Tag: grotesques
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Part 1: What is a Gargoyle?
I love gargoyles, and maybe you do too. But do you know exactly the term actually means? Learn this important fact in part one of Field Guide to Gargoyles.
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of City Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
According to the photographer’s caption on flickr, this grotesque can be found at the City Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. Not being familiar with that particular institution but assuming it was an art museum, I searched online to figure out if this carving is a feature of the building or part of its collection. Instead, I…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of the City College of New York
I freely admit that I haven’t been great about posting gargoyles over the past few months, but I recently found a reader grotesque that I hadn’t seen before, and it seems to have snapped me back into action. This scholarly fellow attends the City College of New York. I believe that he resides on the…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Buen Retiro Park, Madrid
These gargoyles may not be on a building, but they are certainly serving their proper purpose. Located on the base of the Fountain of the Fallen Angel (Fuente del Ángel Caído) in Madrid’s Buen Retiro Park, these eight devil figures spit water out of their mouths and the mouths of their reptilian pets. The statue, designed…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of the Turnblad Mansion, Minneapolis
I belong to a wonderful group on Facebook called Mansions of the Gilded Age. Last month, I asked some of my fellow group members whether they knew of any gargoyles on Gilded Age homes. They came back with quite a few great examples, including the Turnblad Mansion in Minneapolis. Commissioned by Swedish-born newspaper publisher Swan Turnblad…
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More Gargoyles and Grotesques of Reims Cathedral
This gargoyle on Reims Cathedral seems to have had a head transplant some time since the Middle Ages! The concept is actually not that unusual, since centuries of running water often erode functioning gargoyles over time. It’s difficult to tell from this photo if the replacement was done in metal or a differently-colored stone. Either way, the end result…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of the Pohjola Building, Helsinki
The 1901 Pohjola building in Helsinki, Finland is decorated with many grotesques representing figures from Finland’s mythology. The word “Pohjola” itself refers to a place in the myth Kalevala,which is Finland’s national epic, and the people and animals on the building are presumably from that epic. Pohjola may also refer to the name of the insurance company…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Chartres Cathedral
This grotesque is on the west portal of Chartres Cathedral – among the grandest and most famous of all French Gothic churches. While its close cousin in Paris is famous for its gargoyles, Chartres is celebrated for its beautiful stained glass and profuse sculptural decoration. Much of this sculptural work is clustered around its nine arched doors (portals);…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Bethlehem Chapel, Saint-Jean-de-Boiseau, France
The Bethlehem Chapel is a little medieval French church that was restored in a very unusual manner. In the 1990s, a movement began to repair the decaying chapel, which had once played host to a series of now-lost grotesques on the building’s four pinnacles. The architect and stone carver, supported by the town’s youth, decided to…
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More Gargoyle and Grotesques of Notre Dame de Paris
Today’s grotesque is a true classic. The gargoyles of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris are neither the oldest nor the most interesting of their kind, but they have certainly become the most famous. The interior and exterior of this church, which was a major milestone in the history of Gothic architecture, were both rather creatively restored by Gothic Revival proponent…
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Modern-day gargoyle carver Walter Arnold
Not much is known about the medieval stone carvers responsible for the gargoyles and grotesques on Gothic edifices, but there are many equally-skilled and talented artists making gargoyles today. Walter S. Arnold is one such carver, and he has been making gargoyles, grotesques, and other stone statuary for a several decades. He created over ninety…
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Gargoyles and Grotesques of Hughes High School, Cincinnati
Continuing with last week’s theme of academic gargoyles and grotesques, let’s take a look at the grotesques of Hughes High School in Cincinnati. This grand building is home to over 90 grotesques representing a wide variety of subjects and skills relating to science, mechanics, fine arts, humanities, and liberal arts (1). Pictured above is the grotesque of athletics in the…
