Happy birthday, 'Spirit of Detroit' — how it became a symbol for city

Famed sculptor Marshall Fredericks may not have realized just how important his "Spirit of Detroit" statue would become when he crafted it some 60 years ago.

At a May 12 anniversary party — a 60th birthday party of sorts — Detroit will celebrate how the jolly green giant sitting at the entrance to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center at Woodard and Jefferson has grown into far more than a work of public art.

Its image now graces coffee mugs and T-shirts. It shows up in political cartoons and commercial logos. Like the Old English D, the "Spirit of Detroit" has become synonymous with the city itself, and rivals the "D" in importance as a civic icon.

The small plaza in front of the "Spirit of Detroit" has become one of the most photographed, and sometimes contested, sites in Detroit. Political protesters pose with their banners in front of the "Spirit." So do graduating seniors, families on holiday, servicemen and women on leave, and politicos seeking votes.

And, of course, at playoff time, the "Spirit of Detroit" dons the jersey of whichever local heroes are going for the gold.

“In my mind, there is no image of Detroit that supersedes the 'Spirit of Detroit,' ” said Gregory McDuffee, executive director of the Detroit-Wayne Joint Building Authority that owns and maintains the sculpture.

On May 12, the city will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the "Spirit of Detroit" with a party and fund-raiser for the the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, which is located on the campus of the Saginaw Valley State University. The museum houses numerous works by Fredericks, as well as visiting shows by other artists.

The celebration will be held at One Woodward, the Minoru Yamasaki-designed office tower facing "Spirit." Tickets for the event are available in two tiers: $60 tickets include cocktails, canapes and music in the lobby and on the patio, and $250 tickets include a sit-down dinner in The Beacon room on the second floor of One Woodward.

Tickets are available for purchase at http://marshallfredericks.org/spiritofdetroit/.

I'm honored to be serving as emcee of the event.

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Marilyn Wheaton, director of the Marshall Fredericks Museum, said that people bring their own interpretations to Fredericks' work.

“The 'Spirit of Detroit' means many things to many people,” Wheaton told me. “In Detroit, it is beloved. To the artist, it meant a great deal to be invited to collaborate with the architects Harley, Ellington & Day on this new city-county government building in the heart of Detroit's new civic center."

Born in 1908, Fredericks grew up in Cleveland, taught at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II, and settled in suburban Birmingham, working in his studios in Royal Oak and Bloomfield Hills.

Over a long career, Fredericks' work spoke to the public in ways both inspiring and whimsical.

Some of his larger creations, like "Spirit of Detroit," came to symbolize their cities. There was the Cleveland War Memorial Fountain: "Peace Arising from the Flames of War," or the much-photographed "American Eagle" on the federal building in Cincinnati.

Fredericks produced amusing works on a smaller scale, too, often with children in mind, like his beloved "Lion and Mouse," commissioned by the J.L. Hudson Co. for Eastland Center in Harper Woods in 1957. His "Leaping Gazelle" and the "Boy and Bear" became famous.

Along with architects Yamasaki and Eero Saarinen, the hit-makers at Motown and gritty novelists including Elmore Leonard, Fredericks ranked among Detroit's greatest artists in the mid- to late-20th Century.

Fredericks died in 1998 at the age of 90 after leaving his archives and materials to the museum named for him in Saginaw.

Detroit commissioned "Spirit" in 1955 as a grace note for its new city hall. It cost $58,000, or close to $500,000 in today's money. The statue was dedicated on Sept. 23, 1958. Cast in Oslo, Norway, it was reported to be the largest bronze statue created since the Renaissance.

The figure itself is 26 feet tall. In its left hand, the figure holds a gilt bronze sphere that symbolizes God. The people in the figure's right hand are a family group symbolizing humanity.

As he was working on the statue, Fredericks wrote in 1956. "I love people, for I have learned through many experiences, both happy and sad, how beautiful and wonderful they can be; therefore I want more than anything in the world to do sculpture that will have real meaning for other people, many people, and might in some way encourage, inspire or give them happiness."

I think he achieved that.

Contact John Gallagher: 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jgallagherfreep.