Air Spirit

1932

born Paris, 1897; died San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 1975

Seattle architect Carl Gould became a close friend and admirer of Pratt, the son of Boston's acclaimed architectural sculptor Bela Pratt and a fellow member, with Gould, of the University of Washington faculty. By the time he made this sculpture, Pratt had been creating ornamental sculptures for Gould's buildings for nearly a decade, especially for the buildings Gould was designing for the University of Washington. Among his works represented on the University campus are Pratt's reliefs on the exterior of the Henry Art Gallery and those on the School of Medicine building. Gould commissioned Pratt to make the bronze bobcat head decorations for the fountain in the Seattle Art Museum's Garden Court, and it is possible that Gould and Richard Fuller, the museum's founding director, further intended this streamlined metal sculpture specifically to complement the interior design of the new deco-style museum building.

Lead, steel, asbestos, and varnish

57 1/4 x 50 in. (145.42 x 127 cm)

Overall h.: 64 in.

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

44.626

Photo: Paul Macapia

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Museum of Science and Industry, "The Cavalcade of Aviation", 1955. (1955 - 1955)

Seattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, "Art of the Thirties: The Pacific Northwest", 1972. Also Portland Art Museum, Oregon. (1972 - 1972)

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Institute, "18th Annual Exhibition of Northwest Artists", 1932. (1932 - 1932)

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