Fountain of the Great Lakes

This is Lorado Taft's "Fountain of the Great Lakes" completed in 1913





Now installed against a blank wall of the south wing of the Art Institute





Within a very pleasant garden courtyard, behind a rectangular pool




Though it originally had a more magnificent setting --- set before, not against, a classical facade -- broken by windows and columns -- and within a circular pool that raised it another three-feet off the ground -- giving it the opportunity to measure and control a much greater space. (it feels like a fountain in Rome, doesn't it ?)










These seem to be simple mid-west college girls








Dressed up in togas for a soiree at the sorority house. And I do wonder why they're spilling the water onto each other, instead of into the basins that they carry (each basin is supposed to represent one of the great lakes: Michigan, Superior, Ontario etc)











From the front -- it feels a bit heavy-handed and cluttered





But from the sides -- this statue does have some majestic views