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Acroteria: Griffin

Artist
Alexander Phimister Proctor, American (born Canada), 1862–1950
Date
1903–1904
Material
Sheet copper, gilded
associated with
Saint Louis, Missouri, United States, North and Central America
Classification
Metalwork, sculpture
Collection
American Art
Current Location
On View, Outdoor, North Entrance
Dimensions
57 1/16 × 47 13/16 × 21 3/16 in. (145 × 121.5 × 53.8 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired through the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition
Rights
Public Domain
Object Number
115:1945
NOTES
Two identical sculptures sit majestically atop the Saint Louis Art Museum. Alexander Phimister Proctor created the griffins to adorn the building, originally built as the 1904 World’s Fair Palace of Fine Arts. Griffins—mythological creatures with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion—have been used as architectural embellishments since antiquity.

Proctor’s original sculptures were removed in 1993 to protect them from the elements. Two bronze-cast replicas created by Modern Art Foundry continue to guard the Museum, while the 1904 griffins remain safely in storage.
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