Biography Books Music Family Tree Visits Galleries Love Collections Cd Buy Beethoven School
Contact Your Beethoven Events Curiosities Fictions Visits Midi Music Links Map Search

MenuMeet Ludwig van Beethoven at Los AngelesMenu

Germany Austria France Italy Europe USA Mexico Asia The Virtual Museum Elsewhere



Title...Beethoven at Pershing Square, Los Angeles, California

Beethoven by Arnold Foerster

Beethoven
Pershing Square, à Los Angeles

Arnold Foerster sculpted this Beethoven, unveiled on October 14th 1932 at the Public Art Division of the Cultural Affairs Department.

The statue can be found on the edge of Pershing Square, which is the town's oldest park. Today the statue is... on the roof of a carpark!

Foerster's Beethoven is similar to the model by Robert Weigl, which had already been used by Fritz Hänlein, in 1910, to make a statue at Heiligenstadt. But the story of it's conception tells that it was inspired by a photo of Beethoven walking through the woods.

As the plaque indicates, this statue is dedicated to William Andrews Clark Jr., founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. The initial project was to erect a statue of Clark to thank him for his generosity. But he prefered a statue of his favourite composer: Beethoven.

Click on the boxes to see the photos enlarged. These pictures were taken by Ruth Wallach, for this site. Thank you!

Beethoven by Arnold Foerster

The base...

Beethoven by Arnold Foerster

A general view of the statue atPershing Square...

Beethoven by Arnold Foerster

Left profile...

Beethoven by Arnold Foerster

The face close-up...

Beethoven by Arnold Foerster

Pittoresque details :
the undone button...

Beethoven by Arnold Foerster

The back :
cane and hat

Back to menu...
Many thanks to Hannah SALTER for her translation of this page from French into English
© 2001 - 2013
Ludwig van Beethoven's website - http://www.LvBeethoven.com
Search Map Updates Contact About Home