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Putnam Collection of Sculpture, Princeton University

Group of sculptures on the Princeton University campus From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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] In 2025, this anonymous donor was revealed to be John's brother and fellow Princeton alum, the physicist, neuropsychologist and philosopher Peter Putnam.[4] The works were selected based on a committee of alumni who are current or former directors of art museums,[3] and the first 20 were purchased in 1969 and 1970.[5]

The collection was first designed to have only 20 sculptures,[5] but after receiving George Segal's Abraham and Issac, in 1979, the total catalogue increased to 21.[6] 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]

List of sculptures

Original twenty

The following is the twenty original sculptures before later ones were added.[5]

More information Name of Piece, Artist ...
Name of PieceArtist Executed Installed MaterialLocationImage References
Atmosphere and Environment XLouise Nevelson 1969–1970 1971 Cor-Ten steelBetween Nassau Street and Firestone Library
 [7][8]
Construction in the Third and Fourth DimensionAntoine Pevsner 1961–1962 1972 Cast bronzeCourtyard of Jadwin Hall [9][10]
Cubi XIIIDavid Smith 1963 1969 Stainless steelBetween McCormick Hall and Whig Hall
 [11][12]
Five Disks: One EmptyAlexander Calder 1969–1970 1971 Painted mild steelFine Hall Plaza [13][14]
Floating FigureGaston Lachaise 1927 1969 Cast bronzeCompton Court, Graduate College
 [15][16]
Head of a WomanDesigned by Pablo Picasso; executed by Carl Nesjar 1971[a] 1971 Cast concrete, granite, and quartziteLocated on the lawn between Spelman Halls and New South Building
 [17][18]
Marok-Marok-Miosa Eduardo Paolozzi 1965 1969 Welded aluminum Stairwell of the Architecture Building [19][20]
Mastodon VI Michael Hall 1968 1969 Bronze and aluminum Courtyard of MacMillan Building [21][22]
MosesTony Smith 1967–1968 1969[b] Painted mild steelLawn in front of Prospect House
 [23][24]
Northwood II Kenneth Snelson 1970 1973 Stainless steel East Dormitory Courtyard of the Graduate College [25][26]
Oval with PointsHenry Moore 1969–70 1971 BronzeBetween Stanhope Hall and Morrison Hall [27][28]
Professor Albert Einstein Sir Jacob Epstein 1933 1970 Cast bronze Fine Hall Library [29][30]
Song of the VowelsJacques Lipchitz 1969[c] 1969 Cast bronzeBetween Firestone Library and the University Chapel [31][32]
Sphere VIArnaldo Pomodoro 1966 1969 Polished bronzeEntrance of Fine Hall Library[d] [33][34]
Spheric ThemeNaum Gabo 1973–1974 1974 Stainless steelCourtyard of the Engineering Quadrangle [35][36]
Stone Riddle Masayuki Nagare 1967 1972 Black granite Courtyard of Engineering Quadrangle [37][38]
The BrideReg Butler 1956–1961 1970 Cast bronzeCourtyard of Rockefeller College [39][40]
Two Planes Vertical Horizontal II George Rickey 1970 1972 Stainless steel Between East Pyne Hall and the University Chapel [41][42]
Upstart IIClement Meadmore 1970 1973 Cor-Ten steelEntrance to the Engineering Quadrangle [43][44]
White SunIsamu Noguchi 1966 1970 Saravezza marbleLobby of Firestone Library [45][46]
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Official additions

Once the initial collection was finished, the university received George Segal's Abraham and Issac as a gift in 1979.[6] The piece was commissioned for Kent State University in memorial of the 1970 Kent State shootings, but it was deemed too provocative.[47][48] Segal subsequently donated it to Princeton as it was where he taught sculpture,[48] and it was installed in 1979.[49] 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.[6]

More information Name of Piece, Artist ...
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 [49][50][3]
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Unofficial additions

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.[e] Additionally, while the art museum's map on the Putnam Collection labels Scott Burton's Public Table as part of the collection,[51][f] no official publication nor the listing on the art museum's website considers it an official component.[52][53]

More information Name of Piece, Artist ...
Name of Piece Artist Executed Installed Material Location Image References
Einstein's Table Maya Lin 2019 2019 Jet Mist Granite Lewis Arts Complex [54][55]
The Princeton Line Maya Lin 2018 2018 Earth drawing Lewis Arts Complex [56][55]
URODA Ursula von Rydingsvard 2015 2015 Copper, steel, bronze Entrance to the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment [57]
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Putnam funding

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,[53] or the John B. Putnam Jr. Memorial Fund, like Doug and Mike Starn's (Any) Body Oddly Propped.[58]

Notes

  1. [a]
    Designed in 1962
  2. [b]
    The piece was fabricated and installed during the same year.
  3. [c]
    Designed in 1931–1932
  4. [d]
    Previously located at the courtyard formed by Lourie-Love Hall and 1922, 1940, 1941, and 1942 dormitories
  5. [e]
    More specifically, with the most recent literature on the collection being published before the latest additions, it is unclear if the pieces are a part of the official catalogue.
  6. [f]
    The map also includes Maya Lin's Einstein's Table and The Princeton Line, while forgetting Sir Jacob Epstein's Professor Albert Einstein, David Smith's Cubi XIII, and Michael Hall's Mastodon VI.

References

External links

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