February 10, 2010

Louis Aimé Lejeune’s “Je n’oublerai pas”

Je n’oublerai pas by the sculptor Louis Aimé Lejeune was commissioned in 1930 by Anita Baldwin as a memorial for her father, Elias J. Baldwin or “Lucky Baldwin”. Baldwin was the owner of the Santa Anita Ranch from 1875 until his death in 1909 as well as the founder of the city of Arcadia and its first Mayor. The phrase is the motto of the Baldwin family and the work also bears the Baldwin family crest, a squirrel holding three acorns and three pairs of oak leaves.  
 
In 2009 with funds provided by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission it was cleaned and moved to a new location in the Arboretum’s Day Lily Garden by professional conservators.

 On a bright sunny day following the winter rains the work practically glows. The present location allows visitors to view the work to much greater advantage.
  
Lejeune was working for the Huntington family in 1926 when Anita Baldwin commissioned him to do a bronze fountain for her house Anoakia as well as her father’s memorial.