Pyramid - Philadelphia, PA - Abstract Public Sculptures on Waymarking.com

This is an unusual sculpture but I suppose every medium is a valid one. Pyramid was sculpted by Sol LeWitt (September 9, 1928 – April 8, 2007). LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism. LeWitt came to fame in the late 1960s with his wall drawings and "structures" (a term he preferred instead of "sculptures") but was prolific in a wide range of media including drawing, printmaking, photography, and painting. He has been the subject of hundreds of solo exhibitions in museums and galleries around the world since 1965. SOURCE

This concrete blocked pyramid is an excellent representation of his work. Beginning in the mid-1980s, LeWitt composed some of his sculptures from stacked cinder blocks. At this time, he began to work with concrete blocks like what we have here. In 1985, the first cement Cube was built in a park in Basel. From 1990 onwards, LeWitt conceived multiple variations on a tower to be constructed using concrete blocks. This abstract sculpture is one of those variations. The pyramid was given to the museum by his estate. The sculpture and his other one next to it, Steps were installed in 2010 two years before the opening of the sculptrue garden on May 24th 2012.

From base to top, the pyramid is roughly seven feet high assuming each block is a foot high. There are seven levels to this sculpture, each diminishing in area until a single half block at the top, the finial of the sculpture I suppose. The construction was a curious one so as a math teacher I was compelled to break down each level, draw a diagram and calculate how many blocks were used and the area of each level (which had to be an assumption based on an approximation of the size of each block). The base uses 74.5 blocks. I estimated that each block is about 2 feet x 1 foot. The bottom level therefore is 13 feet² for an area of 169 feet². I figured 6½ blocks each side as the last block is turned to begin the new side. At 2 feet a block that makes 13² feet . The second level uses 50.5 blocks for an area of 121 feet². The third level uses 30.5 blocks for an area of 81 feet². The fourth level uses 24.5 blocks for an area of 49 feet². The fifth level uses 12.5 blocks for an area of 25 feet². The sixth level uses 4.5 blocks for area of 9 feet². The seventh and final level uses only ½ block for an area of 1 foot². All totaled the artist had to schlep a total of 337.5 blocks! In case you were thinking there is some kind of geometric progression or pattern to all this or perhaps there is something exponential or linear going on here with the construction..well, you would be right! First, I found it very interesting how each level's area skipped a perfect square number. For instance, the bottom to the next level goes form 169 to 121 but 12² was left out so 144 feet² is skipped. Its the same for all the levels. Running a simple regression algorithm doesn't make too much sense of predicting the number of blocks for each level even though it is intuitive. The number of blocks for each level makes perfect sense and yields the following quadratic formula: y=4x² -4x+1. Even artists are mathematicians! By the way, all of this also assumes every level is filled in with blocks and not hallowed out in anticipation of a sarcophagus.

The Anne d’Harnoncourt Sculpture Garden is located behind the Philadelphia Museum of Art, on the elevated terrace adjacent to landscape architectural firm Olin’s gorgeous Sol LeWitt garden.

There are many beautiful works of art using all sorts of mediums spread throughout this terraced area on the Museum's west end. Located on top of a brand new parking facility, this artfully landscaped green “gallery without walls” is located between the Azalea Garden and the museum’s West Entrance. This area overlooks the river and the Fairmount Water Works. There always seems to be something new added as recently two new members joined the sculpture club. The garden is dedicated to the museum’s late director Anne d’Harnoncourt, and reflects her passions for art and the city of Philadelphia. the sculpture garden is open to the public throughout museum hours.

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