The Wedges (1970)

by Robert Morris (1931 - 2018)

Photo Caption: Photo Caitlin Martin © 2010 for the Association for Public Art
  • Title

    The Wedges

  • Artist

    Robert Morris (1931 - 2018)

  • Year

    1970; installed 1985

  • Location

    Kelly and Sedgely Drives

  • Medium

    Painted weathering steel

  • Dimensions

    Height 4’6″; width 20′; depth 20′

Acquired by the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the Association for Public Art), gift of Mr. and Mrs. H. Gates Lloyd

Owned by the Association for Public Art


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At A Glance

  • Purchased by Mr. and Mrs. H. Gates Lloyd after exhibition at London’s Tate Gallery in 1972

  • Robert Morris is known for his involvement in the conceptualist and minimalist movements

Standing in mysterious convocation, the eight wedges form a rounded square on the grass near Kelly Drive. The artist, Robert Morris, has always been interested in problems of perception and is widely known for his “earthworks,” as well as for his involvement in the conceptualist and minimalist movements.

Robert Morris' painted steel reddish brown sculpture with green grass and trees. They are eight geometric wedge forms arranged on the ground in a circular square
Photo Ashley Lippolis © 2021 for the Association for Public Art

After exhibition at London’s Tate Gallery in 1972, The Wedges was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. H. Gates Lloyd, who donated the sculpture to the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the Association for Public Art) in 1984. It was installed along Kelly Drive in 1985. Four curved pieces of steel form the corners of the square; four smaller straight pieces fill in the sides. From certain angles the work seems to float on the landscape, and the interior presents a mysterious locus from which the surrounding environment emanates.

Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).

Voices heard in the Museum Without Walls: AUDIO program: Robert Morris (1931-2018) was an American sculptor, conceptual artist, writer, and an exponent of Minimalist Art. Nena Tsouti-Schillinger is an art historian and the author of the book Robert Morris and Angst. | Segment Producer: Lu Olkowski

Museum Without Walls: AUDIO is the Association for Public Art’s award-winning audio program for Philadelphia’s outdoor sculpture. Available for free by phone, mobile app, or online, the program features more than 150 voices from all walks of life – artists, educators, civic leaders, historians, and those with personal connections to the artworks.

 

RESOURCES

This artwork is part of the Along Kelly Drive tour

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