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Public Art

The Way

By Alexander Libeman
Category: Sculpture

About

Composed on site in this open clearing in 1980, The Way has long stood as an acting symbol for the park, projecting in all directions like the guns of a giant battleship. This monumental work dominates the field; its scale is, in part, and meant to represent the awe-inspiring impact of classical Greek temples and mammoth Gothic-style cathedrals. The massive crumpled cylinders are welded together and placed to resemble a post and lintel architectural system. With numerous points of tension, this sacred pile of weighted geometry possesses shrine-like properties with humorous undertones, familiar to a failed game of Jenga. Discovered along the northeast coast, the eighteen salvaged steel oil tanks are a towering gateway built in the modernist spirit. Cadmium red was chosen for its symbolic qualities, representing beauty in Russian culture, and as a luminous abstract mixture that unifies all of the constructed parts of this work.  Liberman’s carefully placed industrial columns offer layered symbolism that combines site with compositional elegance and bold enthusiasm of form.

Courtesy of Laumeier Sculpture Park.

Dimensions: 65′ x 102′
Year Completed: 1972-80
Material: Salvaged steel oil tanks
Donor: Laumeier Sculpture Park commission with the support of Alvin J. Siteman


About the artist:

Alexander Libeman

Artist Bio: 1912-1999

Alexander Liberman was a Ukrainian-born American designer, art director, artist, and photographer. In the 1930s he used the pseudonym ‘Alexandre.’ He was sent to school in London in 1921 and later studied in Paris, ultimately with the painter André Lhote. After assisting the graphic designer Adolphe Cassandre, he became art director then managing editor of the illustrated weeklyVu, whose appearance he transformed. He reached New York in 1941, joined Vogue, and eventually succeeded Mehemed Fehmy Agha as art director. In 1962 he became editorial director of Condé Nast publications, remaining until he retired in 1994. Liberman strongly influenced Condé Nast’s avant-garde vision and publishing strategy by showcasing modern masters such as Henri Matisse and Jackson Pollock. He also exhibited paintings and sculpture, and photographed members of the New York social and artistic scene.