The following is a list of permanentstatues andsculptures on theBrown University campus. They are ordered by their date of creation.
TheCaesar Augustus statue stands in front of the Sharpe Refectory in Hughes Court. It was a gift to the university by Moses Brown Ives Goddard in 1906.[1] It is an exactbronze copy of theVatican Museum's classicAugustus of Prima Porta statue. The statue's arm broke off due to ahurricane that struck Providence in 1938. A replacement arm was subsequently stolen by students, its whereabouts unknown. It was originally located in front of Rhode Island Hall on the Quiet Green, until it was moved to its current location in front of Sharpe Refectory 1952. The pedestal reads "The Gift of Moses Brown Ives Goddard to Brown University."
In 2020, Brown's Public Art Committee proposed to restore the statue and relocate it to the Quiet Green, with the intention of putting it into conversation with the Slavery Memorial (since the statue is read to today as a white man, who during the Roman Empire maintained practices of enslavement).[2] An ongoing student movement advocates to stop the relocation, and remove the statue entirely, encouraging Brown to spend its money acquiring new works of art by local Black and Indigenous artists.[citation needed]
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Brown'sMarcus Aurelius statue stands atop of the hill onRuth Simmons Quadrangle, at the rear ofSayles Hall, facingThayer Street through the Soldiers Memorial Gate. The statue was unveiled on June 1, 1908, by Robert Hale Ives Goddard on behalf of his deceased brother Moses Brown Ives Goddard.[3] Thebronze statue is a copy of theequestrian statue located onCapitoline Hill inRome. The northern pedestal's face is inscribed, "The Gift of Moses Brown Ives Goddard to Brown University MCMVII".
A bust ofDante Alighieri stands in front of Brown'sJohn Hay Library on a marble pedestal. The bust was created by Italian–born sculptorPaolo Abbate and unveiled on December 9, 1921.[4]
The seven-foot Bronze Bruno statue was cast by theGorham Manufacturing Company in 1923,[5] paid for by $10,000 of donations from Brown alumni.[6] The statue was not installed until 1927 because of a "debate ... about its meaning and proper placement."[5] It was sculpted by New York CityanimalierEli Harvey.[6] The statue was originally located atMarvel Gymnasium, then moved to a prominent location on the main College Green (between Faunce House and Salomon Center) when the gym was shut down in 1989.[6]
The front side of the pedestal reads:
Given By Alumni And Undergraduates
To Brown University
To Symbolize Those Qualities Of
Strength Courage Endurance
Which Go Far To Make Men Invincible
MCMXXVIII
The bear stands on a pedestal containing a piece ofslate rock stepped upon byRoger Williams in 1636 when claiming the land that would become the city ofProvidence.[6] On the back of the statue, below the slate, the pedestal is inscribed with:
This is a piece of the slate rock
on which Roger Williams Landed
when he came here in 1636
to hold forth his lively experiment
of independence with strength & courage.
May his spirit live in Brown men.
Slightly out of the way from the main campus, the Little Bear Fountain currently resides next to Brown's Faculty Club. The fountain was a gift from Theodore Francis Green, who had promoted the bear as Brown's mascot; it is abronze replica of one which Green found presiding over a fountain inBreslau,Poland. Over the years, the statue was painted withlacquer, masking much of the artistic detail of the bear. It was recently restored to its original condition by Newmans' Ltd. of Newport, Rhode Island.[7]
Brown's Main Green features one of six editions ofHenry Moore'sThree-Piece Reclining Figure No. 2: Bridge Prop.[8] The sculpture was given to the school by Laura andDavid Finn in 1974.[9] Moore visited the campus in May 1974 to view the then-newly installed sculpture.[10]
1 1/2 is a bronze and stainless steel sculpture byCarla Lavatelli. The sculpture is installed at Sciences Park between MacMillan Hall and theSciences Library.[11]
This five foot six bear, which stands in the yard of Maddock Alumni Center, was sculpted by Nicholas Swearer, son of Brown PresidentHoward Swearer.[6] This statue doesn't depict a bear at all; if one looks closely in the mouth of the bear, it becomes apparent that the statue depicts a child wearing a bear suit.
America One by Serbian sculptorDušan Džamonja stands in front of the Thomas J. Watson Sr. Center for Information Technology. The sculpture was commissioned by Vice Chancellor Artemis Joukowsky and dedicated in 1990. Speaking of his choosing of Džamonja, Joukowsky said "I thought it would be wonderful to have an East European sculptor represented on campus... This could be regarded as a symbol of the growing political as well as artistic freedom in that part of the world.”[12]
In 2012, Brown University accepted the anonymous donation ofCircle Dance, a life-size sculpture by American sculptorTom Friedman. The sculpture, modeled afterHenri Matisse's paintingLa Danse, is constructed out of stainless steel recycled from aluminium pans, and lies along the public grassy area called The Walk.[13]
Created by British wildlife sculptor Nick Bibby, Indomitable was erected in 2013 on the Ittleson Quad near the entrance of the Nelson Fitness Center. It was commissioned by Brown's Public Art Committee, which designates a percentage of construction budgets for public art displays. Additional support came from private donors.[14][15]
At ten feet in height, Indomitable is true to size for a male Kodiak.[15] Bibby drew inspiration from a quote byTheodore Francis Green, who in 1904 advocated the selection of a bear as Brown's mascot:
While it may be somewhat unsociable and uncouth, it is good natured and clean. While courageous and ready to fight, it does not look for trouble for its own sake, not is it bloodthirsty. It is not one of a herd, but acts independently. It is intelligent and capable of being educated (if caught young enough).
The statue took over eighteen months to complete, because of its high degree of detail.[15]
In September 2014, Brown dedicatedSlavery Memorial on its Front Green. The memorial stands between Manning Hall and Carrie Tower. The commissioned work by noted African-American sculptorMartin Puryear memorializes Brown's 18th century connections to chattel slavery and thetransatlantic slave trade. Constructed ofductile cast iron, the memorial takes the shape of a massive ball and chain.[16][17]
In 2015, Brown dedicatedUnder theLaurentide, a sculpture created by contemporary artist and designerMaya Lin. The statue stands on the quadrangle bounded by 85 Waterman Street and Arnold Laboratory. The sculpture takes the form of an oval water table similar to those Lin has created forYale andPrinceton.[18] The table's granite surface is contoured to evoke the topography ofNarragansett Bay. Thematically, the work addresses climate change, habitat loss andsea level rise.[19]
