Hand of God Statue

Labor Day 2012

Outside of the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice is the statue the Hand of God created by the Swedish sculptor Carl Milles. The statue was commissioned by the United Auto Workers as a tribute to Frank Murphy and dedicated in 1970. Murphy was a former mayor of Detroit, governor of Michigan and later a Supreme Court justice. While he was governor he sent the Michigan National guard to protect striking workers at the General Motors plant during the famous Flint sit down strike. Murphy served as a mediator to help end the strike. The result of the strike was an empowered union that changed the working landscape in Detroit as well as the United States.

Happy Labor Day 2012!

The Hand of God statue

Looking toward the flags outside the courthouse

Frank Murphy Hall of Justice on the right

Courthouse is behind the statue

Video of the Statue Exploration

Art and Life

Exploration 

Exploration. It's one of those words that we often think that other people do. You know, "space exploration" or travelers from days gone by exploring unfamiliar lands.

Ideas

But how about the exploration of ideas? And what better way to do that than through books. The statue, created by Joseph N. DeLauro in 1967, is simply called Exploration. It is a piece of public art that's outside of the Detroit Public Library's main branch on the Cass Avenue side. It's just outside the Explorer's Room at the Children's Library entrance.

Time

Too often we rush about hurrying to get things done, and that's unfortunate because that's when we miss things. I'm guilty of this myself, but I had some time after a recent visit to the WSU Farmers Market, and that's when I noticed the bronze statue outside of the library. Without a doubt, it's a beautiful statue and one worth spending some time with before going off to explore the library.

What do you think of this statue? Leave a comment and let me know!



Music Credit

Improvisation On Sunday... by Alex is licensed under a Attribution (3.0).

The Gutenberg Statue in Detroit

Gutenberg at Wayne State University

Gutenberg
This is Johannes Gutenberg whom I found staring at me one evening. Gutenberg invented a moveable type mechanical press to print books. Movable type is a method of printing books where individual metal letters are assembled in a printing press to form the words that are then printed on paper. The most famous book to come off the Gutenberg Press was the bible in 1455. It's safe to say his invention changed the world. Quite impressive and deserving of a statue.

Click photo to enlarge

The Statue
The statue of Gutenberg is tucked in a corner outside of the General Lectures building on the campus of Wayne State University. After class one day, I turned my head and there he was.

Details
According to Art Walk a guide from Wayne State, it is a spelter copy, cast in 1885 from an original by Bertel Thorvaldsen. Notice in his right hand he has some of his famous moveable type, and he's presumably carrying the bible with his left. The statue was a gift from Mr. Kurt Keydel and installed on the campus in 1965.

View from the left

Detroit Connection?
Other than the statue residing at Wayne State, which is located in the city of Detroit, I can't really come up with another connection! Sorry. If any reader of this post knows of one, please share in the comments.

eBooks
As a side note, if you're not already familiar with it, the website Project Gutenberg is a digital repository of free eBooks and takes its name from the famed German.

Interesting Shadow

In His Own Words
“It is a press, certainly, but a press from which shall flow in inexhaustible streams...Through it, God will
spread His Word. A spring of truth shall flow from it: like a new star it shall scatter the darkness of ignorance, and cause a light heretofore unknown to shine amongst men."
― Johannes Gutenberg