Constantin Meunier and Le Marteleur

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 […]

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Conservation Summer 2018

Art Properties, Avery Library, and Columbia Facilities is pleased to be working with Conservation Solutions/EverGreene Architectural Arts Inc. for the cleaning and conservation of a few public outdoor sculptures on the Morningside campus in July 2018. The most important work on campus that will be affected by this short-term project will be Alma Mater. Other […]

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Project from Spring 2017: Auguste Rodin, The Thinker

The following post was written by Tanya Moe, a student in the “Public Outdoor Sculpture at Columbia and Barnard” undergraduate seminar in Spring 2017. This excerpt from her research paper discusses what is arguably Columbia’s most easily identifiable public sculpture on campus and how it came to be installed outside Philosophy Hall in 1931.   […]

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Henry Moore, Reclining Figure, 1969-70

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 […]

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New Public Outdoor Sculpture by Henry Moore…Coming Soon!

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 […]

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Meadmore’s Curl…Dismantling a Steel Sculpture

Here are a few recent photos, taken by Avery Library’s Registrar & Digital Content Librarian, showing the dismantling of Clement Meadmore’s Curl as it makes its way off-site to be conserved and returned later in the fall semester. To see even more great images, visit the Avery Library blog for images from Day 1, Day […]

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Meadmore’s Curl…Conservation Begins Today

Conservation day has arrived! The Curl by Clement Meadmore, the large sculpture installed outside Uris Hall, is about to undergo a major conservation project. Those following the Public Outdoor Sculpture at Columbia blog may recall our previous posts about this work, including a video about its history and deteriorating condition over decades of exposure to […]

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William Ordway Partridge and the Van Amringe Memorial

The face of John Howard Van Amringe (1835-1915), with his fashionable low-hanging whiskers, is one of the most recognizable in Columbia’s visual history. Van Amringe graduated from Columbia College in 1860 and began teaching courses in mathematics that same year. Fifty years later in 1910, he retired as the much-esteemed Dean of Columbia College and […]

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Kees Verkade and Tightrope Walker

Crossing the sky bridge over Amsterdam Ave. and walking toward Columbia University’s Law School, visitors quickly see a towering bronze sculpture depicting two tightrope walkers, one balancing atop the other’s shoulders. Created as a tribute to General William J. (“Wild Bill”) Donovan, a graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School, Tightrope Walker was created […]

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Public Sculpture, November 2014

Here are a few new photos of the some of the public outdoor sculptures on the Morningside campus, taken by Art Properties student assistant Michael J. Munro (GSAPP, Historic Preservation). If you want to send us your photos and possibly see them on the blog, email us at artproperties@library.columbia.edu.   […]

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