Heritage Snapshot: Part 112

The idea of a significant sculpture for the University campus originated with Gaines R. Partridge, EdD, Dean of Student Affairs, in 1973. He broke new ground in LLU’s relationship with the fine arts. On October 20, 1974, he presented a maquette (a small model) of a sculpture created by Alan R. Collins, DFA, FRBS, depicting the parable of the Good Samaritan. He explained that if the Board approved, funds for a large artwork would be available. It would be sculpted from Indiana limestone. Partridge proposed a site between the Medical Center and the Administration Building. While the Board was considering all the ramifications of such an undertaking, the maquette of the Good Samaritan was kept on a pedestal in Dr. Partridge’s office. One day, Pastor Thomas Bradley brought a close friend, Dr. Reuben Matiko (Class of 1945) to see it. Deeply impressed with the symbolism and potential influence of the sculpture, and desiring to enrich the campus of his Alma Mater, Dr. Matiko offered to underwrite the commission. Almost a year later, Dr. Bernard Brandstater addressed the subject. “[There is] a need for all of us to turn away from the present urgencies of life and buy ‘hyacinths to feed the soul.’” He reminded the Board that the sculpture would be created by a top-flight sculptor, Alan Collins. Moreover, it would be a gift to the University by an alumnus. Above all, it, would be a work of art—one that would remind everyone on campus of the purpose of the institution. Then, the Board tabled the discussion pending another view of the model by the Board in session. Then, for the next 24 hours, the model circulated among Trustees. The Board then suggested that the figures be historically authentic. Although the sculptor respected this view, he felt that authenticity should lie in the deepest meaning of the parable rather than in the superficialities of surface treatment. Artists are able to speak directly to people in their own times in ways that more literally minded historians are not. For example, by clothing the Priest and the Levite in unspecific ecclesiastical and clerical dress, the sculptor hoped to widen the relevance of the parable to contemporary viewers. When the sculpture was commissioned in 1977 Alan Collins, who was on the faculty of Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, traveled to a quarry near Bloomington, Indiana, and selected three large blocks of limestone for the project. They were shipped to his 45 ft. by 30 ft. studio (formerly a milking parlor). A skylight and balcony had been added to provide north light and a site from which to view the emerging sculpture. In his new teaching appointment on the La Sierra Campus of Loma Linda University, Professor Collins resumed work using the smaller, metal Butler Building that had been adapted as his studio. Because of the heat, he often chose to work at night. He took four-and-a-half years to complete the work, fitting it around his teaching schedule. Dr. Bernard Brandstater, a dedicated supporter of the Good Samaritan project, was asked to plan and implement the dedication/unveiling ceremony that took place on May 3, 1981. This also coincided with the 75th anniversary of the founding of Loma Linda University. President Olsen, Dr. Brandstater and Professor Collins made appropriate remarks on this auspicious occasion. Then came a dedication prayer, followed by a Bible reading of the Good Samaritan parable. Finally, the long-anticipated moment arrived when the sculptor and the major donor, Dr. Reuben Matiko, revealed the work. Shortly after the unveiling, a wrought-iron enclosure was erected and a bronze plaque and lighting installed. The paving of split granite and river boulders beneath the figures symbolizes the ruggedness of the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The initiation of what became known at Loma Linda University as The China Project was multifaceted, and included the Good Samaritan statue. It not only involved Sir Run Run Shaw (knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1977), but Also Zheng Shu, MD, dean of the Zhejiang [pronounced ShayJONG] University School of Medicine in the 1980s. As a surgeon, she recognized the value of Western medicine, and that her school of medicine could benefit significantly. To accomplish her vision of building a Western-medicine-style hospital in China, she went to Hong Kong to meet with Sir Run Run Shaw, a multi-billionaire. She knew that he was a philanthropist, and that he already had donated different kinds of facilities for the province because it was his homeland. The meeting with Sir Run Run Shaw went well, but he insisted that his involvement be based on an agreement that contact be made with the American church group that sponsored health care facilities where his family had been served in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In 1988, during early conversations at Loma Linda, the Chinese dean, through an interpreter, asked Dr. Lyn Behrens, dean of Loma Linda University School of Medicine, why Loma Linda would even consider being involved in the project. The question gave Dr. Behrens pause to think how would be the best way to answer. So, together the two deans walked down the mall and stood in front of the Good Samaritan statue in the center of the campus. Dr. Behrens explained what it meant to have compassion and to be neighborly, and that if by participating in the project Loma Linda University could help the health and well-being of the Chinese citizens in that region, or even beyond, it would be Loma Linda’s privilege to participate. Later, as the two groups parted, Loma Linda administrators gave Dr. Zhen Shu a photo album of the various events that had taken place during the visit, including places she had visited. As she leafed through it, she came to the picture of the Good Samaritan and, through an interpreter, said to Dr. Behrens that it was the most meaningful photograph in the entire album, “because it helps me understand why you would do it,” she said.