Crown Fountain - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Crown Fountain, Trevi Fountain, and Buckingham Fountain, as well as natural water features such as Old Faithful, are examples of the ability of water to attract people and hold their attention. Crown Fountain has more interactivity than other Chicago fountains, such as Buckingham Fountain and Lorado Taft's Fountain of the Great Lakes and Fountain of Time (all but the last are in Grant Park). These other Chicago fountains are traditional in that they discourage viewer touching; Buckingham Fountain is surrounded by a fence, and Taft's fountains are surrounded by moats. In contrast, Crown Fountain provides an open invitation to play in the fountain's water.

U.S. News & World Report describes the fountain as an exemplary feature of the city's numerous urban parks. Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin, who is pleased with the sculptures' verticalness, says the fountain helps appropriately depict the modern 21st-century urban park. The Chicago Sun-Times describes the fountain as "eye-catching, crowd-friendly ... high-tech ... contemporary". The New York Times calls the fountain an "extraordinary art object". Frommer's describes the fountain as public art at its best. The beauty of the fountain is, as the San Francisco Chronicle explains, that it is high-concept art for all to enjoy. The Financial Times refers to the fountain as a "techno-fountain". The fountain is praised for its technical features by industry magazines and has won various awards. The project won the 2006 Bombay Sapphire prize for its design work with glass. Critical reviews were not unanimous in their praise. One Chicago Tribune critic was not impressed with JumboTron-like art, although he conceded the participatory element reminded him in a positive way of the jungle gym element of the Chicago Picasso.

The fountain is featured on the cover of Philip Jodidio's 2005 book, Architecture: Art. Although Plensa is considered to be a conceptual artist, according to Jodidio, Plensa created a work whose architectural aspects are paramount. Its location juxtaposed with the Historic Michigan Boulevard District's skywall highlights these aspects. Jodidio considers the work to be a modernization of the gargoyle theme, and feels that the scale of the enlarged faces humanize the work and challenges the architecture. The towers are an integral part of the skyline that have achieved rare permanence for contemporary art.