Recently, past Sunday, when I saw this "Man on a Bench" figure sculpture by George Segal, I grew very fond of him. He looked like a very seasoned man, who has seen it all. Interestingly, when I had seen him earlier I was not impressed at all, as noted in my personal comment written earlier in July this year. Now I want to visit him again, covered in snow..
Below, is my earlier post in July, 2010..
Man on A Bench [1986]..
– By George Segal..
Male figure cast in bronze and sealed with white acrylic resin.
Location: IIT campus - Green Park Bench..
To commemorate the Centennial of Mies van der Rohe’s birth..
Location: IIT campus, west of Perlstein Hall and north of Wishnick Hall.
This is the first piece of public sculpture displayed outdoors of the IIT campus..
Made possible with grant from B.F.Ferguson Memorial Fund, additional funding from Daniel J. Terra, founder of Terra Museum of American Art and Victor J. Axelrod, president of Banner Construction Company.,
Personal comment [July 2, 2010]
I couldn't believe that this was funded by the B.F.Ferguson Monument Fund, which has commissioned some grand sculptures like, Fountain of Time, Fountain of Tritons, Nuclear Energy and many more remarkable pieces. It's not to say that I don't like George Segal's works. I think he has a unique style of making plaster cast sculptures, which has rightfully won him international acclaim. I am talking about the unkept little corner that this man-on-a-bench occupies. Mostly the sculptures commissioned by the Ferguson Fund occupy or rather create prime space around them. George Segal is famous for his tableaux presentation, where a group of sculptures inhabit a space. I can understand that the occassion demanded a single man on bench, overlooking Mies's work... But somehow, for me, this didnt seem like a Ferguson Fund commissioned memorial.
# For more on B.F.Ferguson Monument Fund.. click here..
5 comments:
Perhaps the B.F.Ferguson Monument Fund is making more of a stantement about Mies Van der Rohe by funding an artwork that gazes upon it.
I like your observations... and Segal's sculpture's obsservations too.
Gazing upon Mies work - Perhaps!!
I got to say, people incharge of the B.F.Ferguson Monument Fund - know ART!!! The Fund has commissioned some of the best pieces of Public Art in the city.. Fountain of Time, Fountain of Tritons, Eugene Field Memorial - are some of my favourites!
McKinlock Court, which has the Fountain of Tritons, is my absolute favourite place in Chicago..
Hello
Just came across your post. The man on the bench is a great work in self examination. I just wish people hadn't drawn on it.
Also, just a correction, the building he is looking at (Grover M. Hermann Hall) is an SOM building, not Mies. He is however nestled between two Mies buildings, Perlstein and Wishnick halls, behind him and to his left.
thanks and have a great day!
~IIT Student
Hi IIT student - Thnaks..
I would have loved to know your name..
There are layers of irony here. He's an African-American man, perhaps one of those who was displaced so IIT could be built. So he's come home. But under the terms of the Ferguson fund, he has to stay in the park. He sits outside my window as I teach.
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