Arthur Putnam

(1873-1930)

The Mermaid 32in high

Footnotes

Provenance
Jack Frost, Santa Monica, California, 1972.
Acquired from the above.
Property from the Estate of John H. Garzoli.

Exhibited
San Francisco, Panama-Pacific International Exhibition, 1915.
Oakland Museum, Extended Loan, circa 1972.
Oakland Museum, Extended Loan, circa 1981.

Literature
Julie Helen Heyneman, Arthur Putnam, Sculptor, San Francisco, 1932. p. 147, unknown cast illustrated.
Carol M. Osborne, Arthur Putnam: Animal Sculptor, American Art Review, September-October, 1976, p. 77, FAMSF cast illustrated.
Donald L. Stover, American Sculpture: The Collection of The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, 1982, p. 42, FAMSF cast illustrated.
Bernice Scharlach, Big Alma: San Francisco's Alma Spreckels, San Francisco, 1995, p. 146, FAMSF cast illustrated.

Arthur Putnam's The Mermaid is an historically important and rare American bronze. The only other known example of this iconic sculpture is in the collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. It served as the model for the major fountain at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition.

The bronze in the FAMSF from Alma Spreckels is dated 1909, and appears to be the date of the original casting. The model may have been none other than Alice Klauber, the doyen of the San Diego arts community, according to the account of Grace Putnam in Martin E. Petersen's biography:

"Putnam cared for Miss Klauber. How deeply remains his secret. In a letter dated September 10, 1905, he mentions that he is working on a Sphinx, ten feet long. 'I tried to put your face on her, but couldn't trust myself to draw the line between reality and imagination.' His affection for Miss Klauber never diminished, for a letter from Grace Storey Putnam to Miss Klauber in 1909 indicates that while finances were at low ebb, Arthur was 'turning out some good things.' In fact, she notes: 'He has just finished a Mermaid (Sphinx) with great lines in it - and the most beautiful swing of muscles I have seen him do yet. The face reminds me a little of you.'"

"On this minimal evidence, it is presumptuous to assume that this is meant as anything more than a compliment and lasting token, to their friendship. Arthur Brown, one of the architects of the San Francisco Panama-Pacific International Exposition, 1915, used the Mermaid, in the great fountain on the fairgrounds. From a 1915 visit to the San Francisco Exposition, Miss Klauber makes no comment other than mentioning the work in a list of sculptures and their artists that she saw. Correspondence continued through Putnam's lifetime, and Alice frequently gave support to both Grace and Arthur." ¹

However, in a 1976 American Art Review article on Arthur Putnam, Carol M. Osborne emphasizes the power of imagination in his figure studies, and singles out this sculpture for its evocation of Putnam's debt to Rodin:

"For his figure studies he rarely worked from the human model. 'The damned thing disturbs me by thrusting his individual peculiarity between my conception and the work I am doing.' His conceptions were to some degree formed by tradition, and this is particularly true of his sculptures of the human figure. For example, Flying Messenger, ca. 1906 (California Palace Legion of Honor), is borrowed from Rodin's Fugitive Love, 1880-82, while his Mermaid, 1910 (The Oakland Museum), seems directly related to Rodin's Torso of a Woman, 1909. Although Putnam's human forms lack the French sculptor's evocation of living, breathing flesh, the surfaces of his animals are modelled with a palpability akin to Rodin's; and Putnam has a similar feeling for the effect of light and shade." ²

Although Putnam had suffered a debilitating stroke by the time of the 1915 Exposition, it appears they used this bronze model of The Mermaid for his only commission in the exhibition. The bronze itself was one of the works on display at the Exposition as well, and illustrated in Eugen Neuhaus' The Art of the Exposition, San Francisco, 1915, p. 33.

Some contemporary commentators make note of Putnam's signature achievement in The Mermaid fountain:

"For the south gardens of the Exposition, Putnam modeled a graceful figure of a mermaid which was used at either side of Stirling Calder's "Fountain of Energy". Unfortunately that was his only contribution to the Exposition's architectural sculpture." ³

"Describing Putnam's The Mermaid Fountain, Stirling Calder gives this picture: Long quiet mirror pools flank the great Fountain of Energy, giving balance and calm to the entrance plaza, or South Gardens. The curved ends of the pools are marked by Arthur Putnam's beautiful Mermaid Fountain, in duplicate. The crowning figure is by no means the conventional mermaid. She is free, full of grace, charmingly poised. The bifurcated tail is original and gives sculptural distinction, as well as greater human appeal. The figure is instinct with a spirit of play, but is not boisterous. Arthur Putnam is a Californian who has greatly influenced the development of art in the West." ⁴

The bronze is listed under his copyrighted works in 1913:

"Mermaid (The); by Arthur Putnam. [Statue of nude woman with tail of fish kneeling on left knee and holding left hand above head.] © 1 c. Dec 13, 1913, G45628." <sup>5

1</sup> Martin E. Petersen, Alice Ellen Klauber & Friends, 2007,
(http://www.aliceklauber.museumartistsfoundation.org/Arthur%20Putnam2.html).
² Carol M. Osborne, Arthur Putnam, Animal Sculptor, American Art Review, September-October 1976, p. 76.
³ Arthur Putnam, 1873 -1930, Biography and Works, p. 41, (https://bancroftlibrarycara.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/cara_v06_putnam.pdf).
⁴ Putnam, p. 42.
⁵ Library of Congress Copyright Office, Catalogue of Copyright Entries, Part 4, New Series, Volume 8 For the Year 1913, p. 451.