The Spirit of Spanish Music

{{Short description|Sculpture by Burt William Johnson}}

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File:Johnson spanish music 1916 3.jpg, Claremont, California, US.]]

The Spirit of Spanish Music is a sculpture by

Burt William Johnson (25 April 1890—27 March 1927Moore, Nancy Dustin Wall. Dictionary of Art and Artists in Southern California Before 1930. Los Angeles: Privately printed, 1975, p.130).

It was commissioned by the Pomona College class of 1915{{cite web|url=http://www.pomona.edu/timeline/1910s/1915.aspx|title=1915 Pomona College timeline|access-date=29 September 2017|archive-date=12 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150312080752/http://www.pomona.edu/timeline/1910s/1915.aspx|url-status=live}} www.pomona.edu/ and

placed in the Lebus Court of the Mabel Shaw Bridges Hall of Music at Pomona College, one of a

group of buildings conceived for the expansion of Pomona College and built in the mid-1910s by

architect Myron Hunt using details of the "ornamental Spanish style".Hunt, Myron, quoted in

Elijah Wilson Lyon. The History of Pomona College, 1887-1969. Pomona: The College, 1977, p.151"The Work of Mr Myron Hunt, F.A.I.A." The Architect and Engineer of California. Volume LIII Number 1, April 1918, p.49 (photograph p.60)

File:spanish music 1916-02-10 2.jpg

This style, and the fact that the building where it stands was intended

for the study and performance of music, give the sculpture its name.

(Other names for the sculpture sometimes are seen in various sources, including

Pastoral Flutist{{cite web|url=https://www.pomona.edu/sites/default/files/pomona_master_plan.pdf|title=Pomona College 2015 Campus Master Plan|access-date=29 September 2017|archive-date=1 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801161931/https://www.pomona.edu/sites/default/files/pomona_master_plan.pdf|url-status=live}} p.13 (photograph, p.8) and YouthCountry Life,

Volume 41, November 1921, p.69).

The figure itself, a boy in "classic contrapposto stance"

playing an elongated flute, was influenced by the 15th century Florentine sculptor

Desiderio da SettignanoGorse, George L. "'Little Bridges', Lebus

Court and Rembrandt Hall: A Centennial Celebration. Pomona Faculty Publications and Research, 395,

21 September 2015, http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_fac_pub/395/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209035055/http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pomona_fac_pub/395/ |date=2015-12-09 }} ; full lecture viewable at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpyeDrJgwOM {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170512161413/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpyeDrJgwOM |date=2017-05-12 }} - remarks regarding the Spanish Music

sculpture are between timemarks 52:17 and 54:29. Retrieved 29 September 2017

It reflects the overall "Arcadian" theme Hunt intended for Pomona's south campus.

The sculpture's harmony with the building surrounding its courtyard setting

was described in 1921 as "happily eloquent of the spirit of the place".

"The pose is exquisite," reports another journal of the period,

"and the design peculiarly appropriate to the Spanish architecture of the beautiful

temple of music it is to adorn."{{cite web| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6KscAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22burt+Johnson%22+%22blaisdell%22&pg=RA6-PA9| title=The Pacific| year=1916| access-date=2024-02-04| archive-date=2023-11-20| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231120214909/https://books.google.com/books?id=6KscAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22burt+Johnson%22+%22blaisdell%22&pg=RA6-PA9| url-status=live}}, Volume LXVI, Number 46, 1916, page 9. Retrieved 29 September 2017

In a lecture on the occasion of the Centennial in 2015 of the statue and the building,

art historian George Gorse labels the setting "A Pastoral Theatre", and characterizes

the sculpture as "Vergilian 'Arcadia' . . . absolutely Vergilian."

The sculpture was cast in bronze by the Gorham Company in Providence, R.I. It is life-size,

approximately 137 cm (54 in.) in height. Before being delivered to Claremont and installed in

Lebus Court, it was exhibited by the Gorham Company at their gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York, and at the Winter Exhibition at the National Academy.

After part of the fountain collapsed, the statue was removed in early 2015 while repairs were made.

Before its return on 14 August 2015, The Spirit of Spanish Music was restored by conservator Donna Williams, including the repair of the boy's broken flute.{{cite web| url=http://arthistory.pomona.edu/2015/08/the-boy-with-the-flute-is-back/| title=The Boy With the Flute is Back| author=Pohl, Frances| access-date=2017-02-27| archive-date=2024-02-04| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204221617/http://arthistory.pomona.edu/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi| url-status=live}},

arthistory.pomona.edu, 17 August 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2017{{cite news|author=Blackstock, Joe|title=Local sculptor gets his spot in the limelight again|url=http://www.dailybulletin.com/general-news/20160617/local-sculptor-gets-his-spot-in-the-limelight-again|accessdate=16 July 2017|work=Inland Valley Daily Bulletin|date=17 June 2016|language=en|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220104417/http://www.dailybulletin.com/general-news/20160617/local-sculptor-gets-his-spot-in-the-limelight-again|url-status=live}}