The Sculptures of Stella Elkins Tyler

The Sculptures of Stella Elkins Tyler. . , Stella Elkins Tyler (1884-1963) was almost 50 years old when she began to work as a serious sculptor in the early 1930s. Her mentor was Boris Blai, a former student of the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin. In 1935, she had her first solo exhibition at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York City. Her third and last such show was held in 1959 at the Woodmere Art Gallery in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. Over the course of these two-and-a-half decades, Tyler created and displayed approximately 150 different sculptural designs, most relatively small, but some close to life-size. Eventually, she had nearly all of her compositions cast into bronze by the Roman Bronze Works, a major foundry located in Corona, New York. The vast majority of her bronzes are one of a kind., Tyler always had strong connections to the cultural life of Philadelphia and New York, and, as an heiress of a Gilded-Age fortune, she also had the means to pursue her interests. It was, however, not until after she began to create sculpture that she thought about becoming a philanthropist. Ultimately, Tyler donated both of her estates with the intention of creating educational institutions. The purpose and pleasure that Tyler found in her sculpture has had its most powerful legacy in the tens of thousands of students who have been able to discover their own creative abilities as a result of her generosity., Castalia, 1935 , Tyler drew her inspiration for this fountain from the Greco-Roman story of Castalia and the god Apollo. According to the myth, Castalia was a beautiful, young girl from Delphi who was the object of Apollo's lust. To avoid him, she drowned herself in waters that were sacred to the nine Muses. Thereafter, this site became known as Castalia [S]pring, and the waters were said to provide divine inspiration., Title Unknown, 1936 , This wall fountain displays a slender, nude female. The figure stands tall, with one leg raised and two hands placed behind her head. The title is unknown, but one thing seems certain , Tyler based her composition on Harriet Whitney Frishmuth's exuberant Joy of the Waters (1917), a bronze sculpture that Tyler had in her own collection., Cat Masks, 1937 , As they did in Tyler's era, two Cat Masks still embellish the pair of wall fountains located on the back of Indian Council Rock (now Tyler Hall). These small bronze sculptures represent a detail of Tyler's family crest (1932), two bronze demi-cats that were originally designed for and are now displayed on the mansion's front balcony., Death and Transfiguration, 1934 , In this piece, Tyler presents a draped, though bare-breasted, woman with a small horn-blowing cherub balanced on her shoulder. The title alludes to Richard Strauss' tone poem of the same name. This sculpture provides an excellent example of how Tyler drew inspiration from the music that she loved and played on her piano. The Transfiguration is a Christian belief in the revealed divinity of Christ. Tyler, however, explored her own interpretation of this religious subject. Here, we see her visualization of music as a powerful force capable of revealing the divinity of the human soul., Pensive Mood or Thoughtful Mood, 1939 , This introspective, yet attentive, figure was perhaps intended as a nod to Auguste Rodin's enormously famous sculpture of a man in deep thought, The Thinker (1880) - although emphasizing the cognitive powers of a woman., Sunset (also exhibited as Grief) and Sunrise, 1938 , These two pieces present a cosmological theme appropriate to the garden , the cycle of night and day. It is of interest that Sunset was first exhibited as Grief. Therefore, these two beautifully executed female figures also serve as a potent reminder that the darkness of grief fades, eventually yielding to the light of day and then succumbing to the warm pleasure of full sun., Timeless Offerings, 2000 , A contemporary sculpture that was done as an homage to Tyler. This female nude was designed and created collaboratively by three sculptors who have connections to Bucks County Community College , John Mathews, Jon Burns, and Catia Whitmore. The sculpture represents an important facet of the ongoing garden restoration and was intended to replace a lost fountain sculpture from Tyler's era., La Cucaracha, 1936 , Literally, La Cucaracha translates as "the cockroach," and it usually refers to a Mexican dance that permeated popular culture in the 1930s. At the same time, it is perhaps no coincidence that the first Technicolor film viewed by a wide audience was titled La Cucaracha and released in 1934. Tyler's subjects often made multilayered references to various aspects of her contemporary culture.