Lilian Swann Saarinen facts for kids

Lilian Louisa "Lily" Swann Saarinen (born April 17, 1912 – died May 22, 1995) was a talented American sculptor, artist, and writer. She was known for her amazing sculptures, especially those of animals. Lily was also the first wife of the famous Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen. They sometimes worked together on projects.

Early Life and Education

Lily Swann Saarinen was born in New York City. Her father passed away when she was very young. She attended Miss Chapin's School in Manhattan. During her summers, she loved to study sculpture in Connecticut.

She began her serious art studies at the Art Students League of New York. She learned from famous sculptors like Alexander Archipenko. Later, she moved to Michigan to study at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. There, she learned from the well-known artist Carl Milles.

A Passion for Skiing

When Lily was a teenager, she spent winters learning to ski in Austria. She was so good that she became an alternate for the first U.S. Women's Alpine Ski Team. This team competed in the 1936 Winter Olympics.

Marriage to Eero Saarinen

Lily met Eero Saarinen at Cranbrook Academy. Eero's father, Eliel Saarinen, was a teacher there. Lily and Eero married on June 10, 1939. They had two children, Eric and Susan. They later divorced in 1954. After their divorce, Lily moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Artistic Career and Works

Lily Saarinen was a very creative person. She drew pictures for magazines like Child Life. In 1935, she illustrated a children's book for the Bronx Zoo called Picture Book Zoo. She also wrote and illustrated her own children's book, Who Am I?, in 1946.

Early Sculpture Projects

Lily created many sculptures early in her career. She made 23 clay reliefs, mostly of animals, for the Crow Island School in Winnetka, Illinois. She also made reliefs for U.S. post offices in Carlisle, Kentucky and Bloomfield, Indiana. She often added ceramic art to her husband's building designs.

Bagheera Fountain at Boston Public Garden

Famous Animal Sculptures

One of her most famous sculptures is Night, now known as Bagheera. She showed it at the 1939 World's Fair. This sculpture shows Bagheera, the black panther from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, hunting an owl. Today, you can see the Bagheera Fountain in the Boston Public Garden. It is part of the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.

Lily was especially good at creating animal portraits. She made a sculpture for Royal Dutch Airlines at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. Another important work is Screaming Eagle (1951). This abstract sculpture of a bald eagle is made of welded brass rods. It is located at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Detroit Branch Building in Detroit, Michigan.

She also created the Fountain of Noah (1954) at the Northland Center shopping mall in Southfield, Michigan. She designed interior sculptures for a restaurant in Chicago. In Boston, Massachusetts, she made a large mural of Boston Harbor with clay sea creatures.

Teaching and Later Works

In 1945, Lily taught ceramic sculpture to soldiers recovering from injuries. She also taught art at several schools. These included the Pratt Institute in New York City and the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston. She even taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her cousin, Edie Sedgwick, was one of her private students.

Lily Saarinen won several awards for her art. These included the A.H. Huntington First Prize.

Later Life and Legacy

Lily Saarinen passed away on May 22, 1995, in Cohasset, Massachusetts. She was 83 years old. Her beautiful sculptures and illustrations continue to be admired today.