Alma Mater (New York sculpture)

Alma Mater

(2014)
Artist Daniel Chester French
Year 1903-04
Type Bronze
Dimensions 2.6 m × 1.8 m × 1.9 m (8.6 ft × 5.9 ft × 6.2 ft)
Location New York City
Coordinates: 40°48′28.2″N 73°57′43.7″W / 40.807833°N 73.962139°W
Owner Columbia University

Alma Mater is a sculpture of the goddess Athena by Daniel Chester French which is located on the steps leading to the Low Memorial Library on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City. Sculpted in 1903[1] and installed in 1904, it was donated in memory of alumnus Robert Goelet of the Class of 1860 by his wife, Harriette W. Goelet.[2] Alma Mater The statue has become a symbol of the university.

An owl is hidden in the folds of Alma Mater's cloak near her left leg,[3] a symbol of knowledge and learning,[2] and college superstition has it that the first member of the incoming class to find the owl will become class valedictorian. The legend at another time was that any Columbia student who found the owl on his first try would marry a girl from Barnard.

In 1962 the statue was gilded, but the gilding was removed after protests.[1] In the 1960s and 70s, the radical group the Weather Underground planned to blow up the statue, but these plans were shelved after the group managed to blow much of itself up inside a Greenwich Village row house instead.

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot with Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195383867., p.497
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Richman, Michael. Daniel Chester French: An American Sculptor (The Preservation Press, 1976, reprinted 1983), pp. 90–96: discussion of the commission, creation and installation of the sculpture.
  3. ↑ Durante, Dianne. Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide (New York University Press, 2007), p. 230

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