Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Angels on High: Márton Váró's Limestone Angels on the Nancy Lee and Perry Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas

Angels on High: Márton Váró's Limestone Angels on the Nancy Lee and Perry Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth, Texas

Watson, Ronald G.
Mallison, Rodger

Hardcover

General ArtIndividual ArtistsSculpture & Installation

Publisher Price: $42.50

ISBN10: 0875652042
ISBN13: 9780875652047
Publisher: Texas Christian Univ Pr
Published: Sep 1 1999
Pages: 116
Weight: 1.20
Height: 0.54 Width: 9.31 Depth: 10.82
Language: English
Martón Váró's imposing twin angels emerge dramatically from the façade of the Bass Performance Hall to herald the performing arts. Approximately forty-eight feet tall, the angels are several times larger than life. Of the same limestone as the building, they are inseparable from it. These glorious beings are depicted just at the moment they are touching Earth, gliding on the last little bit of lift from their extended wings. Each angel hovers above the street, weightless and serene in flowing garments. Each one leans her torso, arms, and head slightly away from the background wall to play a golden trumpet high above the street. With a gesture that reinforces the trumpeting, each angel raises an arm toward the sky. The angels have quickly become symbols of Fort Worth as valid and commanding as the city's cowtown heritage.

The carving and installation of such large high-relief sculptures was a daunting artistic and technical challenge. Váró carved three sets of smaller angels in preparation for work on the actual sculptures. Limestone for the works was quarried near Austin, Texas, and transported to Irvine, California, where Váró carved the works in large numbered blocks. The delicate carving of the wings was done in Fort Worth.

Engineers from Curtain Wall Design calculated the exact dimensions needed for each block and designed lifting devices for each. A crew of ironworkers and stonemasons installed the angels under Váró's supervision. Steel plates were embedded in the concrete walls to support the angels, and each carved block is permanently attached to a corresponding plate so that no block rests on the one below. This design transfers the weight of the sculpture to the building.

Informal photographs by Váró and others record the creation of the angels from quarrying of the limestone through the initial carving of the blocks. Rodger Mallison recorded the installation process almost daily. The result is a superb photographic chronicle of a major artistic project.

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