Mystery Photo #56: Duluth Ice Sculpture

Paul Lundgren Nov 05, 2017 3 Comments

There’s not a lot to go on in the featured photo, but hold on …

… there are alternate versions that tell a bit more of the story. Clearly this Duluth ice sculpture was situated in the Duluth Civic Center, in front of the St. Louis County Court House.

And based on the Moon Boots and other fashions in the third photo, we can estimate the sculpture is probably from the middle or late 1980s. Who is the sculptor? What year exactly? Those are the mysteries. Solve if you can, Duluthiacs.

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3 Comments

Matthijs

about 7 years ago 

This one seems a little easier than usual. From a January 28, 1988 article in the Washington Post about Engelbert Hattenberger, an ice sculptor from Austria:  


This is Hattenberger's third year sculpting in Duluth; he planned to finish a globe and an eagle over the weekend. He keeps an eye on the project through the window of his room at the Radisson Hotel Duluth.

Different-colored lights will shine through the ice of the globe, outlining each continent, and an eagle will fly above it, he said.

Peterson, A. "Finding Soul in Ice," The Washington Post, January 28, 1988.

Matthijs

about 7 years ago 

Also, from the same article:
 

When the sun melts his sculpture, Hattenberger isn't sad that his work will not live for posterity.
 
"You have to accept that," he said. "And that's hard for some artists. But as long as I have a picture of it before it melts, I'm not upset."

Paul Lundgren

about 7 years ago 

Fantastic solve, Matthijs!

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