Connecticut Post Building, (sculpture)

Object Details

sculptor

Nivola, Costantino 1911-1988

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Connecticut survey, 1993.

Image on file.

(In lower left corner of first panel: artist's signature) signed

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Summary

A building mural consisting of twenty vertical, high relief panels, depicting the people, events, pressures, and iconography associated with publishing a newspaper, as well as the news itself. The panels are read left to right and are referred to by number. In the first and second panels, a figure representing an editor dominates. The bottom of the second panel has a weather map. In the third, fourth, and fifth panels there is an abstract group to represent a husband, wife, and two children. The fourth panel includes two heads of people in the news. Panels six through ten have academic figures to symbolize education.

Bottles representing liquor industry advertising appear in panel six. Panel seven features the stock exchange chart. Panels eight and nine have a house to represent real estate. Panels ten and eleven show a group of children to represent sports and health. Panel eleven has a portrait of a violin player to symbolize music. Panel twelve has the American flag and a figure to describe the state and country. Panel thirteen includes a group of three classical figures to represent the artistic muses. Nature and animals, suggesting fantasy and humor, appear in panel thirteen and run into the next panel. Along the upper right panels are three stars symbolizing excellence and fame, while paying homage to the old three-star edition of The Bridgeport Post.

Panels fifteen and sixteen include a stage. Panels seventeen and eighteen have a group symbolizing brotherhood, love, and peace. Panel seventeen has a group of objects used in the home. Panels eighteen, nineteen, and twenty have a group representing customs, society, and fashion. Panel nineteen shows a horizon with clouds, a vast sky and a planet to illustrate space research. Panel twenty includes tools of industry and advertising.

Installed 1966

Control number

IAS CT000270

Type

Sculptures-Outdoor Sculpture

Sculptures-Mural

Sculptures

Medium

Cast concrete

Owner/Location

Connecticut Post 410 State Street West side of building, on upper two floors Bridgeport Connecticut 06604

Art Inventories Catalog, Smithsonian American Art Museums

Topic

Abstract

Object--Written Matter--Newspaper

Allegory--Other--Bridgeport Post

Occupation--Writer--Editor

Figure group--Family

Occupation--Education

Recreation--Sport & Play

Allegory--Passion--Love

Allegory--Civic

Allegory--Life--Fraternity

Architecture--Civic--Theater

Architecture--Domestic--House

Performing Arts--Music--Violin

Mythology--Classical--Muse

Fantasy

Animal

Object--Other--Flag

Object--Foodstuff--Beverage

Landscape--Celestial--Planet

Object--Written Matter--Map

Occupation--Industry

Occupation--Communication Arts--Advertising

Record ID

siris_ari_331720

Metadata Usage (text)

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