.gif)
Stephen Foster (sculpture)
Encyclopedia
Stephen Foster is a landmark public sculpture
in bronze
by Giuseppe Moretti
on Schenley Plaza
in the Oakland
section of Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania
. Sited along Forbes Avenue
near the entrance of Carnegie Museum of Natural History
, in the shadow of Dippy
, a life-size sculpture of a Diplodocus
dinosaur
, and in close proximity to the University of Pittsburgh
's Stephen Foster Memorial
, the Foster statue is one of the city's best known and most controversial.
The work of art is composed of two figures: a seated Stephen Collins Foster, the famous Pittsburgh-born songwriter with a notebook in hand, catching inspiration from a Negro slave at his feet strumming a banjo. The sculpture's pedestal is four feet, three inches, and the figures measure ten feet.
, where Moretti had recently completed grand neoclassical gates for the park's main entrance. An economic depression in the 1890s, however, caused the Pittsburgh Press
to head a subscription drive to garner funds for the piece. Nearly 50,000 Pittsburghers lined the parade route for the statue's dedication. Victor Herbert
, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
's new music director, led 3,000 school children in the singing of Foster tunes. At the ceremony Stephen Foster's only daughter unveiled the statue and nieces of U.S. President James Buchanan
laid a wreath at its base.
The actual design of the statue was by committee. Andrew W. Mellon
the banker, Edward Manning Bigelow
the parks director, Robert Pitcairn
the Pennsylvania Railroad
mogul, as well as the director of the Carnegie Museum of Art
, among others, all met to brainstorm scenarios for the artwork. The current design was suggested by committee member T.J. Keenan, Jr., editor of the Pittsburgh Press
, and embraced by Moretti, according to the paper. It is intended to commemorate the song "Uncle Ned," and shows Ned, a slave, with Foster. Stephen Foster's brother Morrison Foster sat as a model in Moretti's New York studio.
Decades later during the Great Depression
the sculpture was repeatedly vandalized; the banjo and Foster's pencil were broken off and sold, presumably, as scrap metal. Eventually Pittsburgh mayor Cornelius D. Scully
requested the statue be moved to a more visible, safer place. During World War II
it was moved to Oakland
's Schenley Plaza, along busy Forbes Avenue and across the street from Stephen Foster Memorial
. It was rededicated on June 29, 1944.
, this statue of a white man and slave has periodically stirred public debate. Opponents claim it is inherently racist. Some historians counter that "Uncle Ned", the song whose composition is depicted, is actually one of the first anti-slavery songs, though a subtle one.
In 2000, a citizen group petitioned Pittsburgh mayor Tom Murphy
to form a task force about the controversy. Some want a new statue. Others suggest a placard be placed on the its base to explain why few white people took offensive a century ago about a sculpture of a slave sitting at a white man's feet.
Another controversy over the Foster & Ned statue involves Ned's bare feet. The banjo-strumming slave is depicted with bare feet. Some claim rubbing Ned's "lucky big toe" brings good luck. The practice is even promoted in the article "Statue Burnishing Etiquette" on Roadside America.com: Your Online Guide to Offbeat Tourist Attractions.
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
in bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
by Giuseppe Moretti
Giuseppe Moretti
Giuseppe Moretti was an Italian émigré sculptor who became known in America for his public monuments in bronze and marble. Most notable among his works is Vulcan in Birmingham, Alabama, which is the largest cast iron statue in the world...
on Schenley Plaza
Schenley Plaza
Schenley Plaza is a public park serving as the grand entrance into Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.The plaza, located on Forbes Avenue and Schenley Drive in the city's Oakland district, includes multiple gardens, food kiosks, public meeting spaces, a carousel, and a prominent "Emerald...
in the Oakland
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
section of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Sited along Forbes Avenue
Forbes Avenue
Forbes Avenue is one of the longest streets in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It has a length of about ten miles and is named for General John Forbes , whose expedition recaptured Fort Duquesne and who renamed the place Pittsburgh in 1758.The westernmost terminus of Forbes Avenue lies at...
near the entrance of Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, located at 4400 Forbes Avenue in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, was founded by the Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1896...
, in the shadow of Dippy
Dippy (sculpture)
Dippy is a landmark public sculpture of a Diplodocus dinosaur on the grounds of the Carnegie Institute and Library complex in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....
, a life-size sculpture of a Diplodocus
Diplodocus
Diplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones...
dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
, and in close proximity to the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
's Stephen Foster Memorial
Stephen Foster Memorial
The Stephen Collins Foster Memorial is a performing arts center, museum and archive at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
, the Foster statue is one of the city's best known and most controversial.
The work of art is composed of two figures: a seated Stephen Collins Foster, the famous Pittsburgh-born songwriter with a notebook in hand, catching inspiration from a Negro slave at his feet strumming a banjo. The sculpture's pedestal is four feet, three inches, and the figures measure ten feet.
History
Stephen Foster was first erected in 1900 in the city's Highland ParkHighland Park (Pittsburgh)
Highland Park is both a large municipal park and a racially diverse, mostly residential neighborhood in the northeastern part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.The neighborhood has 6,749 residents according to the 2000 United States Census...
, where Moretti had recently completed grand neoclassical gates for the park's main entrance. An economic depression in the 1890s, however, caused the Pittsburgh Press
Pittsburgh Press
The Pittsburgh Press is an online newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, currently owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Historically, it was a major afternoon paper...
to head a subscription drive to garner funds for the piece. Nearly 50,000 Pittsburghers lined the parade route for the statue's dedication. Victor Herbert
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...
, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.-History:...
's new music director, led 3,000 school children in the singing of Foster tunes. At the ceremony Stephen Foster's only daughter unveiled the statue and nieces of U.S. President James Buchanan
James Buchanan
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....
laid a wreath at its base.
The actual design of the statue was by committee. Andrew W. Mellon
Andrew W. Mellon
Andrew William Mellon was an American banker, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector and Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1921 until February 12, 1932.-Early life:...
the banker, Edward Manning Bigelow
Edward Manning Bigelow
Edward Manning Bigelow , known as the "father of Pittsburgh's parks", was an American City Engineer and later Director of Public Works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
the parks director, Robert Pitcairn
Robert Pitcairn
Robert Pitcairn was a Scottish-American railroad executive who headed the Pittsburgh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the late 19th century. He was the brother of the Pennsylvania Plate Glass Company founder, John Pitcairn, Jr.Pitcairn was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, Scotland...
the Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
mogul, as well as the director of the Carnegie Museum of Art
Carnegie Museum of Art
The Carnegie Museum of Art, located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an art museum founded in 1895 by the Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie...
, among others, all met to brainstorm scenarios for the artwork. The current design was suggested by committee member T.J. Keenan, Jr., editor of the Pittsburgh Press
Pittsburgh Press
The Pittsburgh Press is an online newspaper in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, currently owned and operated by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Historically, it was a major afternoon paper...
, and embraced by Moretti, according to the paper. It is intended to commemorate the song "Uncle Ned," and shows Ned, a slave, with Foster. Stephen Foster's brother Morrison Foster sat as a model in Moretti's New York studio.
Decades later during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
the sculpture was repeatedly vandalized; the banjo and Foster's pencil were broken off and sold, presumably, as scrap metal. Eventually Pittsburgh mayor Cornelius D. Scully
Cornelius D. Scully
Cornelius Decator Scully , served as Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, from 1936 to 1946.-Early life:...
requested the statue be moved to a more visible, safer place. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
it was moved to Oakland
Oakland (Pittsburgh)
Oakland is the academic, cultural, and healthcare center of Pittsburgh and is Pennsylvania's third largest "Downtown". Only Center City Philadelphia and Downtown Pittsburgh can claim more economic and social activity than Oakland...
's Schenley Plaza, along busy Forbes Avenue and across the street from Stephen Foster Memorial
Stephen Foster Memorial
The Stephen Collins Foster Memorial is a performing arts center, museum and archive at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
. It was rededicated on June 29, 1944.
Controversy
At least since the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)
The African-American Civil Rights Movement refers to the movements in the United States aimed at outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights to them. This article covers the phase of the movement between 1955 and 1968, particularly in the South...
, this statue of a white man and slave has periodically stirred public debate. Opponents claim it is inherently racist. Some historians counter that "Uncle Ned", the song whose composition is depicted, is actually one of the first anti-slavery songs, though a subtle one.
In 2000, a citizen group petitioned Pittsburgh mayor Tom Murphy
Tom Murphy (mayor)
Thomas J. "Tom" Murphy, Jr. is a Democratic politician from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From January 1994 until January 2006 he served as mayor of Pittsburgh...
to form a task force about the controversy. Some want a new statue. Others suggest a placard be placed on the its base to explain why few white people took offensive a century ago about a sculpture of a slave sitting at a white man's feet.
Another controversy over the Foster & Ned statue involves Ned's bare feet. The banjo-strumming slave is depicted with bare feet. Some claim rubbing Ned's "lucky big toe" brings good luck. The practice is even promoted in the article "Statue Burnishing Etiquette" on Roadside America.com: Your Online Guide to Offbeat Tourist Attractions.