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State of the Art
I am disappointed the statues of Andrew Dickson White and Ezra Cornell on the Arts & Sciences Quad were not mentioned. They fit with the architecture and honor their vision for the university.
I like them all except the Song of the Vowels. I think it is crude, plus I object to the fact that it isn’t even unique, as other versions or castings of the same thing has been foisted on Princeton and elsewhere, while a horrendous Lipshitz dominates a facade of Columbia Law School. Lipshitz family’s PR firm did a great job insinuating his art all over the place.
Loved strolling through the article on Cornell Sculptures. Surprised that I have only seen half of them and only remember seeing one of them when I was a student back in the 70s (in the Plantations). My favorite has been Venus which I see regularly when I go to the Statler for alumni events. But the next time I’m on campus I’m going to ride my bike to every one of them and see which emerges as my new favorite.
Song of the vowels
While taking an introductory art class we were instructed to write a paper on the Lipchitz sculpture “Song of the Vowels”.
The statue intrigued me then, and it did so again recently when my wife and I and friends visited the campus.
Don Hay
’66
Of interest is the story of how sculpture Prof. Jack Squier got Lipchitz’s “Song of the Vowels” and “Bather” sculptures here through the generosity of the Uris brothers. Jack tells the story in our video, “Simply Squier: Professor Jack Squier, MFA ’52 located at 12:06. He also tells the story of how he got his students to create the botanic gardens sculptures.starting at 19:30, and sculptor Joel Perlman who did Dynamis at the Friedman Wrestling Center talks about how close he felt to Prof. Squier at 28:56.
The link to the video is
http://www.cornell.edu/video/cornell-professor-jack-squier
My fondest memory is of the Stump, it changed often as students painted it in the dead of night.
I’ve always liked Herakles by Seley. On a recent visit to the Ornithology lab I enjoyed the works there, especially the Goldsworthy cairn. Having recently seen his work at Glenstone in Maryland, it was great to find out he had been an AD White Professor-at-Large.
I remember when Song of the Vowels showed up on campus, brought me no joy then, nor does it now. My favorite is the Double Allium, after that Feeding the Birds. Just a sucker for representational art, I guess.
The figures in the sculpture garden were always my muses when I first found them when it truly was a deserted and sparsely and scarcely known place. They still astound me today, fifty years later. I visit once a year when I can.
I remember camping out under the Hyperbolic Paraboloid. It is great that it is still there.
Looking through my old negatives, I found a photo I took around 1987 or 88 which shows the “Herakles in Ithaka” statue inside the Johnson Museum of Art lobby.
Wonderful idea to let us see–far away–these creations of art at beloved Cornell!
Much changed since my time at C.L.S. That is a vibrant scene of different artistic expressions. Congratulations!
Martin G. Dolp