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A Field Guide to Architectural Sculpture in America Samples (Nebraska)
Joslyn Art Museum |

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Joslyn Art Museum (1931)
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The '''Joslyn Art Museum''' was designed and built in 1931 by John and Alan McDonald, with a Moderne re-design performed midway through construction by Omaha architect and teacher Herschel Elarth, and is notable for its exterior sculptural program, executed by artist John David Brcin and devised by Dr. Hartley Burr Alexander. Alexander was riding his brief wave of popularity as iconographer and sculptural coordinator from the success of the Nebraska State Capitol. The sculptural program includes six doors on the east side of the building, devoted to the personal virtues of George Joslyn, and eight relief panels, half of which are devoted to Native American themes. Brcin's work here on pink marble is static and highly stylized. Although active as a sculptor, his only other known architectural work is the Henry Horner Memorial in Chicago, from 1948. Correspondence from the MacDonalds to Alexander complains that some of the Indians are too Jewish-looking. |
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Copyright 2008 Einar Einarsson Kvaran and Walt Lockley. All rights reserved.