Among the public outdoor sculptures on campus that were recently cleaned, conserved, and rewaxed was the figure you see here, shining in the summer sunlight outside the Engineering building: Le Marteleur (The Hammerman or Hammersmith). This sculpture is by the Belgian artist Constantin Meunier (1831-1905), who became famous in his day for figures that idealized the image of the worker or laborer. The art critic Christian Brinton, soon after the artist’s death, described Meunier’s sculptures as having a “latent idealism [that] animates their every movement. They rejoice in labour well performed. . . . His art is in a sense the deification of work. . . . These men are not building for to-day alone. With each stroke they are strengthening the solidarity of the human race” (pp. 57-59).
The photograph you see here by M. Duyk shows Meunier in his studio in Brussels surrounded by some of his models and plaster casts (Brinton p. 18). Meunier’s interest in immortalizing the laborer on a grand scale may have been influenced in part by the wave of social-democratic politics in Europe from the 1870s on, as well as renewed interest in the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, specifically The Communist Manifesto. Certainly Meunier wasn’t the only sculptor to elevate the image of the worker at this time; comparable examples can be seen in Hamo Thornycroft’s The Mower (1888-90), and in the figure depicting Labor in Jules Dalou’s monumental Triumph of the Republic (1889-99). Although Meunier’s figure wears the clothing and holds the accessories of an industrial metalworker, he stands in classical contrapposto. The idealization of the worker’s body shows this figure is a modernist reinterpretation of the Neoclassical gods and heroes in marble that were popular earlier in the nineteenth century.
Le Marteleur was first modeled around 1884. A plaster cast was exhibited at the Salon in Paris in 1886, for which Meunier won an honorable mention. Columbia’s repetition of the sculpture was posthumously cast in bronze by the Fonderie Verbeyst in Brussels. A gift from the Class of 1889 School of Mines, the statue was installed in 1914 outside what was then the new building for the School of Mines, as seen in this archival photograph from University Archives. That building today is Lewisohn Hall. The School of Mines evolved over time (eventually becoming the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science), and with the construction of the new building in the northeast corner of the Morningside campus, Le Marteleur eventually was moved along with it and has remained a beacon of the school’s illustrious history for more than a century.
Work Cited:
Christian Brinton, Constantin Meunier (Buffalo, NY: Albright Art Gallery; New York: Redfield Brothers, 1913), https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/8489595.
By 1924, however, the lion was firmly in place as the mascot for the school when the Class of 1899 took on the task of making the lion’s presence official for their 25th reunion (and Columbia’s 170th anniversary) by presenting a bronze lion to the University to be placed on a rocky outcropping at Baker Field, overlooking the football practice field. American animalier sculptor Frederick Roth was commissioned to sculpt the lion and McKim, Meade & White the pedestal.
During the Spring 2017 semester, Prof. Robert Harrist and Curator Roberto C. Ferrari co-taught an undergraduate seminar entitled “Public Outdoor Sculpture at Columbia and Barnard.” The idea for the course was inspired by the recent acquisition of Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure, and the subsequent controversy which followed its proposed installation. Reinforcing the educational mission of the University’s art collection, this seminar was a prime opportunity to teach from Columbia’s permanent art collection utilizing sculpture that students, faculty, and staff see everyday on campus but know little about it.
It’s been nine months since Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure, 1969-70, was installed on the Morningside campus on the lawn outside Havemeyer and Mathematics Halls. The response has been so positive since the installation last December. The statue’s new home in a green space likely would have pleased Moore, who preferred that his sculpture was viewed surrounded by nature. To read more about the sculpture and to see a video of the dedication ceremony thanking David and Laura Finn for their generous gift, go to 
Columbia University is honored to be the recipient of a significant donation of a public outdoor sculpture by Henry Moore (1898-1986), one of the most important British sculptors of the twentieth century. Preparation for the installation of Reclining Figure, which measures approximately 9 x 11 x 7 feet and is cast in bronze, will begin this week at the Morningside Campus on the central lawn near the entrance to Butler Library. The donation of this sculpture was accepted by the Committee on Art Properties and University administration over twenty years ago, with the permanent location approved more recently. The photograph seen above was taken in 2014 and shows the sculpture in its pre-conservation state. The donors, David and Laura Finn, were long-time friends of the sculptor. Mr. Finn is a fine-art photographer who has published numerous books on photographing sculpture, and is a co-founder of Ruder Finn Inc., the public relations agency. The Finns’ children are alumni of Columbia.
campus, this sculpture will make Columbia only the second university in the United States, after M.I.T., to have on permanent display two public outdoor sculptures by Moore. Columbia’s other Moore sculpture, Three-Way Piece, No. 1: Points, located on Revson Plaza, was donated in 1967 by Miriam and Ira D. Wallach.
Anyone walking past Uris Hall these days will now notice that Clement Meadmore’s sculpture The Curl is looking better than ever, or at least better than it has for the past 15+ years. Seeing it in its newly-conserved state, the viewer can appreciate fully Meadmore’s intent of using the painted surface of the sculpture to create a sleek, sinuous form that belies the weight and hard materiality of its Cor-Ten structure. Although rust is a natural part of the appeal of Cor-Ten steel, environmental conditions led to the erosion of the steel in some parts and an adverse reaction with the paint. After nearly three months of conservation work spearheaded by Conservation Solutions, Inc.–to whom we owe our thanks for all their hard work–we are now pleased to showcase Meadmore’s masterpiece in its newly-conserved state. Upon seeing the sculpture, Ellen Goldberg, Trustee of the Meadmore Foundation, recently responded with exuberance that “Clem” would be thrilled with the results.
