Love and Hope, or Messaggio di Speranza

Virginio Ferrari (b. 1937)

Commissioned 1963
Installed 1967

Bronze
94.5 x 78.7 x 47.2 in (240 x 200 x 120 cm)

Located at the University of Chicago Medicine’s Silvain and Arma Wyler Pavilion
5837 S Maryland Ave

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Pick, Jr.

Virginio Ferarri’s sculpture Love and Hope or Messagio di Speranza (Message of Hope) was commissioned by Mr. and Mrs. Albert Pick Jr. in 1963. It was a gift for the Silvain and Arma Wyler Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago and was unveiled in the lobby in 1967 to an expectant audience. Due to administrative changes and the construction of the new Comer Children’s Hospital just two blocks north, the sculpture has been relocated outside the entrance to Wyler, which now serves as a general medical center. The sculpture at once announces itself as a decorative organic contrast to the stark Modernist entrance, and also stands as an intimate monument both to the building’s original purpose and to the families that used the hospital.

The eight–foot tall work depicts an uplifting scene between a mother and a child. The abstract figures positioned on the right are recognizably human, albeit with bulbous heads and extended limbs, and are perched atop an ascending sheet of bronze that extends upwards to the far left of the sculpture. The formal composition suggests a structural balance between the two themes of love and hope. While the mother and child are literally attached to the sheet of bronze, the two are presented as separate entities in the sculpture: love on the right, hope on the left. This structural binary between figurative depictions of two discrete yet harmonious emotions demonstrates Ferrari’s adeptness at presenting balance in his work. The intricately textured surface vacillates between rough and smooth, streamlined and jagged.

Ferrari often spoke about the importance of the work’s environmental contexts and how they ultimately informed his approach to making the sculpture. When visiting the incomplete architectural site, he said:

I learned of hopes and dreams this building symbolized both for the men of medicine and the parents and children who would be entering thru (sic) its doors.

Ferrari’s sculpture both in its original siting in the lobby and its contemporary setting outdoors serves as a threshold for hope. Both sites position the sculpture within an entrance, whether the viewer is being welcomed once inside the lobby or when approaching the front doors. The current siting may be even more effective in pronouncing the idea of a threshold—as the viewer scales the stairs, they are greeted by the imagery of a mother’s welcome arms and lap, which directs the viewer’s eyes upward toward the large, curving sheet of bronze and the uplifted arms of the child figure.

However, it is unclear to what extent Ferrari wishes to direct the respective expressions of love and hope only to the families. He also draws inspiration from the aspirations of those in the medical profession. In his explanation he cites the hospital as a symbol of hope “both for the men of medicine and the parents and children.” While the mother and child motif suggests love and hope as central to the idea of a family, the sculpture itself engages with an atypical approach to figuration through the use of somewhat uncanny abstract figures and asymmetrical bronze planes motioning upwards in various directions. These formal aspects which direct the sculptures movement outwards—rather than inwards towards what could have been an intimate maternal scene—imply that the message of hope extends to a broader audience, especially that of the medical complex and the field of medicine in general.

In a Chicago Tribune article, Ferrari said that the idea for the sculpture arose from “medicine as a new mother for the sick child”. Perhaps this is why the sculpture departs from classical imagery of mother and child. Early works, such as Sandro Botticelli’s painting The Virgin and Child, depict a resigned Madonna, gazing down, gently clutching an angelic infant in her arms. In Love and Hope, however, there is a sense of wide open arms and a welcoming gaze. The two figures on the left can be read as two triumphant children soaring upwards while perhaps the sheet of bronze could be read as the mother herself, facing outwards like a mast on a ship. The body of the sheet of bronze can both be read as a protective barrier shielding the infants while also capturing imagery of an exultant mother giving birth to her children who float above. Ferrari’s depiction stands in contrast even to more modern abstract illustrations of mother and child.

With these points of reference in mind, Ferrari’s abstraction can be seen as a choice to break a canonical mode of depicting a mother and child while also referring back to his conception of medicine as a mother for sick children. Medicine as mother certainly explains the grandiose gestures rampant throughout the sculpture which echo the investment at the time being put into modern science and medicine. The building of a large, state–of–the–art children’s hospital equipped with modern design and modern facilities stands as a testament to this trend. Even the meticulous surface treatment of the sculpture could be read as echoing the exacting precision of a doctor’s hands during surgery. While the surface is not clean and polished, the scrupulous care given to small surface attributes like the intricate cylindrical bars attached to the large sheet of bronze demonstrate Ferrari’s attention to detail.

Written by Lexi Drexelius, AB in Art History, 2018

Artist profile

Virginio Ferrari

(Italian, b. 1937)

Biography

Virginio Ferrari is an internationally recognized Italian sculptor who, beginning in 1966, spent ten years at the University of Chicago as a faculty member in the Department of Art (part of which is now the Department of Visual Arts). By the age of 30, in addition to his faculty post, he was already a sculptor-in-residence at the Midway Studios and had exhibited work at The Renaissance Society. More than thirty of his works dot Chicago’s streets, parks, and plazas, and several of them live on campus at the University.

Three of his most visible sculptures are Dialogo, Interlocking, and Caring. Dialogo (1971), outside of Pick Hall, is a bronze monumental sculpture commemorating Albert Pick Jr.; Interlocking (1993) sits in the Laboratory School’s courtyard as a stainless steel interactive bench; and Caring (2015), one of the newest additions, is a massive marble sculpture commissioned in honor of the Bucksbaum Foundation for the lobby of the Center for Care and Discovery at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

All of his campus works embody Ferrari’s dedication to civic art’s accessibility and its essential role in the everyday experience of the city. In his statement at a retrospective in 1995, he wrote, “I want to create situations that delight the eye, in the streets and squares and corners of the city. I want the passer-by to be pleasantly surprised to encounter sculpture, as though it were a natural part of the city landscape.” Ferrari still practices in his Chicago studio and in Guardistallo, Italy, and his work continues to surprise city-goers and connect the expansive urban fabric to its people.

Written by Zoe Kauder-Nalebuff, AB in Geography, 2016

Sources

Powers, Irene, “Many await unveiling of Ferrari Sculpture,” Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL), Jan. 6th, 1967, 16

Quintavalle, Arturo Carlo, and Parma (Italy). Universita. Instuto di storia dell’arte. Virginio Ferrari: Gocce D’amore Pop. Parma: Tip. La nazionale, 1971.,34

Gallery

Click on the image to zoom in

Detail on Love and Hope (by Lexi Drexelius) (1 of 2)

Love and Hope (by Lexi Drexelius) (2 of 2)

Love and Hope, or Messaggio di Speranza

Virginio Ferrari (b. 1937)

Commissioned 1963
Installed 1967

Read more

Artist profile

Virginio Ferrari

Biography

Related Links

Sources

Further Reading

Gallery

Love and Hope, or Messaggio di Speranza

Virginio Ferrari (b. 1937)

Commissioned 1963Installed 1967

Read more

Artist profile

Virginio Ferrari

Biography

Related Links

Sources

Further Reading

Gallery

Commissioned 1963
Installed 1967