Part of a sculpture entitled "The Four Ladies of Hollywood", this work is located on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at the intersection of Hollywood and La Brea.
The 1993 work by Harl West and designed by Catherine Hardwicke depicts four famous actresses of different ethnic backgrounds as caryatids upholding a stainless-steel art-deco gazebo.
Wikipedia (
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"The Four Ladies of Hollywood gazebo —known officially as the Hollywood and La Brea Gateway—stands upon a small triangular island formed by the confluence of Hollywood Boulevard, Marshfield Way, and North La Brea Avenue at the westernmost extension of the Walk of Fame. It was commissioned in 1993 by the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency Art Program and created by the architect, production designer, and film director Catherine Hardwicke as a tribute to the multi-ethnic women of Hollywood. The gazebo is a stainless steel stylized Art Deco lattice structure. The roof is an arched square supporting a circular dome, which is topped by a central obelisk with descending neon block letters spelling "HOLLYWOOD" on each of its four sides. Atop the obelisk is a small gilded weathervane-style sculpture of Marilyn Monroe in her iconic billowing skirt pose from The Seven Year Itch. The domed structure is held aloft by four caryatids sculpted by Harl West to represent the African-American actress Dorothy Dandridge, Asian-American actress Anna May Wong, Mexican actress Dolores del Río, and the multi-ethnic, Brooklyn-born actress Mae West.
The gazebo was dedicated on February 1, 1994 to a mixed reception. Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight called it "the most depressingly awful work of public art in recent years," representing the opposite of Hardwicke's intended tribute to women. "Sex, as a woman's historic gateway to Hollywood," he wrote, "couldn't be more explicitly described." Independent writer and film producer Gail Choice, however, called it a fitting tribute to a group of pioneering, courageous women who "...carried a tremendous burden on their feminine shoulders. Never in my wildest dreams did I believe I'd ever see women of color immortalized in such a creative and wonderful fashion." Hardwicke contended that critics had missed the "humor and symbolism" of the structure, which "embraces and pokes fun at the glamour, the polished metallic male form of the Oscar, and the pastiche of styles and dreams that pervades Tinseltown.'"
The sculpture of Del Rio as a very slim woman, wearing hair shorter than she is usually depicted. The viewer can see the traces of a sheer full-length dress. The work is probably close to life-sized...but no doubt adjustments in height had to be made to have all four corners of the gazebo supported at the same height.
Wikipedia (
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"Dolores del Río (August 3, 1905 in Durango, Mexico – April 11, 1983 in Newport Beach, California) was a Mexican film actress. She was a star in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s, and was one of the most important female figures of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. She was considered a mythical figure in Latin America and quintessential representation of the feminine face of Mexico in the world.
During the 1920s and 1930s in Hollywood, Dolores was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time, a sort of female version of Rudolph Valentino, the "Latin lover" in the silent films. Her career flourished until the end of the silent era, with success in films such as Resurrection (1927), Ramona (1928) and Evangeline (1929). She was one of the few superstars of the silent era to adapt to the talkies in Hollywood. She filmed successful films like Bird of Paradise (1932), Flying Down to Rio (1933), Madame Du Barry, Wonder Bar (1934) and Journey into Fear (1942).
She was married to the MGM's art designer Cedric Gibbons. She also had a four-year relationship with Orson Welles. She was with him during the filming of Citizen Kane. Welles considered her the great love of his life.
When del Río returned to Mexico, under the guidance of the director Emilio Fernández, she became the most important star of the Golden age of Mexican cinema. The 1943 film Maria Candelaria is considered her masterpiece from this time. She was the first Latin American female star to be recognized internationally."
The plaque below her statue reads:
"1904 DOLORES DEL RIO 1983
Starred in more than 30 films in Hollywood and dozens in Mexico including "What Price Glory.'"