333 North Michigan Avenue Building Panels: The Covered Wagon Era - Chicago, IL - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

Another example of the benefits of LOOKING UP while you wander downtown Chicago! Interestingly, these panels receive slightly different names and orders from the Chicago sculpture source books cited by the Smithsonian. (Apparently the reliefs were not named formally, so these sources created their own names. Also, they both err in the L to R order of the three small center panels. My summary below combines and corrects these sources. I have shared my observations with the Smithsonian and they are making corrections.) The Smithsonian database has one entry as an overview of the complete set, plus individual entries for each of the seven reliefs – so you can plant your feet at this location and log eight waymarks. And if you hit the Nearest Waymarks button, you will find plenty more historical waymarks within a short walk.

Consolidated from Bach & Gray “Chicago’s Public Sculpture, Riedy “Chicago Sculpture” and Early Chicago
(visit link)
The subjects, from left to right, are:
1) The Portage, which shows the Jesuit missionary and explorer Father Jacques Marquette portaging with and Indian and a voyageur;
2) The Covered Wagon Era, showing settlers with an oxen team;
3) The Hunter(aka Trapper), 4) The Vanishing Indian and 5) The Pioneer Woman, depicted in the three small central panels;
6) The Attack on Fort Dearborn (aka Ft. Dearborn Episode), showing soldiers defending the Fort (perhaps one with a bad headache); and
7) The Traders (aka Peaceful Pacification of the Indians), exchanging with an Indian.
The panels are in detailed in very low relief, and the silhouettes have been outlined by V-sunk cuts which give the appearance of line drawings. (Six of the panels are repeated on the building's north side and two of the panels are repeated on the building's east side.)

Sculptor Fred Torrey studied with two Chicago sculptors Charles Mulligan and Lorado Taft and was one of the associated sculptors at Taft’s Midway Studios.

Building info from (visit link)
Based on Eliel Saarinen's influential entry in the 1922 competition for the design of Tribune Tower (he came in second), 333 N. Michigan was one of the distinctive skyscrapers built in Chicago during the late 20s and early 30s (1928) by architects Holabird & Root. These buildings are marked by their forceful verticality--achieved through successive setbacks, strongly articulated vertical piers, and long, vertical bands of windows. Building planes are flat, and smoothly finished materials are used extensively. The polished marble base and stylized bands of ornament are the only embellishments on this elegant limestone tower. This long, narrow, slablike building rises 24 stories and has a tower that rises to 35 stories at the northern end. Cornices are never used. Vertical bands of windows appear on the three sides of the northern tower.

TITLE: 333 North Michigan Avenue Building Panels: The Covered Wagon Era ARTIST(S): Torrey, Fred M., 1884-1967, sculptor. DATE: 1929 (s/b 1928) MEDIUM: s/b Indiana limestone CONTROL NUMBER: IAS 87820007 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: Second from the left West wall of 333 N. Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: Notified the Smithsonian about the discrepancies between the overview listing and the individual listings, plus an error in order of the central panels. Also, date should be 1928. No medium listed in database.

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Date Logged Log   10/10/2011 run26.2 visited it