Historic Knight Library: Art & Architecture

Artist: Louis Utter Pritchard. 
Date: 1937. Medium: carved Brownsville sandstone. Dimensions: 4 ft. x 4 ft. x 2 ft. 
Location:  Original location: Patio, roof of west wing. Current location:  South Reading Room.

The original location of Deer and Fawn was on the railing of a patio on the roof of the west wing of the library.  It has been moved several times, and is currently in the Knight Library South Reading Room.  A companion piece, Cougar and Cub, was located on the opposite side, on the roof of the east wing of the library.

By the mid-1980s, the sculpture was in bad shape due to its exposure to the elements and the corrosive effects of iron rods used to hold it together as part of an earlier restoration effort.  The statue was placed inside of Knight Library.  Tommy Griffin, exhibits curator at the Museum of Art, and a trained sculptor, volunteered to restore the work by filling in fragments, and resealing and refinishing the work.

FLOOR PLANS & ART GUIDE

SOURCES

Dawson, Shasta.  Correspondence with Edward H. Teague. Shasta Dawson is the daughter of Walter and Louise Pritchard.

Emerson, Kim, "University of Oregon Library and Memorial Quadrangle," National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, August 15, 1989.

"The Library," Ellis Lawrence Building Survey. v.2 (Eugene). Compiled by the Historic Preservation Program, School of Architecture and Allied Arts, University of Oregon ; project directors, Michael Shellenbarger, Kimberly Lakin. [Salem, Or.] : State Historic Preservation Office, [1989].

"Pritchard Presents Statues to Art School." Oregon Daily Emerald, April 7, 1936. Refers to Walter Pritchard's donation of two sculptures he created with WPA support.

Stave, Tom.  "Reference Collection Harbors Rescued Pair," Library News, 1988.