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The Spirit of Spanish Music is a sculpture by Burt William Johnson (25 April 1890—27 March 1927^[1]). It was commissioned by the Pomona College class of 1915^[2] and placed in the Lebus Court of the Mabel Shaw Bridges Hall of Music at Pomona College, one of a group of buildings conceived for the expansion of Pomona College and built in the mid-1910s by architect Myron Hunt using details of the "ornamental Spanish style".^[3]^[4]

This style, and the fact that the building where it stands was intended for the study and performance of music, give the sculpture its name. (Other names for the sculpture sometimes are seen in various sources, including Pastoral Flutist^[5] and Youth^[6]).

The figure itself, a boy in "classic contrapposto stance" playing an elongated flute, was influenced by the 15th century Florentine sculptor Desiderio da Settignano^[7] It reflects the overall "Arcadian" theme Hunt intended for Pomona's south campus.^[2]

The sculpture's harmony with the building surrounding its courtyard setting was described in 1921 as "happily eloquent of the spirit of the place".^[6] "The pose is exquisite," reports another journal of the period, "and the design peculiarly appropriate to the Spanish architecture of the beautiful temple of music it is to adorn."^[8] In a lecture on the occasion of the Centennial in 2015 of the statue and the building, art historian George Gorse labels the setting "A Pastoral Theatre", and characterizes the sculpture as "Vergilian 'Arcadia' . . . absolutely Vergilian."^[7]

The sculpture was cast in bronze by the Gorham Company in Providence, R.I. It is life-size, approximately 137 cm (54 in.) in height. Before being delivered to Claremont and installed in Lebus Court, it was exhibited by the Gorham Company at their gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York, and at the Winter Exhibition at the National Academy.^[8]

After part of the fountain collapsed, the statue was removed in early 2015 while repairs were made. Before its return on 14 August 2015, The Spirit of Spanish Music was restored by conservator Donna Williams, including the repair of the boy's broken flute.^[9]^[10]

Gallery

The sculpture and fountain after the 2015 restoration
Close-up of the sculpture
View looking into the court
Inscriptions on the pedestal
A small group of women and men view the sculpture, c. 1920
Studio snapshot of plaster working model of the sculpture

References

^ Moore, Nancy Dustin Wall. Dictionary of Art and Artists in Southern California Before 1930. Los Angeles: Privately printed, 1975, p.130
^ ^a ^b "1915 Pomona College timeline". Archived from the original on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2017. www.pomona.edu/
^ Hunt, Myron, quoted in Elijah Wilson Lyon. The History of Pomona College, 1887-1969. Pomona: The College, 1977, p.151
^ "The Work of Mr Myron Hunt, F.A.I.A." The Architect and Engineer of California. Volume LIII Number 1, April 1918, p.49 (photograph p.60)
^ "Pomona College 2015 Campus Master Plan" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2017. p.13 (photograph, p.8)
^ ^a ^b Country Life, Volume 41, November 1921, p.69
^ ^a ^b Gorse, George L. "'Little Bridges', Lebus Court and Rembrandt Hall: A Centennial Celebration. Pomona Faculty Publications and Research, 395, 21 September 2015, http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_fac_pub/395/ Archived 2015-12-09 at the Wayback Machine ; full lecture viewable at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpyeDrJgwOM Archived 2017-05-12 at the Wayback Machine - remarks regarding the Spanish Music sculpture are between timemarks 52:17 and 54:29. Retrieved 29 September 2017
^ ^a ^b "The Pacific". 1916. Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2024-02-04., Volume LXVI, Number 46, 1916, page 9. Retrieved 29 September 2017
^ Pohl, Frances. "The Boy With the Flute is Back". Archived from the original on 2024-02-04. Retrieved 2017-02-27., arthistory.pomona.edu, 17 August 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2017
^ Blackstock, Joe (17 June 2016). "Local sculptor gets his spot in the limelight again". Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2017.