Douglas Tilden Baseball Bronze Sculpture @ Seattle Art Museum

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Posted By: davidcycleback

We talked about this sculpture some time back. This afternoon I was at the Seattle Art Museum, which has a billion dollar plus collection and, amongst the Picassos, Rothkos, Rembrandts and Edward Hoppers was one of the 19th century bronzes, The Pitcher. The bronze was made c. 1889 and shows an 1870s pitcher. It was detailed and the uniform (and underhanded pitching) appeared accurate. I walked by it and thought, "Is that a baseball player?" If any Seattlites want to see it, it's on the third floor.

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Posted By: Mark

Thanks for the heads-up, David! This is perhaps the most revered baseball sculpture of all-time...



I will definitely be checking it out!

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Posted By: Max Weder

Mark or David

Do you know how many castings were made?

Max

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Posted By: Mark

I wish I knew the answer, but do not, Max... obviously, surviving examples are very few and far between.

Perhaps either David or Carlton Hendricks knows the answer. I know Carlton has written extensively about this piece... Carlton??

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Posted By: davidcycleback

According to REA, fewer than ten are believed to have been made. It was originally planned that 89 would be made, but the high cost of production limited production to a small fraction of that number.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

I like the Seattle Art Museum anyway. Nice selection of modern and old, and nice location downtown. In case any out of towners plan on visiting, the Museum has three locations: main building downtown, Asian Museum in suburb and Olympic Sculpture Park. The baseball sculpture is in the downtown museum. It normally costs admission to the downtown museum, but I believe it's free admission one day a month (check website). It's in the center of downtown, nice tourist friendly area, close walking distance to the downtown sites-- Pike Street Market (about 3 blocks away), aquarium, recently built library famous for his unique architecture, stores, restaurants, etc. About 50 percent of the tv show Frazer fictitiously takes place in the area, as that's where Frazer Crane lives.

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Posted By: Mike H

Carlton has an example