Let’s Hear It for Generic Scientist Guy
About the nifty sculpture below: we drive by this all the time. It’s located in downtown Phoenix’s Encanto Park, surrounded by a grove of Italian cypresses that threaten to grow over the poor guy. It always fascinated me, but I’ve never actually gone out to look at it up close until now. Although it was erected in 1957, the simplified man in the laboratory coat has more of an optimistic ’30s feel. Very appealing.
The inscription on the base reads” “World Progress Through Scientific Research In The Laboratory. Designed in fulfillment of the wishes of the donor and given to the city of Phoenix by Helen B. Rogers, 1957. Charles Badger Martin, sculptor.” I haven’t been able to find much info on either Rogers or Martin.
April 20th, 2011 at 10:28 pm
Charles B. Martin
i never met Charles, but knew his family well. Their home in Phoenix was his design and very creative, although in what still is a bad neighborhood.
I’m sure his wife has passed on since then. She was a loving person struggling to make ends meet. His daughter, Ruth (aka Aurora), took over his sculpture business and duplicated her father’s art pieces with more detail, in my opinion, than her father’s workd ever showed. Martin, the elder son, went off to San Francisco and Susie, took care of her mom in Sedona, where Ruth also moved to. I miss all of them, Ernest McIntyre
April 21st, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Thanks for the info, Ernest! I wonder if that home is still standing.