| Continuum | |
|---|---|
 Sculpture in 2005 | |
| Artist | Charles O. Perry |
| Year | 1976 |
| Type | Bronze |
| Dimensions | 4.3 m(14 ft) |
| Location | National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C., United States |
| 38°53′15.93″N77°1′11.6″W / 38.8877583°N 77.019889°W | |
| Owner | Smithsonian Institution |
Continuum is a public artwork by American sculptor Charles O. Perry located in front of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, United States. [1]
The sculpture is a large swirling abstract that consists of 8 bronze pieces painted black and placed on a pole. [1]
According to the artist the piece "began as an exploration of the Möbius strip, a product of pure mathematics formed by joining two ends of a strip of paper after giving one end a 180-degree twist, thus creating only one edge. The center of the bronze sculpture symbolizes a black hole, while the edge shows the flow of matter through the center from positive to negative space and back again in a continuum." [2]
A similar sculpture by Perry, Continuum II, is installed in Marina Square in Singapore and dates to 1986. [3]
In July 2010 the piece underwent restoration to remove a green patina that formed on the sculpture. Perry's vision was for the piece to remain black. The piece was removed from its location to the west end of the building where it underwent its conservation by a contractor. The granite base that holds the 7,000 pound sculpture was also repaired. [4]
In mathematics, a Möbius strip, Möbius band, or Möbius loop is a surface that can be formed by attaching the ends of a strip of paper together with a half-twist. As a mathematical object, it was discovered by Johann Benedict Listing and August Ferdinand Möbius in 1858, but it had already appeared in Roman mosaics from the third century CE. The Möbius strip is a non-orientable surface, meaning that within it one cannot consistently distinguish clockwise from counterclockwise turns. Every non-orientable surface contains a Möbius strip.
The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States dedicated to human flight and space exploration.
Charles Owen Perry was an American sculptor particularly known for his large-scale public sculptures.
The Taft Bridge is a historic bridge located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C. It carries Connecticut Avenue over the Rock Creek gorge, including Rock Creek and the Rock Creek and Potomac Parkway, connecting the neighborhoods of Woodley Park and Kalorama. It is named after former United States president and Supreme Court Chief Justice William Howard Taft, and sits to the southwest of the Duke Ellington Bridge.
The umbilic torus or umbilic bracelet is a single-edged 3-dimensional shape. The lone edge goes three times around the ring before returning to the starting point. The shape also has a single external face. A cross section of the surface forms a deltoid.
Spaces with Iron is a public sculpture by American artist Will Horwitt. It was installed in January 2009 on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus, near downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The sculpture is located at the corner of Blackford and Vermont Streets, on the southeast lawn of the Science Building, and is on long-term loan from the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Eve is an outdoor sculpture of the biblical Eve created by Robert William Davidson in 1931. It is currently located in a fountain at Ball Nurses' Sunken Garden and Convalescent Park on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The overall dimensions of this bronze sculpture are 5’ tall, 2’ long, and 1’ wide.
The James Cardinal Gibbons Memorial Statue is a public artwork by Leo Lentelli, located at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, 16th Street and Park Road Northwest, Washington, D.C.
Ad Astra is a public artwork by American artist Richard Lippold. The abstract sculpture is located outside on the Jefferson Drive entrance of and in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The sculpture's title is Latin, meaning "To the Stars".
Delta Solar is a public artwork by Venezuelan sculptor Alejandro Otero located outside of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, United States. Delta Solar is meant to pay homage to modern technology and the Inca sun cult.
Throwback is a public artwork by American artist Tony Smith, located at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., United States. This version is the third of an edition of three in the series with one artist's proof.
Saint Martin de Porres is a sculpture of St Martin de Porres by American artist and Catholic priest Fr Thomas McGlynn, OP. It is one of McGlynn's most well known works and is said to have contributed to the canonization of the saint in 1962.
Sundial, Boy With Spider is an outdoor sculpture and functional sundial by American artist Willard Dryden Paddock (1873–1956). It is located within the Oldfields estate on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The bronze sculpture, cast by the Gorham Manufacturing Company, depicts a boy sitting cross-legged with an open scroll in his lap.
The Court of Neptune Fountain is a fountain adorned with bronze sculptures made by Roland Hinton Perry and Albert Weinert in the late 1890s. Jerome Connor may have assisted in their manufacture. The architects for the project, which was completed in 1898, included John L. Smithmeyer, Paul J. Pelz, and Edward Pearce Casey, while the founding was completed by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company. The fountain is located on the west side of the Thomas Jefferson Building, the main building for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The project took three years to complete.
Knife Edge Two Piece 1962–65 is an abstract bronze sculpture by Henry Moore. It is one of Moore's earliest sculptures in two pieces, a mode that he started to adopt in 1959. Its form was inspired by the shape of a bone fragment. Moore created the sculpture from an edition of 10 working models in 1962; these working models are now in public collections. Moore created four full-size casts between 1962 and 1965, with one retained by him. The three casts are on public display on College Green in Westminster, London; Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver; and the garden at Kykuit, the house of the Rockefeller family in Tarrytown, New York. Moore's own cast is on display at his former studio and estate, 'Hoglands' in Perry Green, Hertfordshire in southern England. A similar work, Mirror Knife Edge 1977, is displayed at the entrance to I. M. Pei's east wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The Westminster cast was donated by Moore through the Contemporary Art Society to what he believed was the City of London, but its actual ownership was undetermined for many years. The Westminster cast subsequently fell into disrepair, and was restored in 2013 after it became part of the British Parliamentary Art Collection; it was granted a Grade II* listing in January 2016.
The conservation and restoration of outdoor artworks is the activity dedicated to the preservation and protection of artworks that are exhibited or permanently installed outside. These works may be made of wood, stone, ceramic material, plastic, bronze, copper, or any other number of materials and may or may not be painted. When applied to cultural heritage this activity is generally undertaken by a conservator-restorer.
Conservation and restoration at the Smithsonian Institution deals with the care of the 138 million artifacts located in the collections of Smithsonian Institution. Work is conducted by one research center, the Museum Conservation Institute (MCI), and by conservators at the Smithsonian's museums, galleries, zoo. Smithsonian conservators provide myriad services to their units, including exhibit preparation of the museum collection and loan objects, advising on object care, training for future generations of conservationists, engaging in routine preventive care on a daily basis, conducting research projects related to the collections, and examining objects for evidence of manufacturing techniques and previous restorations All conservation labs collectively further the mission of the Smithsonian Institution, "the increase and diffusion of knowledge." Founded in 1846 the Smithsonian is the world's largest museum and research complex, consisting of 19 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park, and nine research facilities.
Standing Figure: Knife Edge is a bronze sculpture by the English artist Henry Moore. It was cast in two full-size versions: Standing Figure: Knife Edge in 1961, and a larger Large Standing Figure: Knife Edge in 1976. The sculpture also is sometimes known as Standing Figure (Bone) or Winged Figure.
 | This Smithsonian Institution article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
  | This article about a sculpture in Washington is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
