Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore) - Washington, DC
Posted by: Metro2
N 38° 53.325 W 077° 01.400
18S E 324514 N 4306376
This sculpture is located on the National Mall.
Waymark Code: WMRZQ5
Location: District of Columbia, United States
Date Posted: 08/29/2016
Views: 4
Wikipedia (
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"Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore) is a sculpture by American artist Mark di Suvero. It is in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, in Washington, D.C., United States. The sculpture is named after poet Marianne Moore's "What Are Years". Temporarily (through May 26, 2014), the sculpture has been relocated to San Francisco, as part of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's Mark di Suvero exhibition at Crissy Field.
Description
This 10-ton sculpture is made of nine red-orange steel I-beams, welded together, with one section suspended as a giant mobile with wire, shaped like a "V".
Information
Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore) is signature of di Suvero's monumental early 1960s "open-work constructions." These works utilize cast-off construction materials like chains, metal bars, and ladders. This sculpture is the first that di Suvero built, from beginning to end, with I-beams and using a crane, solely by himself.
Acquisition & installation
Are Years What? was originally in the collection of the artist, then the collection of Enrico Martignoni of Winnemucca, Nevada. Hirshhorn director James Demetrion first saw the sculpture when it was on display in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. The sculpture was acquired by the Hirshhorn with funds from the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Purchase Fund, a gift from the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, and by exchange of the di Suvero artwork ISIS, in 1999. The sculpture was installed on June 13, 1999, by crane into the museum's sculpture garden."