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broken obelisk
May. 21st, 2001 04:37 pmi'm taking pictures of things i see throughout the day on my little digital camera jobbie. i got this interesting shot of broken obelisk this morning at about 0730 or so...
Broken obelisk was sculpted by Barnett Newman in the 50's and and cast in 1967, Newman had to wait until steel casting technology could catch up with his design to see his work in it's final intended state. The Obelisk isn't unique, three were cast. One is at the Rothko Chapel in Houston Texas, Another is currently at the Nassau County Museum of Art, where it is on loan from it's permanent home, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. And of course, this one is at the UW. It's here because of the efforts of Mrs Virginia Wright, who was a close personal friend of Newman's and talked him into donating the sculpture shortly before his death. (The Wright's are really very wonderful people, anyone who lets someone as scruffy as i am into a private museum to look at incredibly expensive and fragile works of art worth more than it would cost to hire someone to kill me, have to be treated with some respect.)
There is a lot of speculation about the sculpture's meaning. During his life, Newman himself dedicated the sculpture to a few causes, the one in Houston is dedicated to MLK Jr, the one at the UW, to the students, and their vision of the future. It's most common interpretation? Perserverance. The idea that against even physics, one can triumph, it's a thing that should not stay balanced, and yet it does.
I have always read it differently. There is an old statement that used to float around in Washington DC... "The Forty-Nine States and the Soviet of Washington," referring to the State's long and deep ties to Labor and socialism. You see, Newman was always sympathetic towards Anarchists and (I've often thought, but can't corroberate, Socialism.) He was often disgusted with our country.
When our founders built Washington DC, they envisioned an obelisk structure standing in the capital, (We know this now as the Washington Monument,) this is because every great civilization has had an obelisk standing in it's capital. As long as that obelisk stood, the country remained sound. I've always seen the Broken Obelisk as a sign of his dissatisfaction. He's created here an obelisk that stands but shouldn't. A broken empire, skewed from it's intent, but impossibly strong. Resiliant, and somehow fragile too. I think that the UW sculpture is there to represent the hope that students in this radical state might be a catalyst for deperately needed change.
As an illustration of the success or failure of this, a term or so ago, the drama department staged a small production of "The Vagina Monologues." I don't know who they hired to promote it, but they sent a troope of little helpers about to scrawl the name of the play all over everything. They did less than a good job. When I walked through campus on my way to the art building, I saw "Cum to the Vigina Monologues!" (sic) scrawled all over the face of the poor obelisk. Sadly, this isn't the first time poor Barnett's work has been subject to waggish forms of criticism.
Broken obelisk was sculpted by Barnett Newman in the 50's and and cast in 1967, Newman had to wait until steel casting technology could catch up with his design to see his work in it's final intended state. The Obelisk isn't unique, three were cast. One is at the Rothko Chapel in Houston Texas, Another is currently at the Nassau County Museum of Art, where it is on loan from it's permanent home, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. And of course, this one is at the UW. It's here because of the efforts of Mrs Virginia Wright, who was a close personal friend of Newman's and talked him into donating the sculpture shortly before his death. (The Wright's are really very wonderful people, anyone who lets someone as scruffy as i am into a private museum to look at incredibly expensive and fragile works of art worth more than it would cost to hire someone to kill me, have to be treated with some respect.)
There is a lot of speculation about the sculpture's meaning. During his life, Newman himself dedicated the sculpture to a few causes, the one in Houston is dedicated to MLK Jr, the one at the UW, to the students, and their vision of the future. It's most common interpretation? Perserverance. The idea that against even physics, one can triumph, it's a thing that should not stay balanced, and yet it does.
I have always read it differently. There is an old statement that used to float around in Washington DC... "The Forty-Nine States and the Soviet of Washington," referring to the State's long and deep ties to Labor and socialism. You see, Newman was always sympathetic towards Anarchists and (I've often thought, but can't corroberate, Socialism.) He was often disgusted with our country.
When our founders built Washington DC, they envisioned an obelisk structure standing in the capital, (We know this now as the Washington Monument,) this is because every great civilization has had an obelisk standing in it's capital. As long as that obelisk stood, the country remained sound. I've always seen the Broken Obelisk as a sign of his dissatisfaction. He's created here an obelisk that stands but shouldn't. A broken empire, skewed from it's intent, but impossibly strong. Resiliant, and somehow fragile too. I think that the UW sculpture is there to represent the hope that students in this radical state might be a catalyst for deperately needed change.
As an illustration of the success or failure of this, a term or so ago, the drama department staged a small production of "The Vagina Monologues." I don't know who they hired to promote it, but they sent a troope of little helpers about to scrawl the name of the play all over everything. They did less than a good job. When I walked through campus on my way to the art building, I saw "Cum to the Vigina Monologues!" (sic) scrawled all over the face of the poor obelisk. Sadly, this isn't the first time poor Barnett's work has been subject to waggish forms of criticism.
