The curious case of Frank Hayden's sculpture at the Claiborne Building: Can it be solved?

Standing on the edge of the William C.C. Claiborne Building's parking lot is a curious case of a forgotten sculpture.

Not familiar with the Claiborne Building? It's an eight-story state office building on Capitol Lake directly behind Louisiana's State Capitol. 

Technically, the address is 1201 N. Third St., but its parking lot is easiest accessed from River Road. That's where you'll notice Howard Kalish's steel bouquet, "One Plant, Many Flowers," standing center stage in front of the building. In all likelihood, you won't immediately notice Frank Hayden's sculpture — unless you're looking for it.

At this point, those familiar with the Baton Rouge art scene should interrupt this story with, "Wait, there's a Hayden sculpture outside the Claiborne Building?"

Yes, and to be fair, it's not covered or hidden behind anything. This sculpture of hands holding open books upward and downward simply hides in plain sight among a grouping of starter shrubs in a bed of mulch.

As for Hayden, you can't talk about Baton Rouge's art scene without invoking his name. He was an internationally known artist who spent most of his life in Louisiana. He was professor in Southern University's Art Department, and his public sculptures can be found throughout the world. 

This includes the one outside the Claiborne Building, where years of exposure to Louisiana's environmental elements have transformed its bronze surface from brown to green.

Its concrete block foundation bears no plaque noting its title or crediting its creator. Still, the style is unmistakable.

"As for the period, I think this is probably Hayden's work from the '70s," said Darius Spieth, coordinator of the Art History Area in LSU's College of Art + Design.

Spieth is working on a comprehensive book about Hayden and his work, and though his research is thorough, he has never run across the public work outside the Claiborne Building.

"There's this motif of the hands, and this is something that comes up very frequently in Frank Hayden's art at that time," he said. "The Martin Luther King monument in New Orleans also uses this motif."

The New Orleans King monument is egg-shaped with hands reaching toward one another from either side of its hollowed center. It was installed on Oretha Castle Boulevard in 1976. The hands are somewhat flat with long fingers, much like those of the mystery sculpture in Baton Rouge.

Add to that the words Hayden etched into the books' surfaces, "Education: Yesterday, Today, and Forever," first in English, then repeated in different languages, including braille. The inscription would apply to the Claiborne Building since it is home to the state Department of Education.

Hayden often included words in his handwriting within his sculptures, most notably in the Red Stick sculpture standing along Southern University's bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.

"So, given that the motifs and inscriptions are quite similar, I think this is probably something that he created roughly at the same time he was also working on the sculpture of the Martin Luther King monument in New Orleans," Spieth said. "It's also similar to the 'Lift Every Voice' sculpture on Southern University's campus."

"Lift Every Voice" also incorporates flattened hands with long, spindly fingers. They reach skyward from all sides of the bronze piece.

Hayden created it in memory of Southern students Denver Smith and Leonard Brown who were killed by police in 1972 during a campus Black Power protest. The sculpture was installed in front of the Smith-Brown Memorial Student Union on July 8, 1973.

But even that piece has a plaque noting its significance. The Claiborne Building piece seems to have stumped Hayden experts.

Newspaper and historical research produced no record of it, and the only mention of it on the internet is found beneath a photo accompanying a Wikipedia entry on the Claiborne Building.

Granted, Wikipedia is not the most reliable of sources, but its acknowledgment appears to be plausible, stating, "This obscure work of art by noted sculptor Frank Hayden celebrates education (notice the hands holding books). It used to be on display in the (demolished) Education Building, just outside the office of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Today, barely noticed outside the Claiborne Building, it is nearly covered by vegetation and exposed to the elements."

So, the fact that it stood outside the Department of Education's downtown office at 626 N. Fourth St. gave Scott Finch hope of following a paper trail to the piece.

Finch is director of the state's Percent for Art Program, formed in 1999 by the Percent for Art law, which stipulates that "whenever more than $2 million in state funds is to be spent by a state agency for the construction or renovation of a state building, 1% of the state money shall be expended for the project to acquire, conserve or restore and install works of art for display in, on or on the grounds of the state building."

"The only problem is that law was enacted in 1999," Finch said. "That was a long time before Frank Hayden's piece was commissioned. It would seem that since this was moved to the Claiborne Building after the Department of Education building was demolished, we would have something on it. But there's no record of it here."

And exactly when was the Hayden sculpture moved to its new location? Well, the Claiborne Building officially opened its doors on May 9, 2002, and the Education building was demolished in 2003.

Logic would dictate the move happened between the opening of one building and closing of the other. But again, no definitive documentation can be found.

Meanwhile, Southern University Art Professor Randell Henry made a special trip to the Claiborne Building parking lot upon learning about the piece. He was a student of Hayden's and later was on faculty with the sculptor in Southern's art department.

Henry, too, was baffled.

"He usually signed his pieces at the bottom," Henry said, examining each segment of the sculpture. "I'm not seeing his signature, but this is definitely Frank's piece. His signature was the words he'd include in his pieces in his handwriting, and this is his handwriting."

Curator Elizabeth Weinstein also was stumped by the piece. She formerly worked at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum, where she put together "Lift Every Voice," one of the most definitive exhibits of Hayden's work in 2020.

The show explored the evolution of Hayden's work from his earliest days to his death at age 54 in 1988, examining themes and motifs. "Lift Every Voice" also included nods to Hayden's public works yet Weinstein could find nothing about it in her wealth of research.

Finally, Spieth placed a call to the Hayden family members, who maintain the Frank Hayden Foundation. They, too, were at a loss.

"I think we've gone as far as we can go on this," he said. 

So, the mystery surrounding this piece remains, and maybe — just maybe — someone out there has information to solve it.

If you have details about the sculpture, email Robin Miller at [email protected].