American Eagle, Federal Reserve Bank Cincinnati [Plaster]

American Eagle, Federal Reserve Bank Cincinnati [Plaster]

Animal sculpture--20th century

Plaster relief ogf an eagle with wings upward in flight. The composition is angular with hard lines. There are several stars on the otherwise flat background.
The American Eagle was created for the John Weld Peck Federal Building in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1964.

Fredericks, Marshall M., 1908-1998

1947

Use of this image requires permission from the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum

Sculpture

University Center (Mich.)

94" x 70"

Plaster

1991.067

Main Exhibit Gallery

1987 July,1 Gift to Museum and SVSU Board of Control

On the wall, we have the "Veterans' Memorial Eagle," this is just the quarter scale. As we go along through the Gallery, I'll be mentioning, quarter-scale, 1/3 scale, or full-scale. This one, as I mentioned, is the "Eagle" from the Veterans' Memorial Building that's down there on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, which runs parallel with the Detroit River. This is just the quarter-scale eagle. The Eagle that's on the Veterans' Building is 30 feet tall, and it projects out four feet from the facade of the building. The Eagle, when it was originally quarried--it was carved from Vermont marble, and when it was quarried, there were 11 blocks and all together, they weighed 210 tons. The largest ever quarried, the largest block ever quarried, was quarried for this eagle; that alone weighed 86 tons. This was quarried in Danbury, Vermont. There's a large mountain there and they pulled this one block out that weighed 86 tons, and they got it out into the sunlight, and they saw that there was a slight flaw in it, so instead of taking the risk that it might crack, they chose to quarry, Mr. Fredericks did, to quarry another one just as large as that one that weighed 86 tons. The "Eagle," as you hurtle by automobile on Jefferson Avenue catches your eye. It really personalizes the building; the wings of the "Eagle," forming a "V" for victory, and, of course, for veterans. And then, in his talons, his claws, he is holding the laurel and the palm, which stand for glory and for victory. There are also seven free-standing pylons, as you walk up to the building, each telling a different story of American history. We have two pylons here in the Gallery. The pylon on the right that flanks the eagle is the "Civil War "pylon. On it you see Abraham Lincoln and the parting of the North and South, and General Grant and General Lee. The pylon on the left is the French explorer, Cadillac. Of course, the French founded Detroit in 1701. Beneath Cadillac on the pylon is Father Gabriel Richard. Both of these pylons give an example of incised, low-relief carving. They are carved into the marble, as opposed to the "Eagle" where it's coming out at you. The pylons were also carved in Vermont marble. Later the city of Detroit, without Mr. Fredericks' knowledge, they moved the pylons, and now they are parallel with the building. Before they formed, sort of a right angle, so they gave almost a one-point perspective. They also, without notifying Mr. Fredericks, they sand-blasted them, they thought that was the proper way of cleaning them, but they could not have done a worse thing to them, because sand-blasting actually bit into the stone and removed some of the very fine detail of the carving. Mr. Fredericks really did personalize the building, and he worked right along with the architect. His work is "public sculpture." Really, architecture and sculpture go hand-in-hand. They had to design a special support-system for the "Eagle" that was built right into the wall, the facade of the building. Really, Mr. Fredericks wears many hats, an engineer, and architect and, of course, master sculptor. Let me tell you a story. When they were hoisting one portion of the left wing of the "Eagle," the cable where the crane was lifting it, the cable snapped, and down went one portion of that wing, but luckily, it was just swallowed in the construction mud, and they were able to rinse it off and just lift it back up there, but if it had cracked, and Mr. Fredericks had delayed the construction crew, he would have had to pay for every day that he delayed them. But luckily, that didn't happen. You don't realize the hurdles that you really have to get over, you know, putting these large, monumental pieces up. The Veterans' Memorial Building was dedicated in 1950. I will check that date, but I'm pretty sure that's it. It took him four years from start to finish for the "Eagle" and the pylons, but he also did another, the "Seal of the United States" that's right to the side of the entrance to the Veterans' Memorial Building. It's on the red granite marble wall, and then the bronze casting of the "Great Seal of the United States," that's there by the entrance to the building.

From 1995 Mary Iorio of Cranbrook, interview with Fredericks: In describing the building for the sculpture he said, "It was a war memorial and there were windows all the way across the whole building on all four sides and there was a little space for the relief. I saw it and I didn't say anything. But I made a scale model out of wood and took all the windows off the front and put the eagle on there. The architect came out to see it and was really pleased. He changed all the drawings. Otherwise, I don't think I would have ever gotten that job."