Putnam Collection of Sculpture, Princeton University
A group of sculptures on the Princeton University campus
The John B. Putnam, Jr. Memorial Collection of Sculpture is a group of outdoor sculptures distributed through the Princeton University campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The collection is made up of works from 20th and 21st century sculptors.[1] In March 1968, President Robert Goheen announced that an anonymous donor gave a $1 million fund for the collection in honor of Princeton alumni John B. Putnam, Jr., Lieutenant U.S.A, who was killed in action during World War II.[2][3] The works were selected based on a committee of alumni who current or former directors of art museums,[3] and the first 20 were purchased in 1969 and 1970.[4]
The collection was first designed to have only 20 sculptures,[4] but after receiving George Segal's Abraham and Issac, in 1979, the total catalogue increased to 21.[5] The Princeton University Art Museum describes the collection as "not a static phenomenon" and that "work is underway to identify and purchase or commission works by artists."[1]
List of sculptures
Original twenty
The following is the twenty original sculptures before later ones were added.[4]
Once the initial collection was finished, the university received George Segal's Abraham and Issac as a gift in 1979.[5] The piece was commissioned for Kent State University in memorial of the 1970 Kent State shootings, but it was deemed too provocative.[46][47] Segal subsequently donated it to Princeton as it was where he taught sculpture,[47] and it was installed in 1979.[48] The university would continue to receive additional sculptures through purchasing, continued support by the Putnam family through the Mildred Andrews Fund, or as gifts from artists; however, only Segal's work was included in the collection.[5]
Name of Piece
Artist
Executed
Installed
Material
Location
Image
References
Abraham and Isaac: In Memory of May 4, 1970, Kent State University
The Princeton University Art Museum classifies several other pieces of artwork as falling under either the collection, although no reference to them as official additions can be found.[e] Additionally, while the art museum's map on the Putnam Collection labels Scott Burton's Public Table as part of the collection,[50][f] no official publication nor the listing on the art museum's website considers it an official component.[51][52]
Several works on campus, while not part of the collection, have received funding from either the Mildred Andrews Fund, like Scott Burton's Public Table,[52] or the John B. Putnam Jr. Memorial Fund, like Doug and Mike Starn's (Any) Body Oddly Propped.[57]
^Previously located at the courtyard formed by Lourie-Love Hall and 1922, 1940, 1941, and 1942 dormitories
^More specifically, with the most recent literature on the collection being published before the latest additions, it is unclear if the pieces are a part of the official catalogue.
^The map also includes Maya Lin's Einstein's Table and The Princeton Line, while forgetting Sir Jacob Epstein's Professor Albert Einstein, David Smith's Cubi XIII, and Michael Hall's Mastodon VI.
References
^ ab"Campus Collections". Princeton University Art Museum. Princeton University. Retrieved July 26, 2021.