Artworks by Melvin Edwards and Yinka Shonibare CBE RA installed at Harvard College
Four sculptures have been installed on Harvard Business School’s campus in Boston as part of its ongoing contemporary sculpture program, which began in April 2016. A sculpture by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA is a new addition to the C. Ludens Ringnes Sculpture Collection, and a sculpture by Melvin Edwards and two works by Thaddeus Mosley are on loan to the school for the 2021-2022 exhibition. They join sculptures by Mary Frank, Jaume Plensa, John Safer, and Joel Shapiro in the school’s permanent collection.
“We’re excited to have works by these artists here on campus,” said Melissa Renn, collections manager, HBS Art and Artifacts Collection. “Their dynamic sculptures, sited on Schwartz Common where our whole community intersects and near the hub for Executive Education, which draws so many international participants, energize our outdoor spaces. It is a wonderful opportunity for the community to engage with works of art from around the world.”
'Wind Sculpture (SG) V', 2019 by Yinka Shonibare CBE employs Dutch wax textiles to visualize the idea of capturing the volume of wind. Constructed of industrial materials, the monumental, hand-painted 22-foot-high sculpture is based on photographs of wind being blown into the actual batik fabrics. 'Wind Sculpture (SG) V' was previously installed on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, and other sculptures from the series have been installed in locations around the world, including Trafalgar Square, London; Central Park, New York; Ndubuisi Kanu Park, Lagos, Nigeria; Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC; and Davidson College, North Carolina.
'Searching for the Word', 1989/2019 by Melvin Edwards is based on an earlier 1989 maquette created for New York's Governor’s Arts Awards and recalls the artist's other public sculptures from the same period, such as 'Southern Sunrise' (1983) and 'Breaking of the Chains' (1995). Composed of stainless-steel shapes and curvilinear forms, these works ideally are viewed in the round, for as Edwards describes, “A person will be able to experience them the way they experience architecture—that is, they move through and around and have a different visual experience from every point of view of the piece.”
These installations are made possible by the generosity of the artists and galleries, including Alexander Gray Associates, Stephen Friedman Gallery, James Cohan Gallery, and Karma, and by the C. Ludens Ringnes Sculpture Collection, which supports Harvard Business School’s contemporary outdoor sculpture exhibition.
