at the Forbes Avenue entrances (two at the Museums entrance and two at the Music Hall entrance), to symbolize "The Noble Quartet." At the main Museums entrance are statues of Galileo Galiei (Science) and Michelangelo (Art). At the Music Hall entrance are statues of Johann Sebastian Bach (Music) and William Shakespeare (Literature).

Measures:

Dimensions: Sculpture: approx. 12 x 6 x 6 ft

Creator:

Sculptor: John Massey Rhind (1860-1936)
Architectural firm: Alden & Harlow
Founder: Unknown (Italy)
Dates: Dedicated April 1907
Contributor: Andrew Carnegie

Buy item at:

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Comments:

Outdoor Sculpture: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Owner: Carnegie Institute, Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Entrance, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213
Remarks: This sculpture is part of a grouping of sculptures created by Rhind in collaboration with the building's architects, Alden & Harlow. The cost was $180,000 for the sculptures. The grouping consists of four allegorical figures representing the four disciplines housed by the Institute --Art, Literature, Music, and Science (located on the roof above the two main entrances), and the earthly embodiments of these disciplines --Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Bach, and Galileo (paired at each of the two main entrances). The sculptures were cast by lost wax in Italy, assembled and finished by Rhind in New York. This sculpture has doors in the back to permit access inside. The 1995 SOS! survey indicates that the sculpture was recently restored.
Condition: Surveyed 1995. Well maintained.
References:
Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985
Evert, Marilyn, "Discovering Pittsburgh's Sculpture," Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1983, pg. 167-168.
National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, PA0193, 1989.
Save Outdoor Sculpture, Pennsylvania survey, 1995.

Source/Links: The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh/Carnegie Institute | Multi Medium | Smithsonian American Art Museum
Contributor: Teddy Kaufman (December 2007); Aryeh Oron (August 2008)