![]() ![]() Impressed by Johnson’s passion for architecture, Owen found the person capable of executing her desire: “I immediately felt that Philip was the one with the kind of poetry in his soul for realizing for me what was only a dream at the time.” Responding favorably, Johnson appears to have found merit in the contemplation of the problem, which came to him during a period of philosophical upheaval. In pursuit of her vision, Owen, through her friend Preston Bolton, traveled to Houston to meet Johnson, who was scheduled to present his design for the University of St. ![]() She thought of the rebirth of New Harmony not as a place of static remembrance but as a place of modern expression, whereby one could engage, meditate on, and pursue one’s thoughts in the enlightenment spirit of the Harmonie Society and the Owen Community. Owen, with the Robert Lee Blaffer Trust (named for her father), was an important benefactor in New Harmony’s ongoing restoration efforts. The shrine was the vision of Philip Johnson, whose services were secured by Jane Owen, Texas oil heiress and wife of Kenneth Dale Owen, a descendent of Robert Owen, the founder of the utopian socialist community of New Harmony. An abstract interpretation, the sculpture represents a dove carrying a mantle from which the Virgin Mary emerges with hands outstretched the mantle is brought down to earth to be received by the lamb below. Sheltered within is an 1,800-pound bronze sculpture, The Descent of the Holy Spirit, crafted by Lithuanian-born Jacques Lipchitz. Its structure consists of a series of laminated wood bents and horizontal ribs that provide lateral bracing and a means for securing the hand-split cedar shakes, a departure from the laminated plywood originally intended.Ī 4-foot oculus passes light through the dome, casting a shadow that some say recalls the golden rose often associated with the pioneering Harmonie Society that originally settled the land. The form of the canopy is established by six interlocking circles, organized around an interior circle and forming an undulating contour that establishes the ridges and valleys of the exterior shell. As one continues into the interior of the outdoor sanctuary, the focal point emerges as a parabolic canopy, or baldachin, rising 57 feet from its Bedford limestone monolithic supports and situated on an amethyst-colored granite base. Extending into the 178-foot main court via an 18-foot flagstone walk bordered by yew hedges (originally one large expanse of stone), one encounters a balcony or loggia to the north, carefully framed with oolitic limestone benches looking out over the Wabash River bottomland. ![]() Measuring nearly 232 feet long and containing a space 130 feet wide, this wall announces a shrine rich in history and conducive to reflection.Įntering from the east, one passes through a sculptured bronze processional gate into a 43-foot forecourt or narthex, framed by the exterior wall and lined along the edges with Golden Rain trees. Situated on the northern edge of New Harmony, a community established in 1814 by the idealist religious sect known as the Harmonie Society, near the Barrett Gate House, is a space framed by an imposing 12-foot-tall brick wall set in Flemish bond.
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