Spanning the Continent

Spanning the Continent, Robert Laurent’s interpretation of the American migration westward, was the first sculpture installed in the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial in 1938 by Association for Public Art (then known as Fairmount Park Art Association). The work was described by art critic Dorothy Grafly as an expression of “rugged individualism;” the man and woman are “taking the continent in their stride, wheel between them, and ax in hand.”

Born in the Breton region of France, Laurent was discovered at the age of 11 by the American art critic and painter Hamilton Easter Field, who brought the young artist to the United States and supervised his education. In his adopted country, Laurent became a pioneer in the revival of direct carving in wood and stone.

The Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial

The Association for Public Art established and maintains the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial, which includes three terraces and seventeen sculptures that were commissioned over a period of thirty years.

Ellen Phillips Samuel (1849-1913) was an active member of the Fairmount Park Art Association (although she could not serve on the all-male Board) and a philanthropic supporter of many cultural activities in Philadelphia. When she died in 1913, she left the bulk of her estate in trust to the Art Association, specifying that the income be used to create a series of sculptural monuments “emblematic of the history of America.” Her bequest was said to be one of the largest of its kind in the country at the time. When these funds became available upon the death of her husband J. Bunford Samuel in 1929, the Association appointed a planning committee, which decided that the Samuel Memorial should express major ideas and spiritual forces as well as chronological developments in American history.

To identify sculptors for the Samuel Memorial, the committee organized three international exhibitions at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. These Sculpture Internationals, in 1933, 1940, and 1949, brought together the works of hundreds of sculptors from the United States and abroad. The exhibitions contributed not only to the Samuel Memorial but also to the general awareness of contemporary sculpture throughout the Philadelphia area and beyond.

Central Terrace

Construction of the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial began with the Central Terrace. Six sculptors were commissioned to create two large bronze monuments and four complementary figures in limestone. These works express the twin themes of America’s westward expansion and the new nation’s welcome to immigrants from other lands.

Other Sculptures in the Central Terrace of the Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial

The Ploughman (1938) by J. Wallace Kelly

Welcoming to Freedom (1939) by Maurice Sterne

The Miner (1938) by John B. Flannagan

The Slave (1940) by Hélène Sardeau

The Immigrant (1933) by Heinz Warneke

The Spirit of Enterprise (1958) by Jacques Lipchitz

Content on this page was adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, 1992). Bach was the longtime Executive Director of the Association for Public Art, working with the organization from 1980 to 2022.