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Title of Piece: Ruthven Museums Facade Bas Reliefs
Artist: Carleton Watson Angell
Acquired: 1928
Material(s): Limestone
Category: Architectural Feature
Location: West, east and north facades of the Museums Building
Comments: In the third floor spandrels there are bas reliefs representing pioneer American naturalists - Thomas Say, Daniel Brinton, John Wesley Powell, Asa Gray, Joseph Leidy and Louis Agassiz. Also reliefs of the first three directors of the UM Museums - Abram Sager, Alexander Winchell and Joseph Beal Steere. There are also many reliefs representing zoological figures. This famous quote from the renowned naturalist Louis Agassiz is etched in the parapet: "Go to nature; take the facts into your own hands; look, and see for yourself." An artist at the Museum for 30 years, Angell designed plaster casts to be used in exhibit cases. He was also the sculptor of the bronze doors and the pumas which flank the entrance.

 

 

Last modified: Thursday November 15 2007  


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