The Four Elements

Carl Paul Jennewein modeled The Four Elements as female figures, representing Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. Completed in 1936, the over-life-size sculptures are installed in the U.S. Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C. Wearing a chiton with its columnar folds draping the ground, Earth balances a child on her shoulder who carries a sheaf of wheat. This symbolizes the earth’s nourishment of human life through agriculture. The sculptor enlisted his daughter as the model for Fire, who is partially draped and holds in her left hand a vessel filled with flames and billowing smoke. Air gestures toward windswept clouds that carry two eagles aloft in flight. The figure of Water carries her namesake in an urn that rests heavily on her right shoulder.

Jennewein wrote: “Early in my career, I chose, as my major interest, collaboration with architects.” He sought to create sculpture that would enhance the design of a building, as does The Four Elements. The strong, vertical figures and the pleats of their clothing echo the lines of the pilasters, the rectangular columns projecting from the wall on either side of each sculpture. Because Jennewein oversaw the entire sculptural program for the building, the architects requested that he enlist other sculptors to help him complete these commissions. For The Four Elements, he produced small scale models and handed them over to John Donnelly, who enlarged them to scale. Donnelly was an architectural sculptor, who helped design the facades of the New York Public Library, the Woolworth Building, and Grand Central Terminal. Finally, Roger Morigi and his assistants carved The Four Elements out of Alabama limestone. Morigi was an Italian-born stone carver, who carved decorations on the exterior of the Washington National Cathedral.