Fountain of Time - Design and Realization

Design and Realization

View of mass of humanity from the front of the middle south portion

The sculpture is made of a form of hollow-cast concrete, reinforced with steel. It was cast in a 4,500-piece mold, using 250 short tons (230 t) of a material described as "concrete-like", which incorporated pebbles from the Potomac River. This composite material was an innovation at the time. For years, John Joseph Earley of Washington, DC, had used materials that seemed durable in the face of elements such as the weather and urban soot and grime. He had determined that by adding crushed pebbles he could create a new concrete mixture more durable than limestone but cheaper than marble or bronze. The reflection from the silica of the crushed stones complemented the durability with artistic beauty; the same material was used at Chicago's Fine Arts Building.

The sculpture depicts a hooded Father Time carrying a scythe, and watching over a parade of 100 figures arranged in an ellipse, with an overall pyramidal geometry. The allegorical procession depicts the entire spectrum of humanity at various stages of life. The contemporary 1920s Chicago Daily Tribune described the figures as "heroic", and that choice of adjective has stayed with the piece. The figures are said to be passing in review as they rush through the stages of life, and include soldiers, frolicking children and kissing couples. Father Time is described in various newspaper articles as "huge", "weird", and "dominant". Other Tribune critics described Time as a "pet atrocity" of Taft in large part due to its ugliness. One critic described the white figures as reminiscent of false teeth smiling across the end of the Midway.

Time commemorates the first 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain after the Treaty of Ghent concluded the War of 1812 on December 24, 1814. The design was inspired by the poem "Paradox of Time" by Henry Austin Dobson: "Time goes, you say? Ah no, Alas, time stays, we go". Time's theme has been compared to Shakespeare's All the world's a stage monologue in As You Like It, which describes the seven ages of man: infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, old age, and dementia. Taft's figures represent birth, the struggle for existence, love, family life, religion, poetry, and war.

Although most of the figures are generic representations of human forms in various walks and stages of life, Taft included himself, with one of his assistants following him, along the west side of the sculpture. He is portrayed wearing a smock, with his head bowed and hands clasped behind his back. His daughters served as models for some of the figures.

Taft is now better remembered for his books, such as The History of American Sculpture (1903), regarded as the first comprehensive work on the subject. However, in his day he was well known for portraits and allegorical public sculpture, of which Fountain of Time is a prime example. It was produced in the period following his assignment to design sculptures for William Le Baron Jenney's 1893 Horticultural Building for the World's Columbian Exposition. During this period he designed several large-scale public works, including Fountain of the Great Lakes. Taft resided in Illinois for most of his life and worked in the Midway Studios starting in 1906.