Sunglitter (1918)
Bronze, 70 x 59 x 55 inches
Installed in 1988. Lent by the Gateway Foundation.
Artist:
Carl Milles
Swedish (1875-1955)
Born near Uppsala, Sweden.
Milles became an apprentice to a cabinetmaker and studied sculpture at evening classes. He won a scholarship to the Technical School in Stockholm. From Sweden he went to Paris, where he attended The Sorbonne, and was eventually admitted to the 1899 Salon. Milles later worked in Auguste Rodin's studio; Rodin strongly influenced Milles' earlier work. In 1931 he held an exhibition at the Art Museum in St. Louis, showing 44 pieces, and later became the Artist In Residence at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan. The Millesgården in Sweden then became his studio until his death in 1955.
Location:
Water Lily Sculpture Garden
The sea nymph riding a dolphin is a Nereid, who in Greek mythology was one of the 50 daughters of the seagod Nerus (and so a sister of Amphitrite, in the Linnean House Lux Fountain). Riding fantastic sea creatures, the Nereids are represented in ancient art and legend as aiding mariners in distress. Milles made frequent use of these maidens of the sea and of their freshwater counterparts, the Naiads, as may be seen in St. Louis' The Meeting of the Waters fountain in Aloe Plaza.
