Boy with a Dolphin (seasonal)

Artist Name

David Wynne, Mayo Clinic

Installation Date

1984

Materials

Bronze Sculpture

Details

Property of Mayo Clinic.

"Boy with a Dolphin" is a 13-foot bronze sculpture which in the words of its creator, David Wynne, has a theme of joy and well-being. Describing the work, Wynne notes: "The boy is being shown that if you trust the world, the thrills and great happiness are yours. He rides the crest of the wave. The wave is, of course, the dolphin, the natural world undreamed by us in our everyday state. It is more powerful than us, but benign. We now know that to study the other creatures on the planet, it is better to enter their worlds, rather than killing them and dragging them back to ours. If one meets the dolphin in the sea, he is the genial host, you the honored guest. It is such a meeting that inspired me to share the experience by making this sculpture. The model for the boy was my youngest son, Roland. The dolphin is a mature male bottle-nosed, or common dolphin." The sculpture was a gift to the Mayo Foundation from Count and Countess Theo and Ida Rossi di Montelara of Geneva, Switzerland."Boy with a Dolphin" is a 13-foot bronze sculpture which in the words of its creator, David Wynne, has a theme of joy and well-being. Describing the work, Wynne notes: "The boy is being shown that if you trust the world, the thrills and great happiness are yours. He rides the crest of the wave. The wave is, of course, the dolphin, the natural world undreamed by us in our everyday state. It is more powerful than us, but benign. We now know that to study the other creatures on the planet, it is better to enter their worlds, rather than killing them and dragging them back to ours. If one meets the dolphin in the sea, he is the genial host, you the honored guest. It is such a meeting that inspired me to share the experience by making this sculpture. The model for the boy was my youngest son, Roland. The dolphin is a mature male bottle-nosed, or common dolphin." The sculpture was a gift to the Mayo Foundation from Count and Countess Theo and Ida Rossi di Montelara of Geneva, Switzerland.

About the Artist

David Wynne is inspired by the physical universe and a love of nature. These feelings are manifest in all his works which have been exhibited widely and appear throughout the world. He was born in England in 1926, the son of a sailor. He was educated at Stowe, then at Trinity College, Cambridge University, and served in the Royal Navy from 1944 to 1947. Returning to Cambridge after military service, he developed a strong interest in sculpting, and in 1949 became a sculptor without attending any formal art school. His first one-man exhibition was held in Leicester Gallery, London, in 1955. In 1972 a major retrospective of Wynne's work was organized for the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

Address

200 1st St SW
Rochester, MN 55902

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