Architecture vs. Mythology

Words by Marie Penny

Ralph Norton to Doris Reno at The Miami Herald, September 4, 1941.

If you happen to be driving up Diana Place in West Palm Beach you won’t be able to miss the statue of Actaeon at the Norton Museum of Art. This side of the museum on South Olive Avenue was the original entrance and is an Art Deco structure with a tripartite, symmetrical façade. Sculptures of the mythological figures Diana and Actaeon reside in niches that extend from the two wings of the façade.

However, Diana and Actaeon do not align with the streets named after them. You might wonder why this divergence occurred. The statues were repositioned from their original placement so that their story would make sense. Intrigued, I learned this story was uncovered through archival letters, a newspaper article, and testimony from a surviving architect.

Diana and Actaeon, circa 1941, images arranged to show narrative orientation.

The Myth

Diana was the Roman goddess of the hunt, a chaste goddess who valued her independence and privacy. One day the hunter Actaeon came upon her bathing. She shot him with an arrow so that he could not disclose what he saw. He was transformed into a stag and killed by his own dogs who did not recognize their master. The sculptures depict Diana shooting her arrow and the transformation of Actaeon.

The Modernist Perspective

The Norton Museum of Art was founded in 1941 by Ralph Hubbard Norton and his wife Elizabeth Calhoun Norton. Norton commissioned Marion Sims Wyeth of the firm Wyeth & King to design the museum.  Wyeth recommended the artist Paul Manship to design the sculptures in the façade. Manship’s sculptures were known for their mythological content and elegant sense of movement. The statue in the plaza at New York’s Rockefeller Center, Prometheus (1933) is one of his most renowned works.

Before the doors of the museum opened, Norton—in agreement with Wyeth and Manship—decided to reverse their positions. In doing so, it appeared that Diana was shooting her arrow but not aiming at Actaeon. Two streets that approach the entrance on South Olive Avenue were named after each of the figures.

Modernism influenced the opinions of the three men. An artist, a collector, and an architect had agreed that form was more important than myth. They reasoned that the architectural expression of a building is a good reason to err on the side of form. However, the question of why they made this decision would resurface 45 years later. 

Letter from Wyeth to Norton, 1940, narrative placement is discussed

The Story Within a Story

In 1985, the Palm Beach Post published an article about the “switched statues” and conducted a poll to determine if they should be returned to their narrative-appropriate locations. The Post cited letters from the museum’s archive, which were illuminating but did not include details about who made the decision to install them in the current configuration. William Johnson, one of the architects who worked at Wyeth & King, provided vital information in a response to the article.

Palm Beach Post article, 1985

Letter from architect William Johnson to the Palm Beach Post, 1985, decision to reverse the statues clarified

Johnson wrote:

“When the Gallery was nearing completion and the sculptures were in place, Mr. Norton, Marion Wyeth and I met one morning on the sidewalk at Olive Avenue, directly opposite the main entrance, where we discussed Mr. Norton’s feeling that from such an angle, the figures 'came out of their niches,' and the desirability of reversing them.

To me—who had made study after large scale study of the niches…in order to determine the scale at which the sculptures would be cast—this came as no surprise as they had been recessed only partly, deliberately, to avoid the disproportionate width of niches deep enough to accommodate them.

I do not remember Marion Wyeth’s reaction, but mine was that, aside from the “story telling” aspect, their relative positions made very little difference. Anyhow, after discussing the matter pro and con we phoned Paul Manship, whose attitude was that the fable was of minor importance compared to aesthetic consideration, and by all means to reverse them if we thought best.”

Johnson’s letter confirmed that the decision was aesthetic and made by consensus. Diana and Actaeon were eventually repositioned in 2002 (the feedback to the 1985 poll was a resounding yes). Depending on the context, there is no right or wrong orientation, but now Diana’s arrow is pointed at Actaeon and the myth’s narrative is clear. Only the incongruous street names betray their past.

Marie Penny is the Archivist at the Norton Museum of Art. She has an MLS from Queens College, and was previously the Director of Archives at Richard Meier & Partners. To learn more about the Norton archives, please visit Norton from Home.