Nebraska State Capitol - Integrated Art Program

Integrated Art Program

The sculptural elements of the building were designed by sculptor Lee Lawrie. Hartley Burr Alexander, a Lincoln native and professor of philosophy, served as "thematic consultant." It was Alexander's influence that resulted in the strong American Indian symbology, despite the wishes of Goodhue, who was from the East Coast region. He felt that the incorporation of Indian designs into the Capitol would make the building look like a tipi and would therefore be "ruinous to the architectural design". However, in April 1924, two years after groundbreaking, Goodhue died. The sudden death of the architect allowed Alexander to exert greater influence over the artistic designs, and thereafter Indian images were incorporated.

The building has an elaborate iconographic program. The large square base is emblematic of the quarters of the Earth and the historic course of human experience. The vertical tower symbolizes the heavens and more abstract conceptions of life derived from historic experience. The massive balustrade flanking the main stairway is ornamented with bison inscribed with American Indian poems translated artistically by Alexander. Over the entrance is a gilded frieze showing the "Spirit of the Pioneers." Other exterior sculptural ornaments include a series of friezes depicting the history of law from the Ten Commandments to a celebration of Nebraska's statehood. Ten great lawgivers, Minos, Hammurabi, Moses, Akhnaton, Solon, Solomon, Julius Caesar, Justinian I, Charlemagne, and Napoleon are depicted emerging from pylonic masses. The eight ideals of culture represented by Pentaour (dawn of history), Ezekial (cosmic tradition), Socrates (birth of reason), Marcus Aurelius (reign of law), St. John the Apostle (glorification of faith), Louis IX (age of chivalry), Isaac Newton (discovery of nature), and Abraham Lincoln (liberation of peoples) are also represented.

The tower is crowned by a golden dome with a 19-foot (5.8 m) sculpture of The Sower, by Lawrie, which faces northwest (most of Nebraska is north and west of Lincoln). The dome is symbolic of the sun, and its reflective surface changes color with the weather. The frieze around the drum depicts thunderbirds, an American Indian symbol of thunder. Altogether, the golden dome, Sower, and drum represent weather and agriculture. More symbolically, they are an homage to the civilizations of yesteryear, such as the American Indians, Egyptians (The Sower is modeled after an Egyptian), and European settlers who created productive farmlands and propagated life around the world.

Hildreth Meiere, a New York-based tile and mosaic designer, working with Alexander, was responsible for much of the original interior design. She collaborated closely with the Guastavino Company of New York to create the elaborate tile vaulting, which is both structural and decorative. Buffaloes, corn, wheat, sunflowers, and wild native animals motifs are repeated throughout the building’s ornament. The theme of Meiere's work is nature and the cultivation of the prairie.

For the decoration of the east chamber (the original senate chamber) Alexander sent Meiere numerous samples of Plains Indian art. Specifically, Alexander sent Meiere photographs of the work of Amos Bad Heart Bull, known to Alexander as Amos Bad Heart Buffalo. Alexander was in possession of these works until they were interred with the artist's sister at her death, but he had the Bull's ledger book drawings photographed and published. Meiere used these images as inspiration for her designs, especially with the large tapestry that graces the east Chamber.

The doors to the East Chamber, designed by Lee Lawrie and executed by Keats Lorenz of Lincoln, are a product of master craftsmanship. The doors weigh more than 750 pounds (340 kg) each, and took Lorenz more than six months to carve. They commemorate the cultural contributions of Plains Indians. Augustus Tack completed the building's earliest fresco-style murals. Ernst Herminghaus was responsible for the landscape architecture.

The majority of the models for the sculpture program were created by Lee Lawrie, and executed by Edward Ardolino's stone carvers in situ in Lincoln. Alesandro Beretta, employed by Ardolino's firm, was the actual craftsman that carved all of the 18 History of Law panels, using as many as 70 different tools. He would often take as long as ten weeks per panel. The carving was completed in November 1934. The Nebraska Capitol job was Lawrie's largest commission in his nearly seventy year-long career as an architectural sculptor.