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Collection in Focus - October 2007
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Museum Archives: Fine Arts Garden
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Click on an image for a larger view.
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Introduced by a fanfare of trumpets, a daisy-chain was
carried from the museum entrance to the Fountain of Waters by twenty-eight
young women representing the donors who made the Fine Arts Garden possible.
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"I know of no other example of landscape art as beautiful as this
where such a large part of the population pass daily and enjoy it."*
Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., of the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture
firm, is of course referring to the Fine Arts Garden. The Garden fills
the aproach to the Cleveland Museum of Art from Euclid Avenue and is bordered
on the east and west by East Boulevard and Martin Luther King Boulevard
respectively.The Fine Arts Garden was formally presented to the city of
Cleveland by the Garden Club at a dedication ceremony on July 23, 1928.
* "The Forest City of the Sixties... and the Horticultural
Organizations that provide leadership in maintaining the beauty of Greater
Cleveland," Society National Bank of Cleveland
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The Cleveland Museum of Art was built on land donated by industrialist Jeptha
Homer Wade II. This land is located in Wade Park, which was donated to the
city in the nineteenth century by Wade's grandfather, Jeptha Homer Wade
I. Prior to the construction of the museum, Wade Park was a popular recreation
area that included a lake for boating and skating, walking paths, and picnic
areas.
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Construction of the museum decimated the landscape surrounding
the building. For several years after the museum opened in 1916 the park
was minimally maintained by the city. The unsightly bit of land between
the museum and Euclid Avenue was the subject of much criticism during
this time. In 1923 the Garden Club of Cleveland, whose library was housed
at the art museum, appointed a committee to study the problem of beautifying
the area.
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Through various fund raisers garden club members were
able to hire the firm of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the
designer of Central Park in New York City, to design the Fine Arts Garden.
These images represent the firm's vision for the Fine Arts Garden.
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Courtesy of the National Park Service,
Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.
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In addition, members of the club, the art museum, and community
at large donated funds to commission artist Chester Beach to sculpt the
"Fountain of Waters" and signs of the zodiac statues. Funds
also were donated for the purchase of marble benches, terraces, and other
pieces of statuary for the garden. All of the funds to establish the garden,
over $400,000, came from private donations. Maintenance of the garden
is funded through an endowment established by Mrs. John Sherwin, president
of the Garden Club at the time the garden was planned.
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Fine Arts Garden construction
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Fountain of Waters |
Zodiac Sculptures
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Holden Terrace
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The museum archives houses records related to the planning
and construction of the Fine Arts Garden including records of the Fine
Arts Garden Commission, records from the Olmsted Brothers firm, planting
plans and blueprints, and photographs. For more information, please see
the Records
of Fine Arts Garden finding aid.
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