# Putnam Collection of Sculpture, Princeton University

The John B. Putnam, Jr. Memorial Collection of Sculpture is a group of outdoor sculptures distributed through the Princeton University campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The collection is made up of works from 20th and 21st century sculptors. In March 1968, President Robert Goheen announced that an anonymous donor gave a $1 million fund for the collection in honor of Princeton alumni John B. Putnam, Jr., Lieutenant U.S.A, who was killed in action during World War II. The works were selected based on a committee of alumni who current or former directors of art museums, and the first 20 were purchased in 1969 and 1970.
The collection was first designed to have only 20 sculptures, but after receiving George Segal's Abraham and Issac, in 1979, the total catalogue increased to 21. The Princeton University Art Museum describes the collection as "not a static phenomenon" and that "work is underway to identify and purchase or commission works by artists."

## List of sculptures
### Original twenty

The following is the twenty original sculptures before later ones were added.
| Name of Piece | Artist | Executed | Installed | Material | Location |
| Atmosphere and Environment X | Louise Nevelson | 1969–1970 | 1971 | Cor-Ten steel | Between Nassau Street and Firestone Library |
| Construction in the Third and Fourth Dimension | Antoine Pevsner | 1961–1962 | 1972 | Cast bronze | Courtyard of Jadwin Hall |
| Cubi XIII | David Smith | 1963 | 1969 | Stainless steel | Between McCormick Hall and Whig Hall |
| Five Disks: One Empty | Alexander Calder | 1969–1970 | 1971 | Painted mild steel | Fine Hall Plaza |
| Floating Figure | Gaston Lachaise | 1927 | 1969 | Cast bronze | Compton Court, Graduate College |
| Head of a Woman | Designed by Pablo Picasso; executed by Carl Nesjar | 1971 | 1971 | Cast concrete, granite, and quartzite | Located on the lawn between Spelman Halls and New South Building |
| Marok-Marok-Miosa | Eduardo Paolozzi | 1965 | 1969 | Welded aluminum | Stairwell of the Architecture Building |
| Mastodon VI | Michael Hall | 1968 | 1969 | Bronze and aluminum | Courtyard of MacMillan Building |
| Moses | Tony Smith | 1967–1968 | 1969 | Painted mild steel | Lawn in front of Prospect House |
| Northwood II | Kenneth Snelson | 1970 | 1973 | Stainless steel | East Dormitory Courtyard of the Graduate College |
| Oval with Points | Henry Moore | 1969–70 | 1971 | Bronze | Between Stanhope Hall and Morrison Hall |
| Professor Albert Einstein | Sir Jacob Epstein | 1933 | 1970 | Cast bronze | Fine Hall Library |
| Song of the Vowels | Jacques Lipchitz | 1969 | 1969 | Cast bronze | Between Firestone Library and the University Chapel |
| Sphere VI | Arnaldo Pomodoro | 1966 | 1969 | Polished bronze | Entrance of Fine Hall Library |
| Spheric Theme | Naum Gabo | 1973–1974 | 1974 | Stainless steel | Courtyard of the Engineering Quadrangle |
| Stone Riddle | Masayuki Nagare | 1967 | 1972 | Black granite | Courtyard of Engineering Quadrangle |
| The Bride | Reg Butler | 1956–1961 | 1970 | Cast bronze | Courtyard of Rockefeller College |
| Two Planes Vertical Horizontal II | George Rickey | 1970 | 1972 | Stainless steel | Between East Pyne Hall and the University Chapel |
| Upstart II | Clement Meadmore | 1970 | 1973 | Cor-Ten steel | Entrance to the Engineering Quadrangle |
| White Sun | Isamu Noguchi | 1966 | 1970 | Saravezza marble | Lobby of Firestone Library |

### Official additions

Once the initial collection was finished, the university received George Segal's Abraham and Issac as a gift in 1979. The piece was commissioned for Kent State University in memorial of the 1970 Kent State shootings, but it was deemed too provocative. Segal subsequently donated it to Princeton as it was where he taught sculpture, and it was installed in 1979. The university would continue to receive additional sculptures through purchasing, continued support by the Putnam family through the Mildred Andrews Fund, or as gifts from artists; however, only Segal's work was included in the collection.
| Name of Piece | Artist | Executed | Installed | Material | Location | Image | References |
| Abraham and Isaac: In Memory of May 4, 1970, Kent State University | George Segal | 1978–1979 | 1979 | Cast bronze | Between Firestone Library and the University Chapel | | |

### Unofficial additions

The Princeton University Art Museum classifies several other pieces of artwork as falling under either the collection, although no reference to them as official additions can be found. Additionally, while the art museum's map on the Putnam Collection labels Scott Burton's Public Table as part of the collection, no official publication nor the listing on the art museum's website considers it an official component.
| Name of Piece | Artist | Executed | Installed | Material | Location |
| Einstein's Table | Maya Lin | 2019 | 2019 | Jet Mist Granite | Lewis Arts Complex |
| The Princeton Line | Maya Lin | 2018 | 2018 | Earth drawing | Lewis Arts Complex |
| URODA | Ursula von Rydingsvard | 2015 | 2015 | Copper, steel, bronze | Entrance to the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment |

### Putnam funding

Several works on campus, while not part of the collection, have received funding from either the Mildred Andrews Fund, like Scott Burton's Public Table, or the John B. Putnam Jr. Memorial Fund, like Doug and Mike Starn's (Any) Body Oddly Propped.