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Image / Griffith Observatory Astronomers Monument at sunset

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Title
Griffith Observatory Astronomers Monument at sunset
Alternative Title
Los Angeles Photographers Photo Collection;
Creator
Schultheis, Herman
Contributor
Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation
Date Created and/or Issued
Circa 1937
Contributing Institution
Los Angeles Public Library
Collection
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
Rights Information
Images available for reproduction and use. Please see the Ordering & Use page at http://tessa.lapl.org/OrderingUse.html for additional information.
Description
Title supplied by cataloger.; Herman J. Schultheis was born in Aachen, Germany in 1900, and immigrated to the United States in the mid-1920s after obtaining a Ph.D. in mechanical and electrical engineering. He married Ethel Wisloh in 1936, and the pair moved to Los Angeles the following year. He worked in the film industry from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s, most notably on the animated features Fantasia and Pinocchio. His detailed notebook, documenting the special effects for Fantasia, is the subject of a 14-minute short-subject included on the film's DVD. In 1949, he started employment with Librascope as a patent engineer. Schultheis was an avid amateur photographer who traveled the world with his cameras. It was on one of these photographic exhibitions in 1955 that he disappeared in the jungles of Guatemala. His remains were discovered 18 months later. The digitized portion of this collection represents the images Schultheis took of Los Angeles and its surrounding communities after he relocated to the area in 1937.
The Astronomers Monument is a large outdoor concrete sculpture on the front lawn of Griffith Observatory that pays homage to six of the greatest astronomers: Hipparchus, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and Herschel. Artist Archibald Garner designed the sculpture commissioned by the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). Garner worked with five other artists (each responsible for sculpting one astronomer) including George Stanley responsible for the "Oscar" statuette. The monument was dedicated November 25, 1934, six months before the Observatory opened. Griffith Park was declared Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #942 in 2009.
This sunset view of the wide lawns and Astronomers Monument from Griffith Observatory includes cars parked along the street and the mountains behind.
Type
Image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;11 x 15 cm.
Photographic prints
Identifier
00096748
Herman J Schultheis Collection; Los Angeles Photographers Collection;
N-005-539 8x10
CARL0005099421
http://173.196.26.125/cdm/ref/collection/photos/id/38655
Subject
Griffith Observatory
Public Works of Art Project (U.S.)
Astronomers--Statues--California--Los Angeles
Sculpture--California--Los Angeles
Lawns--California--Los Angeles
Landscape architecture--California--Los Angeles
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments
Automobiles--California--Los Angeles
Mountains--California, Southern
Sun--Rising and setting
Griffith Park (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Santa Monica Mountains (Calif.)
Schultheis Collection photographs
Garner, Archibald
Stanley, George
Burnham, Roger Noble,1876-1962
Foerester, Arnold
Newell, Gordon(Blair Gordon)

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