The sculptor behind the 54-year-old Vaillancourt Fountain, which won't ever be called the most popular piece of public art in SF, took it upon himself to fly here this week and call for a preemptive hearing on its fate.
95-year-old French-Canadian artist Armand Vaillancourt is in San Francisco this week, and the Chronicle reports he flew here from his home in Montreal in order to try to rally support for his 1971 Brutalist fountain, even though no formal plan has been made to remove it. Vaillancourt says he was spurred to make an appearance and try to save the fountain after his daughter alerted him to a rendering published by the city for a proposed revamp of Embarcadero Plaza which did not include the fountain.
What is known locally as the Vaillancourt Fountain was actually titled Québec libre! by the artist, a title that he inscribed on the fountain when it was installed. (As the story goes, Vaillancourt painted the title in red, which was subsequently removed by the city, and he returned the next day to paint it on again.) The title refers to the Quebec sovereignty movement, which is not exactly front-of-mind for most San Franciscans, but Vaillancourt says it is also emblematic of the freedom of all people.
The fountain, which once stood in the shadow of the uglier Embarcadero Freeway, now sits, without water running through it, alone on the plaza that was renamed from Justin Herman Plaza in recent years in light of its former namesake's association with racist redevelopment initiatives. And a proposal to redesign and expand the plaza was unveiled last year, with renderings that were essentially conceptual — no design process has begun, and no public hearings on the project have been held.
Still, the renderings erased the often maligned, aging fountain, in favor of more meadow — and there were some suggestions of other public art in the renderings that were not so blocky/Brutalist.
Vaillancourt is a little obsessed with his fountain, with good reason. As his Wikipedia page and this bio from the Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal suggest, it is the piece of public art he is most known for, and his commissions in Canada have been much more modest in size.
"They made the new plan and my monumental sculpture is not there," Vaillancourt tells the Chronicle. He said he was here to meet with Rec & Parks officials and to have a hearing with the SF Arts Commission, all with the message, "Be reasonable. Let that artwork live forever."
The 40-foot-tall fountain, which survived the Loma Prieta Earthquake — unlike the Embarcadero Freeway — has had plenty of detractors in recent years. And it has also taken on a fairly dingy gray and brown palor, and hasn't had water running through it since its pump failed in June 2024. The cost to replace that pump and infrastructure was estimated at $3 million, and no one seems to be rushing to fix it.
"This survived a 7.1 earthquake with no damage, not a scratch, but they never took care of it," Vaillancourt tells the Chronicle. "There’s nothing wrong with it except the dirt."
The fountain has its fans, though, including skateboarders, who for decades have used its dry pool bed for skating, when the water isn't there.
Vaillancourt also tells the Chronicle that while it might cost millions to repair, the fountain would definitely cost millions more to remove — with a concrete foundation that reportedly runs 40 feet deep, with steel rebar running through it.
The ultimate fate of the fountain may not be decided for some time, though the $30 million project to reimagine the plaza is in its early stages.
Previously: Very Unattractive Embarcadero Fountain May Be Demolished, But Its Fans Are Fighting to Preserve It
Top image: Photo by Enoch Lai/Wikimedia
