Where’d It Come From?
Decatur Metro | June 18, 2010
Mr. Chris Billingsley sends along a pic and writes…
I am seeking information on an item that is thought to be from Decatur Girls High. When this was delivered to Decatur High School two years ago, we were told that it was on display in the teachers lounge at Girls High. If you have any information on this item, please contact Mr. Chris Billingsley (cbillingsley@csdecatur.net) or respond to the blog. Thanks.
Personally, I’ve never heard of Decatur Girls High, but the DHS Alumni page references it. Oh wait, was that when the high school was segregated between boys and girls?
Click the pic to enlarge.
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My dad went to Decatur Boys High in the early 1950’s, but graduated from DHS in 1955. I’m not sure of the exact year the Boys and Girls highs merged to become one DHS, but it had to be sometime between 1951-1955.
My mom said her class (graduated in ’57) entered 8th grade the year it went co-ed. She thinks it was co-ed to begin with, then at some point was divided, and then went back to co-ed her 8th grade year…she’s thinking her mom may have been in the first class that was divided. My mom and her “Decatur Girls” friends still get together once a month for dinner! Recently they tried Leon’s which was my (great? great-great?) Uncle Dick’s service station way back when.
This piece looks very similar to the frieze that is in Candler Library at Emory. Interesting story behind that frieze…
.”…Installed when the library was built in 1926, this plaster frieze depicting “The Triumph of Alexander” ornamented the walls of Candler for decades. The twenty-six panels of the frieze faded from the University’s collective memory after they disappeared from the Candler walls during renovations in the mid-1950s. Recently, however, a photograph of the building’s lobby discovered in the University archives reminded library staff members of the frieze’s existence. ”
The frieze was found in the attic 40 years after the 1950’s renovation, and was refurbished in the most recent gorgeous renovation. Perhaps a piece of it was given to Decatur High School during that first renovation?
While I don’t know where this particular frieze fragment came from, it is indeed identical to one of the central panels from “The Triumph of Alexander” by the Danish sculptor Bartholomew Thorwaldsen, a plaster reproduction of which hangs in the third floor lobby of the Candler Library on the quadrangle of Emory University. I have an image of the panel but I can’t figure out how to upload it. Here’s a link to more information about the frieze:
http://www.college.emory.edu/candler/history/index.html
Charles, feel free to send the image to and I’ll post it here. Thanks!
Fantastic! I keept google-image searching “roman frieze chariot” but never found a match.
Perhaps it is a bas-relief in the style of the Elgin marbles, but made in the 20th century. The wheel seems to resemble wheels from some of the known fragments of the frieze. It also looks like it’s made of plaster and perhaps imagines a missing piece. Why not ask the curators of the Carlos Museum at Emory? They probably could help.