This wonderful and very fun building represents the first major expansion of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In fact, we didn't even know what it was until a bus ferried the kids and I over from the main building for the Museum's Splash event, a program for children. The building is lavishly decorated with sculpture, color and gilding, and is regarded as one of the finest Art Deco structures in Philadelphia. The building is now a hot spot for kids and moms & dads, with five family-friendly exhibitions, Pay What You Wish family festivals, interactive art and play zones, and daily family programs. We explored every inch of the building as well as learned how to make embossed art. I was most impressed with the outside of the building. I spied over 20 examples of relief art, and that was only the front and the two winged sides; lord knows what's going on in the back of that thing. The most impressive of the outer adornments were the five allegorical figures representing the insurance industry, one of which is this squirrel.
Sculptor Lee Lawrie created this building's decorative scheme, which features this polychrome facades adorned with these figures symbolizing attributes of insurance: the owl of wisdom, the dog of fidelity, the pelican of charity, the opossum of protection, and the squirrel of frugality. The owls, an Egyptian-inspired creation, flank the center opossum on the front facade, high atop and directly over the front entrance. The entire display is very symmetrical. The owl is the most benign of the animal troop. It gazes ahead, relaxed in contrast to the other animals which appear tense and ready to strike. The owl is very contemplative which lends it well to its wise attribute. The wings, chest and feathers are identical to those of the other allegorical symbols. I am not sure what kind of metal of which it is composed but it is golden, so I guess it is not bronze. It's something gilded.
The symbolism of the owl fits in nicely with the Greek & Egyptian theme of this building. In the mythology of ancient Greece, Athene, the Goddess of Wisdom, was so impressed by the great eyes and solemn appearance of the Owl that, having banished the mischievous crow, she honoured the night bird by making him her favourite among feathered creatures. Athene's bird was a Little Owl, (Athene noctua). This Owl was protected and inhabited the Acropolis in great numbers. It was believed that a magical "inner light" gave Owls night vision. As the symbol of Athene, the Owl was a protector, accompanying Greek armies to war, and providing ornamental inspiration for their daily lives. If an Owl flew over Greek Soldiers before a battle, they took it as a sign of victory. The Little Owl also kept a watchful eye on Athenian trade and commerce from the reverse side of their coins. SOURCE
The building originally housed the Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance company, and the polychrome sculpture adopted Egyptian-inspired flora and fauna symbolizing attributes of insurance: the owl of wisdom, the dog of fidelity, the pelican of charity, the opossum of protection, and the squirrel of frugality. With numerous other reliefs such as the Seven Ages of Man and the Perils of Land, Sea, and Air on the Earth's Four Great Continents, it remains the most elaborately sculpted facade of any 20th-century building in the city of Philadelphia." Fisk Kimball, Director, Philadelphia Museum of Art. SOURCE
Lee Oscar Lawrie (October 16, 1877 – January 23, 1963) was one of the United States' foremost architectural sculptors and a key figure in the American art scene preceding World War II. Over his long career of more than 300 commissions Lawrie's style evolved through Modern Gothic, to Beaux-Arts Classicism and finally into Moderne or Art Deco. His work includes the details on the Nebraska State Capitol building in Lincoln, Nebraska and some of the architectural sculpture and his most prominent work, the free-standing bronze Atlas (installed 1937) at New York City's Rockefeller Center.