Renaissance Of The City Update

Renaissance Of The City, May 1965. Video capture.

I

n November 2013  I wrote about a sculpture by Robert Helsmoortel called Renaissance Of The City that once was located on Peachtree Street in downtown. At some point the sculpture was removed and I haven't been able to locate it and wondered if it had been destroyed, sold or was sitting in a private collection or a city warehouse. I still haven't had any luck in locating the sculpture though I am still trying however, I have found out more on the history of it.

I have been able to locate a video of television news footage located in the University of Georgia archives that was taken the day of the installation on the street. The film is black and white 16mm and was shot on May 18th, 1965. Even though I may not know when and where the sculpture disappeared I have established the date of installation.

Here is the model they had on site that day for the installation.

 Robert Helsmoortel was on site the day of the installation. That is him standing there supervising the work, taking photos and wearing the black tie and coveralls.

 

Now for a sense of scale as to how large this sculpture was it was transported on the back of a flat bed tractor trailer truck.

It took a large crane to lift the pieces of the sculpture into place.

Then workers put the final touches on securing it into place in front of Peachtree Center.

How long it stayed there and what happened to the sculpture remains a mystery.