Page 2 - July Newsletter
P. 2
The Winged Victory of the Philadelphia
High School for Girls
AKA The Winged Victory of Samothrace.
AKA The Victory of Samothrace. AKA Nike
of Samothrace.
By Dorothy G. Kapenstein Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Possibly the person who chose her
The white plaster figure of a to be the symbol of the casino
beautiful woman presides over the thought she might bring victory to
Pink Marble Hall on the first floor of gamblers. Distinguished Architect
the building that now houses the Frank Lloyd Wright thought the
Philadelphia High School for Girls. statue was beautiful. He used her
Great wings grow from her likeness in a number of his projects.
shoulders. She wears a These include three homes, the
magnificently flowing chiton, a Storer House, the Martin House and
garment that clings to her the Ward Willetts House. The Italian
beautifully carved form as if she poet and philosopher Filippo
were standing on the deck of a ship Marinetti (1876-1948) did not find
in a wild storm at sea. Many people any beauty in her at all. He founded
think of her as our copy of a classical a system of thought that he called
Greek statue, but she is actually a Futurism. His idea was to obliterate
Hellenistic work of art, created the past and concentrate on the
during the surge of classically future. In 1908, he wrote:” A
inspired civilization that arose with screaming automobile that seems
the conquests of Alexander the to run on grapeshot is more
Great and continued to flourish until beautiful than the Winged Victory.”
it blended with the culture of Rome. Marinetti was also a founding father
The original work, carved from of the Fascist Party in Italy. That just
white Parian marble, now resides in goes to show us that he had no
the Louvre Museum in Paris. taste.
Copies of the statue appear in
unexpected places. For instance, a
large replica stands before Caesar’s
