Mar 5th, 2007 by Jill
Mysterious skull sculpture on the right
Mysterious hand and book sculpture on the left
These are on either side of a walkway that opens into a trash dumpster area behind a couple of buildings at Caltech.
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hmmmm… death worshiping in Caltech!!!
I love finding these hidden treasure in Pasadena or any place for that matter. There are so many hidden gems waiting to be rediscovered.
I just stumbled in from, dang I’m not sure where. I’ve lost the tab but I do have you bookmarked.
The hand and book are depicted on p.212 of Romy Wyllie’s book, CALTECH’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE. The caption reads, “This stone carving of a hand grasping a book was originally installed on Throop Hall under the pilaster representing Law.” There is another photo of it on p.203, in its original placement on Throop (damaged in the Sylmar quake in ’71 and subsequently demolished).
I’ll ask about the other (with the skull).
OK…here’s the scoop from Romy Wyllie (Caltech’s architectural historian):
“This is a corbel that was located on Throop Hall below a pilaster with a sunflower representing nature. These were sculptures by Alexander Calder over the entrance to the building. The corbel design represents Life, Death, and Eternity. Life is the egg shape; death is the skull; and eternity is represented by the wreath twined around the egg (I presume). I found this explanation in _Caltech’s Throop Hall_ by Judith Goodstein and Alice Stone. It is a booklet published by The Friends of Caltech Libraries in 1981.”
Mystery solved!