Carl Milles 1875 - 1955

Sale: Sotheby's, London, March 27, 1990, lot 60, illustrated
Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman

By the time Carl Edwin Milles came from Sweden in 1931 to become the sculptor-in-residence at the Cranbook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills,  Michigan, he was already highly regarded for his large-scale public sculptures that exhibit his rhythmic and expressive aesthetic. Milles’ best known work is perhaps The Europa Fountain. Created for the market square in Halmstad, Sweden, the fountain takes as its subject the ancient Greek myth of the rape of Europa by the god Zeus, who disguised himself as a white bull and carried her out to sea. The present work is most likely a model for the fountain—his first large fountain commission. Another version of the fountain can be found at Cranbrook, where Milles lived and taught for almost 20 years.

Founded by George Gough Booth and designed by Eliel Saarinen, Cranbrook has served as a hub of American Modernism for nearly a century. In the earliest years, both Booth and Saarinen were inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement taking place concurrently in England and Scandinavia. This influenced their desire to return to an emphasis on careful design and hand-made production in American culture. Producing diverse artists and designers such as Ray and Charles Eames, Florence Knoll and Duane Hanson, the Academy is still today a close knit living-learning community whose members have significant impact in the world of art, architecture, and design.