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Boy and Pelican 1936

BOWLES, William Leslie

Registration number

1086731

Artist/maker

BOWLES, William Leslie

Title

Boy and Pelican

Production date

1936

Medium

Pyrmont sandstone

Dimensions (H x W x D)

258 cm (overall height). 128 x 95 x 51 cm (sculpture); 130 x 131 x 56 cm (base)

Credit line

City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection

Keywords

Boy and Pelican, William Leslie Bowles, Pyrmont sandstone sculpture, 1936, Fitzroy Gardens, Hotham St entrance, Melbourne City Council

Summary

Location: Fitzroy Gardens, Hotham St entrance Pyrmont sandstone sculpture depicting a boy sitting on the back of a pelican which has its wing outstrached. The figure is perched atop a Pyrmont sandstone self-base. A special art sub-committee was established in the 1930s to assist the City Council Parks and Gardens Committee select statuary appropriate for the City's Gardens. This sculpture is one that replaced the much deteriorated plaster statuary in Fitzroy Gardens, which Clement Hodgkinson had donated in the 1860s. It was one of three works created by Bowles for this purpose. This statue and his Mermaid and Fish were originally placed at the Clarendon Street entrance to the gardens on the 5 October 1936, while his Diana and the Hounds is sited at the conservatory. The head of the boy was replaced in 1973, the statue having fallen victim to vandalism.