The John B. Putnam, Jr. Memorial Collection of Sculpture is a group of outdoor sculptures distributed through the Princeton University campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The collection is made up of works from 20th and 21st century sculptors. [1] In March 1968, President Robert Goheen announced that an anonymous donor gave a $1 million fund for the collection in honor of Princeton alumni John B. Putnam, Jr., Lieutenant U.S.A, who was killed in action during World War II. [2] [3] The works were selected based on a committee of alumni who current or former directors of art museums, [3] and the first 20 were purchased in 1969 and 1970. [4]
The collection was first designed to have only 20 sculptures, [4] but after receiving George Segal's Abraham and Issac, in 1979, the total catalogue increased to 21. [5] The Princeton University Art Museum describes the collection as "not a static phenomenon" and that "work is underway to identify and purchase or commission works by artists." [1]
The following is the twenty original sculptures before later ones were added. [4]
Name of Piece | Artist | Executed | Installed | Material | Location | Image | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Atmosphere and Environment X | Louise Nevelson | 1969–1970 | 1971 | Cor-Ten steel | Between Nassau Street and Firestone Library | [6] [7] | |
Construction in the Third and Fourth Dimension | Antoine Pevsner | 1961–1962 | 1972 | Cast bronze | Courtyard of Jadwin Hall | [8] [9] | |
Cubi XIII | David Smith | 1963 | 1969 | Stainless steel | Between McCormick Hall and Whig Hall | [10] [11] | |
Five Disks: One Empty | Alexander Calder | 1969–1970 | 1971 | Painted mild steel | Fine Hall Plaza | [12] [13] | |
Floating Figure | Gaston Lachaise | 1927 | 1969 | Cast bronze | Compton Court, Graduate College | [14] [15] | |
Head of a Woman | Designed by Pablo Picasso; executed by Carl Nesjar | 1971 [lower-alpha 1] | 1971 | Cast concrete, granite, and quartzite | Located on the lawn between Spelman Halls and New South Building | [16] [17] | |
Marok-Marok-Miosa | Eduardo Paolozzi | 1965 | 1969 | Welded aluminum | Stairwell of the Architecture Building | [18] [19] | |
Mastodon VI | Michael Hall | 1968 | 1969 | Bronze and aluminum | Courtyard of MacMillan Building | [20] [21] | |
Moses | Tony Smith | 1967–1968 | 1969 [lower-alpha 2] | Painted mild steel | Lawn in front of Prospect House | [22] [23] | |
Northwood II | Kenneth Snelson | 1970 | 1973 | Stainless steel | East Dormitory Courtyard of the Graduate College | [24] [25] | |
Oval with Points | Henry Moore | 1969–70 | 1971 | Bronze | Between Stanhope Hall and Morrison Hall | [26] [27] | |
Professor Albert Einstein | Sir Jacob Epstein | 1933 | 1970 | Cast bronze | Fine Hall Library | [28] [29] | |
Song of the Vowels | Jacques Lipchitz | 1969 [lower-alpha 3] | 1969 | Cast bronze | Between Firestone Library and the University Chapel | [30] [31] | |
Sphere VI | Arnaldo Pomodoro | 1966 | 1969 | Polished bronze | Entrance of Fine Hall Library [lower-alpha 4] | [32] [33] | |
Spheric Theme | Naum Gabo | 1973–1974 | 1974 | Stainless steel | Courtyard of the Engineering Quadrangle | [34] [35] | |
Stone Riddle | Masayuki Nagare | 1967 | 1972 | Black granite | Courtyard of Engineering Quadrangle | [36] [37] | |
The Bride | Reg Butler | 1956–1961 | 1970 | Cast bronze | Courtyard of Rockefeller College | [38] [39] | |
Two Planes Vertical Horizontal II | George Rickey | 1970 | 1972 | Stainless steel | Between East Pyne Hall and the University Chapel | [40] [41] | |
Upstart II | Clement Meadmore | 1970 | 1973 | Cor-Ten steel | Entrance to the Engineering Quadrangle | [42] [43] | |
White Sun | Isamu Noguchi | 1966 | 1970 | Saravezza marble | Lobby of Firestone Library | [44] [45] | |
Once the initial collection was finished, the university received George Segal's Abraham and Issac as a gift in 1979. [5] The piece was commissioned for Kent State University in memorial of the 1970 Kent State shootings , but it was deemed too provocative. [46] [47] Segal subsequently donated it to Princeton as it was where he taught sculpture, [47] and it was installed in 1979. [48] The university would continue to receive additional sculptures through purchasing, continued support by the Putnam family through the Mildred Andrews Fund, or as gifts from artists; however, only Segal's work was included in the collection. [5]
Name of Piece | Artist | Executed | Installed | Material | Location | Image | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abraham and Isaac: In Memory of May 4, 1970, Kent State University | George Segal | 1978–1979 | 1979 | Cast bronze | Between Firestone Library and the University Chapel | [48] [49] [3] |
The Princeton University Art Museum classifies several other pieces of artwork as falling under either the collection, although no reference to them as official additions can be found. [lower-alpha 5] Additionally, while the art museum's map on the Putnam Collection labels Scott Burton's Public Table as part of the collection, [50] [lower-alpha 6] no official publication nor the listing on the art museum's website considers it an official component. [51] [52]
Name of Piece | Artist | Executed | Installed | Material | Location | Image | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Einstein's Table | Maya Lin | 2019 | 2019 | Jet Mist Granite | Lewis Arts Complex | [53] [54] | |
The Princeton Line | Maya Lin | 2018 | 2018 | Earth drawing | Lewis Arts Complex | [55] [54] | |
URODA | Ursula von Rydingsvard | 2015 | 2015 | Copper, steel, bronze | Entrance to the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment | [56] |
Several works on campus, while not part of the collection, have received funding from either the Mildred Andrews Fund, like Scott Burton's Public Table, [52] or the John B. Putnam Jr. Memorial Fund, like Doug and Mike Starn's (Any) Body Oddly Propped. [57]
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