Jun

Clean as a Whistle

In the past, we have discussed how we cover our stone sculptures on campus to protect them in the winter. But what about the many bronze sculptures? Europe and the Bull? Persephone? The Centaurs?

These pieces are more robust and able to withstand what winter throws at them, but they still need some love each year.

Each spring since 1987, the Community has brought in Venus Bronze Works to recondition the bronzes across the campus. Venus Bronze Works is a member of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, which means all the cleaning they do is in accordance with AIC’s Code of Ethics and Guidelines for Practice.

All sculptures are inspected and cleaned by dusting them off with compressed air or wet down and washed with a mild detergent, sponges, soft bristle brushes, and fine cotton pads.

Terra Gillis of Venus Bronze Works gives Carl Milles’s *Sunglitter* (also know as *Naiad and Dolphin*, CAM 2002.1) a quick shower, 2020. Photo by Kevin Adkisson.

Harlow Toland of Venus Bronze Works gives one of Carl Milles’s *Running Deer* (CAM 1934.30) a good scrub, 2020. Photo by Kevin Adkisson.

When the works are dried, one or two thin coats of wax are applied and the sculptures are buffed. This wax can be applied directly from the container or applied to a hot surface (by heating the sculpture with a propane-fed torch).

Giorgio Gikas, founder of Venus Bronze Works, holds the torch while his assistants Harlow Toland and Sara Myefski help prepare *Triton with Fishes* in the Triton Pools at Cranbrook Art Museum to receive a hot wax treatment, 2020. Photo by Kevin Adkisson.

This wax acts as a barrier to the air and humidity on the bronze surface and prevents damaging oxidization or corrosion from developing. When deciding how each individual work is cleaned, we look back to the artist’s intent for each sculpture (was it meant to be patinated green? dark bronze? polished? gilded?) and treat it accordingly.

Venus Bronze Works cleans and waxes all the Milles sculptures at the Cranbrook Art Museum and Cranbrook Academy of Art and the Cranbrook Institute of Science. They also work on such sculptures as Brookside’s Birds in Flight; Kingswood’s Dancing Girls and Diana; Cranbrook House and Gardens’ Fortuna delle Tartaruga (Turtle Fountain); and Cranbrook School’s athletic sculptures. Check out a recent Instagram post about the athletic sculptures below:

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A short tour of the Greek/Roman bronzes and David Evans Football relief around the Thompson Oval.

A post shared by Cranbrook Center (@cranbrookcenter) on Apr 28, 2020 at 2:28pm PDT

We are excited to start welcoming visitors back to our campus this summer, so you can all see the beautiful sculpture in their freshened-up glory.

–Leslie S. Mio, Associate Registrar, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research

Apr

The Mystery of Sven Hedin

Who was Sven Hedin? A Swedish explorer and geographer known for his expeditions to Central Asia, Dr. Sven Hedin created detailed maps in areas including Tibet, Turkestan, and northwest China. He is probably best known for his rediscovery of the buried Silk Road settlement of Khotan in 1896.

By 1910, Hedin had made acquaintance with fellow Swede Carl Milles and they became lifelong friends. Milles, who always admired Hedin, created a sculpture in 1932 to honor his friend.

“I made this at Cranbrook. For a long time I had wished to make a monument for him, and started it here. When Sven came to see it, he brought some other gentlemen with him. After looking at it he said ‘But Carl, this is wrong. I never look at the sextant when I am on the camel. I always get down from the camel, for the camel moves.’ Milles replied ‘But my dear friend. Do you think all skippers jump in the blue sea when they want to look at a sextant, just because the ship moves?'”

From 1927-1935, Hedin organized the Sino-Swedish Expedition (watch the video) during which he investigated the archaeological, geographical, and topographic features in Inner Mongolia, the Gobi Desert, and Xinjiang, China. He spent the remainder of his life occupied with a publication dedicated to his findings.

From the Carl Milles Papers, Courtesy Cranbrook Archives

Hedin – the sculpture, not the man – made another exploration – this time from the grounds of Cranbrook to Hazel Park, Michigan. In August 1945, the 500 pound bronze sculpture of Hedin disappeared from its pedestal at Cranbrook Institute of Science. Shortly afterwards, a janitor at Hazel Park High School discovered the sculpture embedded in cement and perched upon a large rock in front of the school! School officials did not know the sculpture had come from Cranbrook so two weeks after reporting it to the police, Hedin was chipped out of the cement and stored in the basement of the school. School Superintendent John Erickson commented “those culprits did a real job of cementing it to the rock. Our janitor had to work hard to free it.”

Fast forward to December 1946 when Alton Sheldon, a salesman of janitor supplies, overheard men at Cranbrook talking about the wayward sculpture. Sheldon told them he had seen the statue in the Hazel Park High School basement, and that Cranbrook had better hurry down to get it before the school sold “Hedin and his camel for junk!”

Needless to say, Hedin returned to Cranbrook, a little worse for wear – quite scratched and missing his telescope. The sculpture was ultimately shipped to Sweden for restoration. Upon its return, noted explorer Sven Hedin was once again mounted on his pedestal where he remains today.

– Leslie S. Edwards, Head Archivist

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Jul

A Philosopher Chimpanzee’s New Home

Lake|Flato Architects of San Antonio, Texas designed the Cranbrook Kingswood Middle School for Girls in 2011. Like other buildings on Cranbrook’s campus, Lake|Flato designed niches along the main hallway for the display of art. I’ve had the pleasure of helping incorporate art pieces into the building; we always try to add works that enhance the material palette of the building–green glazed brick, Kasota limestone, brown cast-stone block, copper, and light maple.

Philosopher Chimpanzee displayed on a custom mount in a niche at the Cranbrook Kingswood Middle School for Girls.

This summer, the Center for Collections and Research along with Capital Projects installed a work from the Cultural Properties Collection in one of the niches: Philosopher Chimpanzee, by former Kingswood School Cranbrook Sculpture Instructor Marshall M. Fredericks.

Philosopher Chimpanzee is a bronze high-relief of a monkey in a thoughtful pose with a smaller monkey in the background. There is a green patina on the bronze.

Signature “Marshall Fredericks” on the bottom of the relief

The Philosopher Chimpanzee was done as a part of a series of twelve reliefs by Fredericks. He designed the series for a competition in 1939, hoping they would be installed on a government building in Washington DC, but the building was never built.

The donor of the work, June Lockhart, was a 1938 graduate of Kingswood School Cranbrook. While at Kingswood, her sculpture teacher was Fredericks. Lockhart’s father, Robert H. Daisley, was the Vice President of Eaton Manufacturing Company. He commissioned Fredericks to create a memorial in honor of the employees of the Eaton Manufacturing plant in Saginaw who died in World War II. Daisley bought the Philosopher Chimpanzee at that time, which Lockhart inherited upon her father’s death. She generously gave it to Cranbrook last year, and we are excited for the girls to see it when they return for classes this fall!

The chimp joins the other Marshall Fredericks works on campus, including The Thinker at the Academy (another philosophizing primate), The Pony Express reliefs at the Boys Middle School, and the Two Sisters at Kingswood.

– Leslie S. Mio, Associate Registrar *

* Fun Fact: One of Leslie’s hobbies is giving tours of Greenwood Cemetery in Birmingham, Michigan, where Marshall M. Fredericks, as well as the Booth family, are buried.