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Fountain Family Group

Coordinates: 33°47′20″N 117°51′24″W / 33.7890°N 117.8566°W / 33.7890; -117.8566
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Fountain Family Group
Bronze sculpture of dancing family, above burbling fountain, mosaic mural in background
Sculpture and fountain
(photographed 1995)
Map
ArtistRichard H. Ellis
Year1969 (1969)
MediumBronze sculpture
LocationHilbert Museum of California Art, Orange, California, U.S.
Coordinates33°47′20″N 117°51′24″W / 33.7890°N 117.8566°W / 33.7890; -117.8566

Fountain Family Group, sometimes called Nuclear Family,[1] is a 1969 bronze sculpture and fountain by Richard H. Ellis, formerly installed along Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, California.

Description and history

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The artwork features four figures: a father, a mother, a boy, and a girl. The original location of the fountain and bronze was the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and 26th Street in Santa Monica, with a street address of 2600 Wilshire Blvd.[2]

The 8 ft (2.4 m) tall[3] sculpture was installed in 1969 at one of Howard Ahmanson Sr.’s richly decorated Home Savings of America branches, along with a mosaic mural called Pleasures Along the Beach by Millard Sheets.[4] The Millard Sheets Studio hired Ellis several times. Ellis created statues for five Home Savings branches, all on family themes.[4][5]

Family was surveyed by the Smithsonian Institution's Save Outdoor Sculpture! program in 1995.[6]

The fountain and mural at the former Santa Monica branch were relocated to the Hilbert Museum of California Art in Orange, California in 2019, along with a third piece from the building, John Edward Svenson's cast bronze Child on a Dolphin.[7][8] Family and Dolphin will be installed in the museum's California native plant garden when it reopens after expansion in 2023; the Sheets mosaic will be installed on the facade of the museum building.[1]

The original building also featured stained glass windows by Susan Hertel; they were removed and put into storage in 2021.[9]

Further reading

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Arenson, Adam (2018). Banking on beauty : Millard Sheets and midcentury commercial architecture in California. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-4773-1529-3. OCLC 986993216.

References

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  1. ^ a b Arp, Dennis (2022-02-22). "Chapman Announces Plans to Greatly Expand Hilbert Museum of California Art". Chapman Newsroom. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  2. ^ Arenson, Adam (2018-08-01). "Master Inventory of Millard Sheets Studio and Home Savings Art and Architecture". Banking on Beauty.
  3. ^ "Richard H. Ellis - Curriculum Vitae". www.richardhellis-sculptor.com. Archived from the original on 2021-05-11. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  4. ^ a b "Richard H. Ellis Sculpture to Be Preserved and Displayed at Forest Lawn". MyNewsLA.com. 2020-06-25. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  5. ^ "Millard Sheets Public Art Sculpture Identified in San Marino" (PDF). The Grapevine: Newsletter of the San Marino Historical Society: 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-06. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  6. ^ "Fountain Family Group, (sculpture)". Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on June 16, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
  7. ^ "Citywide - New home for Millard Sheets mural". Santa Monica Daily Press. 2019-06-06. Archived from the original on 2022-10-15. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  8. ^ Chang, Richard (2019-06-14). "Chapman's Hilbert Museum of California Art to Expand and Nearly Triple In Size". Voice of OC. Archived from the original on 2022-04-22. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  9. ^ "Another One Bites the Dust: Santa Monica Edition (Updated for 2022)". Archived from the original on 2022-01-20. Retrieved 2022-10-15.