Whence the Bohemian Grove owl?

[brujaja]

I met a nice young man yesterday, and we struck up a conversation about many things. Among them was a question he posed which my best google-fu has been unable to answer: What is the provenance of the 40-foot owl statue at the Bohemian Grove?

One would think that such a remarkable work of art should be readily attributable to a known artist or at least a donor.

[dolphinboy]

According to Wiki…

Since the founding of the club, the Bohemian Grove’s mascot has been an owl, symbolizing knowledge. A 40-foot (12 m) hollow owl statue made of concrete over steel supports stands at the head of the lake in the Grove; this Owl Shrine was designed by sculptor and two-time club president Haig Patigian, and built in the 1920s. Since 1929, the Owl Shrine has served as the backdrop of the yearly Cremation of Care ceremony.

[Steken]

@dolphinboy

this Owl Shrine was designed by sculptor and two-time club president Haig Patigian

Mr. Patigian in front of his owl.

[brujaja]

Oh, how embarrassing … I read the wiki page, but not carefully enough I guess.

Ignorance fought! Thanks folks!

[CalMeacham]

According to his Wikipedia page, here are some of his works:

Selected public works[edit]

Entrance of 600 Stockton, San Francisco, the former Metropolitan Life building, now a Ritz-Carlton hotel. Visible behind a decorated Christmas tree are the Ionic columns surmounted by a pediment containing a tableau created in 1920 by Patigian for his client Timothy L. Pflueger of Miller and Pflueger, architects

Vanity, shown in 1916 at the Palace of Fine ArtsMcKinley statue in Arcata, California, 1906
Electricity, Imagination, Invention and Steam; four repeated sculptures at the Machinery Palace, Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915) (destroyed)[4]
General John Pershing, San Francisco, California, 1921
Abraham Lincoln, San Francisco, California, 1928
Thomas Starr King (1931)
This work resided in the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. as one of California’s contributions to the National Statuary Hall Collection until being replaced by a statue of Ronald Reagan in 2009.Volunteer Firemen Memorial, San Francisco, California, 1933

Architectural sculpture[edit]
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, tympanum, San Francisco, California, circa 1895 (removed)
San Francisco Savings Union Bank building, pediment, San Francisco, California, 1911
Palace of Fine Art & the Machinery Palace, (now destroyed) Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915
Metropolitan Life Insurance Building, (now the Ritz Carlton Hotel) pediment, San Francisco, California, 1920
Navigation, Aviation, and Industry, Richfield Tower, Los Angeles, California, allegorical figures, 1928
when the building was demolished in 1968 the figures were moved to the Art Museum of the University of California, Santa BarbaraDepartment of Commerce Building, pediment, Washington D.C., 1934

He seems to have been a classical realist sculptor, but the Owl looks kinda abstract.

Patigian was an active member of the Bohemian Club, serving two terms as club president. He designed the Owl Shrine, a 40-foot high hollow concrete and steel structure which was built in the 1920s to have the appearance of a natural rock outcropping which happened to resemble an owl.[1] The Owl Shrine became the centerpiece of the Cremation of Care ceremony at the Bohemian Grove in 1929

Haig Patigian

[CalMeacham]

I have it!

The Bohemian Grove Owl is the original inspiration for Batman!

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A0LEVwwusI1VMoQAPBJXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyYmZ1ZmJzBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDQjAzOTZfMQRzZWMDc2M-?p=Bohemian+Grove+Owl&fr=yfp-t-252#id=1&iurl=http%3A%2F%2Fold.conspil.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fcreamation_old.jpg&action=click

Hey! I wonder if the Bohemian Club has anything to do with the Court of Owls?

[ftg]

Patigian should have gone with a ptarmigan, IMHO.

Birds known for hiding, via their lovely plumage.