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he UK cargo ship, the MV Ariana, was carrying 35,000 tons of soya about 250 nautical miles (287 miles) northwest of the Seychelles when it was seized around dawn.

The crew members are Ukrainians and they are not believed to harmed, NATO said. It is unclear how many crew members were aboard the vessel and how it came to be attacked. NATO said it was unaware of ransom demands or any threats against those aboard.

NATO said a European Union Protection Aircraft has been deployed to monitor and track the MV Ariana, which is making its way toward Somalia -- the epicenter of the pirate industry.

The Seychelles is a republic consisting of a group of islands off East Africa.

On Friday evening, a NATO operation conducted by a Portuguese warship disrupted a pirate attack on a Bahamas oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden.

The tanker, the MV Kition, broadcast an emergency alert when a pirate-filled skiff approached. NRP Corte-Real, the closest NATO ship, and its helicopter responded and intercepted the pirates.

Bronze

Alma Mater

Alma Mater is positioned on the steps of Low Library

Alma Mater, conceived by Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), sits on the outdoor steps leading to Low Memorial Library on the campus of Columbia University in New York City. The sitting bronze figure is over 8 1/4 feet tall and weighs 4 tons. Her pedestal is 5 1/2 feet. Alma Mater was a gift of Mrs. Harriette W. Goelet and Robert Goelet Jr. in memory of Robert Goelet, Class of 1860 (Daniel Chester French, An American Sculptor). Mrs. Goelet had initially envisioned a group of figures for the sculpture but agreed to a single figure and its model in 1901 (Daniel Chester French, An American Sculptor). Construction began in 1901 and ended in 1903 and she was unveiled at Columbia University on September 23 of that same year. French meant for the statue to be seen as both an emblem of the university and a sign to greet incoming students to the university. In French's words, he aimed "to make a figure that should be gracious in the impression that it should make, with an attitude of welcome to the youths who should choose Columbia as their College." (Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan)

The regal and tranquil center of the university's quadrangle is, as stated in the Guide to Manhattan's Outdoor Sculpture, "draped in an academic gown, Alma Mater wears a crown of laurels [representing fame or victory] and sits on a throne. The scroll-like arms of the throne end in lamps, representing [and labeled] Doctrina and Sapienta. A book, signifying knowledge, balances on her lap, and an owl, the attribute of wisdom, is seen in the folds of her gown. Her right hand holds a scepter composed of four sprays of wheat, terminating with a crown of King's College. This refers to Columbia's origin as a Royalist institution in 1754 in lower Manhattan. Alma Mater's raised arms are said to have been suggested by the actress Mary Lawton, who posed for portions of this sculpture."(Manhattan's Outdoor Sculpture)

The sculpture was urged into execution by architect Carles Follen McKim of the firm McKim, Mead and White for the purpose of harmonizing his larger composition and complimenting the imposing domed and colonnaded Low Library behind it (The Guide to Manhattan's Outdoor Sculpture). Alma Mater's pedestal, created by the architects of Low, is composed of two types of stone. The upper portion of the base consists of two 12" -thick slabs of Italian Rosso Antico marble, typically an environmentally vulnerable marble. The slabs of marble sit on what appears to be Milford Pink Granite from Massachusetts which was also chosen for the base of Low Library (The Conservation of Alma Mater).

The figure was originally gilded but the gilding required a substantial amount of maintenance and periodic replacement. It was re-gilded in 1928. She has been without gilding since 1950 and attempts to have the gilding restored have been occasional. In lieu of the implications that accompany the frequency with which Alma Mater, housed outdoors in a high traffic urban environment, must be re-gilded and considering her role as a symbol to the university it has been decided that perhaps repeated efforts to keep her clothing edged with gold are unnecessary.

On May 14th of 1970 the right rear, mainly the seat and gown of Alma Mater were damaged by a bomb as a part of an anti-war protest. She required immediate and costly repairs. Columbia University's bronze cast of Alma Mater is the only one known to have been produced. Letters in the Art Properties files from the French family to Columbia University written in 1928 state that the original plaster cast had long been either lost or destroyed. (Library of Congress, French Family Papers, Microfilm Reel 15:117.)

French also sculpted such works as the statue of John Harvard that sits in Harvard Yard, The Continents for the United States Custom House in New York, the Milmore Memorial dedicated to sculptors Martin and James Milmore located in Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. French was an avid taxidermist and apparently hid many owls among his works. There is indeed an owl hidden in the folds of Alma Mater's cloak, and college superstition has it that the first member of the incoming class to find the owl will become class valedictorian. When Columbia was all-male, the legend used to go that any Columbia student who found the owl on his first try would marry a girl from Barnard College, an all-female school located immediately across Broadway.

Inscriptions

• Left proper rear on plinth: “DC French SC 1903”
• Right proper rear on plinth: “JNO. WILLIAMS/BRONZE FOUNDRY NY”
• Front and rear of base: “IN MEMORY OF ROBERT GOELET CLASS OF 1860”

Bellerophon Taming Pegasus

Artist: Jacquez Litchitz

• Born: 1891; Lithuania

Commission:

• Commissioned in 1966

Medium:

• Bronze

Installation:

• I don't remember where this is installed.

Intended to be installed in the Summer of 1971, but due to delays and reworking, the installation was delayed.

• Installed in April of 1977

Inscriptions:

• none

The Great God Pan

The Great God Pan is a sculpture on the Lewisohn Lawn at Columbia University in New York City. It was crafted by George Grey Barnard (1863 – 1938) in 1899. The sculpture was commissioned in 1895 by Alfred Corning Clark and gifted by Edward Severin Clark to Columbia in 1907. Pan weighs more than three tons altogether with its granite plinth base. The bronze statue, approximately 4 ft. 1 in. x 9 ft. 1 1/2 in. x 3 ft 7 in, depicts [[Pan (mythology), the pagan nature god, who is half-goat and half-man. Pan reclines on his side on a rock, playing a pipe held by his right hand, as he is propped on his left arm; his left leg hangs loose on the granite base and the right leg is bent behind him. The bronze statue was designed to be a fountain, which is why it is supported by a granite pedestal decorated in front with three lion-head water spouts.

Commissioning Information

For much of his early career, Barnard had been supported by his generous patron, Alfred Corning Clark, the son and heir of a founder of the Singer Corporation. In 1894, he was finishing his marble statue “The Two Natures” and began thinking about his new project. In a January 14 letter to his parents, he wrote “I have been busy this last week on a study for the old God Pan, down by the river playing his reed – I am in hopes of selling this one to young Edward Severin Clark for the entrance to the Dakota.” Edward Severin Clark was the eldest son of Alfred Corning Clark. Barnard had envisioned the Pan to be in the courtyard of The Dakota, a property of the Clarks at 72nd Street (Manhattan) and Central Park West -- Manhattan’s first luxury apartment building. In 1895, Alfred Corning Clark commissioned Barnard to create the sculpture for a fountain at the Dakota.

Iconography

Barnard’s Pan is the first use of classical mythology by the sculptor. Several explanations exist as to why Barnard decided to create this mythical beast. The sculptor’s concept seems to be inspired by Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem A Musical Instrument, in which she writes “What was he doing, the great god Pan/ Down in the reeds by the river?/ Splashing and paddling with hoofs of a goat.” Indeed, Browning’s god Pan matches that of Barnard’s, as a lumbering beastly creature. When the Pan sculpture was finished, Browning’s poem was often cited as a literary parallel. The artistic ancestry of Pan appears to come from Michelangelo, Barnard’s idol. In Pan, commentators quickly found references to Michelangelo’s Medici tomb sculptures.

Construction and Controversy

In 1898 Pan was cast into bronze as the largest bronze statue ever cast in one piece in the United States. The casting was hailed as a triumph of American industry over their European counterparts that had been unwilling to take on the formidable task of casting Pan in one piece, a request made by Barnard himself. After several European foundries declined, Henry Bonnard Bronze Company was commissioned to do the casting. The company saw Pan as a special challenge and spent most of a year doing preparatory work. Some 27 tons of outer mold, in sections weighing 4-5 tons each, and 1,700 pieces were involved in constructing the mold and its core. In August 1898, the casting was carried out and resulted in a perfect cast.

After the casting of Pan was complete, it was soon to be unveiled in Central Park. However, American aversion at that time to the exposure of flesh in public places created several obstacles to the placement of Pan. Alfred Corning Clark, Barnard’s benefactor, died in 1896. With his death, Barnard was deprived of a patron who for a decade had been nearly his sole source of income. In settling the estate, the Clarks presented the two largest Barnard statues (The Two Natures and Pan) to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the City of New York. The Met accepted The Two Natures and it has been in the museum ever since. The donors presented Pan to the City in November of 1896 in hopes of finding a suitable location in Central Park for the statue. The inclination of public prudery at the time did not bode well for the Pan. After a long delay, in March 1887, Samuel Parsons, Superintendent of Parks, wrote Edward Severin Clark to let him know that he had been unable to find a proper site for Pan and thus would not be able to accept the statue. In following summer, several sites were proposed for Pan: General Collins, Commissioner of the Department of Public Works, saw no taint of vulgarity in the statue and proposed the entrance of the boulevard at Fifty-ninth Street; Mayor William L. Strong approved of finding an outdoor home for the work; another board member thought Pan to be better suited for a museum. By this time, Pan had become a national sensation, either defended or opposed. A New Bedford, Massachusetts editor wrote, “It is a rather singular idea to put this pagan symbol in a public place in a Christian country.” Barnard himself filled over forty pages of his scrapbook with news clippings and cartoons of the statue. Vogue, Independent, Bookman and others all published features on Pan. In the end, no home was found for Pan; after its casting, the statue lay hidden away until the Clarks gave it to Columbia in 1907.

Restoration History

The Great God Pan is made of bronze with a polished green granite plinth base. In April of 1994, the statue underwent major conservation work for the first time. Over the years, the statue’s exposure to the elements corroded the work, causing some areas to turn green and others to turn black. The two-toned corrosion led to stripes running down many parts of the statue. Joseph Sembrat Jr., a graduate of the Preservation Program in the Architecture School, led conservation efforts. Treatment of Pan included “the stripping of all old wax, applying a chemical patina, and then rewaxing – in order to stabilize the metal against further corrosion and to unify the color by toning down the streakiness.” The conservation work began on April 18, 1994 and was monitored by Professor Martin Weaver, director of Columbia’s Center for Preservation Research, and his preservation class. Prior to the main restoration work in 1994, Columbia obtained examination reports and treatment recommendations from several conservators. The consensus of these reports was that both the statue and pedestal were in fair to poor condition. In July of 1983, an examination report done by Art Properties states that “the piece is badly corroded and pitted overall.” At the time, there were numerous accretions on the statue: tar in his eyes, on his buttocks, and in his hair. There was also corrosive substance below his mouth that caused a blue residue. As part of a new project to wash and wax the sculpture annually (by Columbia’s groundskeeper), the accretions were removed using acetone, methyl cloride, and mechanically with a wooden splint and scalpel. The statue was then washed, rinsed, and waxed.

Location on Campus

Since its arrival on Columbia’s campus, Pan has moved around several times due to construction. Upon its arrival in 1907, it was agreed that Pan should be placed on The Green, at the northerly end of campus; its original home was a custom-made pool in the northeast corner of campus, on Amsterdam Avenue and 120th Street, where Mudd Hall currently is. In 1959, Pan had to be moved to make room for the new engineering building. In September of 1962 the Trustees Committee on Buildings and Grounds approved the recommendation that Pan be placed in the center of the Avery – Faverweather quadrangle on the west side with its back against Avery and facing Fayerweather minus his pool. Some were upset by the pagan god being placed in close proximity to the Chapel. In 1975, due to the construction of Avery Extentsion, Pan was moved from Fayerweather to its current location in the Lewisohn quad.

Possible Relocation to Other Cities

At the end of the nineteenth century, when news spread that New York had rejected the Pan, other cities quickly made known their willingness to accept the statue. Newark, Syracuse, Denver, and St. Louis all had places ready for it. However, the Clarks made clear their desire for the statue to stay in New York. On August 26, 1969, the Bellefonte (Pennsylvania – Barnard’s birthplace) Area Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter to the President of Columbia, inquiring about the statue’s availability to an interested participant. Bellefonte was keenly interested in the statue as the town hoped to obtain a work by its native artist. However, by this time, Columbia had already moved Pan to its new location and decided that it added greatly to the amenity of campus and would not be sold.

Exhibitions

• Bronze cast never exhibited except at Columbia University
• Plaster cast

  • Barnard’s original one-man exhibition. November 1898. Logerot Garden, New York City
  • Paris Exposition, 1900 (Exposition Universelle (1900)). Winner of the gold medal
  • Exhibited at entrance of the Fine Arts Building of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, 1901. Received gold medal
  • Joint exhibition by the National Sculpture Society and the New York Florists Club, Madison Square Garden, New York, Fall 1902.
  • Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, 1904.
  • One-man exhibition of Barnard’s work, Boston, MA, 1908.

Inscriptions

• Rear near plinth: "Geo. Gray Barnard Sculptor. 1899"
• Proper left near plinth: "Cast in One Piece by the Henry Bonnard Bronze Co. New. -Y- 1899."

Further Reading

• Harold E. Dickson, “The Other Orphan”, American Art Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Autumn 1969), p. 108-118.
• “The Repatination of Pan.” The Record, April 29, 1994, Vol 19, No 26.

John Howard Van Amringe

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Le Marteleur

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Three Way Piece: Points

Commissioning Information

Henry Moore’s “Three Way–Piece: Points” was the first of four bronze sculptures placed on Columbia’s Revson Plaza. It was installed on October 3, 1967 as a gift of the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach foundation. Ira Wallach owned a smaller edition of the sculpture before he procured one of the large-scale cast for Revson Plaza. In all, it is said that there are three large casts of this piece: The other resides at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, and another in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park. The cast procured by Wallach is signed “Moore 2/3” identifying it as the second piece of its kind.

Actual Materials

“Three-Way Piece: Points” stands a tall 74” and is bronze installed in a concrete base. When the sculpture was first installed in 1967, its bonze platform was built to revolve. However, due to an energy crisis in the early ‘70’s, the platform was turned off and remains out of use today.

With bronze, an artist will first create the sculpture in another material, and later pour bronze over the model. Moore prefers “…using plaster as the preliminary material for [his] bronzes...”. In this respect, bronze is a very forgiving material since it can be cast over almost any other material. It also allows the artist to get around certain obstacles he/she would encounter with other materials. Sculpting with marble requires great precision, and certain postures or effects that could be cast in bronze without a second thought would be precarious for a marble sculpture (except for Gian Lorenzo Bernini of course). Moore particularly enjoyed the reproductive nature of working with bronze and has said, “The special quality of bronze is that you can reproduce with it almost any form and any surface texture through expert casting. However, if you desire to achieve the real metallic quality of bronze, it is necessary to work on the surface of the sculpture after it has been cast”.

Evidence of this surface work can be seen in the textural embellishments found throughout the “Three-Way Piece”, ranging from deep gouges to lighter almost unnoticeable etch marks. These markings add contrast to the overall curvaceous nature of the piece. Although they contrast the smoothness of the curves, they seem to follow the general flow of the curves, wrapping to the underside of the piece. They also serve to give the piece an earthy nature reminiscent of the look and feel of worn rocks.

Interaction of the Piece with its Environment

Relationship to its Base

The sculpture stands on its base at three “points” each with their own special shape: one comes to an actual point, another is rounded at the bottom, and the last is flat on one side and curved on the other. The fact that the piece revolved when initially installed really calls attention to the idea of “sculpture in the round”. Moore believes that sculpture in the round has no two points of view alike, and clearly expressed this in the simultaneous symmetry and asymmetry found in “Three-Way Piece”. The symmetry is in the curves that make up a large part of the sculpture’s surface, yet the variety in each curve’s bulge as well as the way they resolve into three vastly different “points” adds an element of asymmetry. As somewhat of an abstract artist, Moore has his to say about asymmetry: “…asymmetry is also connected with the desire for the organic [which I have) rather than the geometric. Organic forms though they may be symmetrical in their main disposition, in their reaction to the environment, growth and gravity, lose their perfect symmetry."

Different Vantage Points

It is a sculpture truly meant to be seen from all sides, and its placement on an overpass only enhances this fact. Not only can you approach it from 4 different sides, but there is also an extended view looking out across the street below.

In an interview discussing his later works, Henry Moore was quoted as saying, “For many years now, I have wanted my sculpture to be interesting from all viewpoints, and so I work not from a drawing but from small maquettes which can be held in one hand and looked and worked on from all angles”. The maquette for “Three-Way Piece” was a 63 cm bronze creation that allowed Moore to give each “side” of the piece an equal focus. One can see from the pictures that the viewer is truly getting something different on each side, allowing for fresh analysis. Moore stopped using drawings for just this reason: “a drawing can only show one view and…all the other view had to be invented. But, the first view remained too important, to much the key view." Most interestingly, each side has its own backdrop with which to interact.

Relationship to Surrounding Buildings

“Three-Way Piece: Points” is surrounded by buildings on 3 of its sides, and relates to them all on a different level. The curves of the sculpture help to bring out the curves in the nearby chapel, Earl Hall, mimicking the repeated roundness in the building. From this view, one can see only a portion of the building, and yet understand its overall shape. The relationship between the two is striking, with even the patina on the sculpture echoing the green tiled roof of the chapel. Conversely, on its opposite side stands the Law School library, which is anything but round. The stark contrast to the linear nature of this building is accentuated by the repeating column pattern that adorns the library literally from top to bottom. The patina is a bit reminiscent of the windows, but this is as far as any similarity gets.

Restoration History

When this sculpture first arrived on the plaza, it must have been a golden color similar to its counterparts. However, after nearly 40 years of weathering the particularly harsh New York City elements, “Three-Way Piece” has become drastically darker and has also acquired a layer of patina. In the past, Columbia has taken measures to restore the piece by washing it and having it waxed. The wax acts as a barrier to humidity and other elements, but there is a limit to how much protection it can truly give.

In a letter to a Columbia University official, Moore described the original surface patina of the sculpture: "...It is richer and darker, and eventually by being out of doors, it may go darker still…" The sculptor obviously had no qualms about the piece being exposed to the elements. Moore seemingly incorporates weathering into the overall look of his pieces before the changes occur. This adds allure to outdoor pieces, calling into question whether or not a piece like “Three-Way” is truly ever finished. Where will five years from now find such a work of art?

Further Reading

• Gayle, Margot, and Michele Cohen. Guide to Manhattan's Outdoor Sculpture. New York: Prentice Hall Press, 1988.
• Von Gutfeld, Sonia. "Flying Horses, Tightrope Walkers, and Other Campus Icons." Columbia Law School. Aug. 2007. 16 Apr.2009. http://www.law.columbia.edu/media
• Henry Moore: Writings & Conversations. Ed. Alan Wilkinson. London: Lund Humphries, 2002.
• Henry Moore Sculpture. Ed. David Mitchinson. London: Macmillan London Limited, 1981.
• "Henry Moore (1898-1986)." Artchive. 16 Apr. 2009. http://www.artchive.com/artchive/M/moore.html
• Moorman, Margaret "College Walk." Columbia Magazine Oct. 2008. Apr. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/alumni/Magazine/Fall2008/collegewalk.html8

The Thinker

The Thinker by Auguste Rodin.

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Thomas Jefferson

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Tight Rope Walker

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