| Bellerophon Taming Pegasus | |
|---|---|
_-_13.JPG) The sculpture in 2014 | |
 | |
| Artist | Jacques Lipchitz |
| Year | 1977 (1977) |
| Type | Sculpture |
| Subject | Bellerophon tamingPegasus |
| Location | New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°48′25.4″N73°57′38″W / 40.807056°N 73.96056°W /40.807056; -73.96056 |
Bellerophon Taming Pegasus is an outdoor sculpture byJacques Lipchitz, depictingBellerophon andPegasus. It was the final sculpture worked on by Lipchitz, and was completed after his death in 1973.
The work depicts the human figure of Bellerophon, standing on a high plinth, tying a rope around the neck of the thrashing Pegasus, whose tail, legs and wings splay dramatically around the central figures. It has been interpreted as a representing man taming nature. In the words of the artist, "You observe nature, make conclusions, and from these you make rules… and law is born from that".[1] It takes inspiration from Lipchitz's earlier work,Birth of the Muses, which depicts Pegasus landing onMount Olympus.[2]
The sculpture was commissioned by architectMax Abramovitz forColumbia Law School in 1964.[3] It was cast in bronze atPietrasanta in Italy, shipped in pieces to be constructed in New York City, and dedicated on November 28, 1977.[1] It is installed above the west entrance ofJerome Greene Hall onRevson Plaza, on theColumbia University campus inManhattan. Nearby on the plaza are casts ofHenry Moore'sThree-Way Piece: Points,Tightrope Walker byKees Verkade,Life Force byDavid Bakalar, andFlight byGertrude Schweitzer.[1]
The 23 ton sculpture measures approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) by 28 feet (8.5 m), and stands on a 27-foot (8.2 m) high pedestal, making it, after theStatue of Liberty, the second-largest metal statue in New York City, as of 2022.[1][4]
TheTate Gallery in London holds a plaster "sketch" from 1964, presented by the Lipchitz Foundation in 1982.[5] Another 1964 plaster "sketch" is held by theMuseo Reina Sofía in Madrid.[6]
A 12-foot bronze cast - about half the size of the original - is at theBroadgate development in London.[7] Another cast was installed inKansas City in 2000.[8]
%2c_MIT_Campus.JPG)
| |||||||||
| Schools |
|  | |||||||
| Centers | |||||||||
| Libraries | |||||||||
| Campus |
| ||||||||
| Athletics |
| ||||||||
| Student life |
| ||||||||
| Journals |
| ||||||||
| People | |||||||||
| Related | |||||||||
