Artwork Details
- Title
- Atmosphere and Environment XII
- Artist
- Louise Nevelson (1899 – 1988)
- Year
- 1970; purchased 1971; installed 1973; relocated 2019
- Location
- University of Pennsylvania, Shoemaker Green (east of 33rd Street between Walnut and Spruce Streets)
- Medium
- Cor-Ten steel, on granite base
- Dimensions
- Height 18'3″; width 10′; depth 5′ (base height 2'6″)
Artwork Description
Atmosphere and Environment XII is a product of the mature style of Louise Nevelson, one of the most influential artists of the decades following World War II. In the late 1950s, Nevelson conceived of wooden collage “environments,” wall-like sculptures painted entirely in one color and incorporating a myriad of abstract forms. Her interest in theater influenced both her concept of sculpture-as-environment and her use of vertical structures resembling stage sets.
Made of 18,000 pounds of Cor-Ten steel, which gradually weathers to form its own patina, Atmosphere and Environment XII consists of six columns of open rectangular cubes bolted together. Within the cubes are additional geometrical shapes, and the entire openwork composition seems to echo the landscape of a modern city.
After exhibitions in France and New York, the sculpture was purchased by the Association for Public Art (then known as Fairmount Park Art Association) in 1971 and installed at the Philadelphia Art Museum’s West Entrance in 1973. The artwork underwent comprehensive conservation treatment in 2007 by the Conservation Department of the Philadelphia Art Museum in cooperation with the Association for Public Art, with support from the federal Save America’s Treasures program, the Getty Foundation, and the Locks Foundation. In July 2019, Atmosphere and Environment XII was relocated to the University of Pennsylvania – on long-term loan from the Association for Public Art – to accommodate extensive renovations at the Philadelphia Art Museum.
Other sculptures in the Atmosphere and Environment series are located at the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Princeton University, Yale University Art Gallery, and Scottsdale, AZ. Another example of Nevelson’s work in Philadelphia is Bicentennial Dawn (1976) at the James A. Byrne Federal Courthouse (interior).
Content on this page was adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, 1992). Bach was the longtime Executive Director of the Association for Public Art, working with the organization from 1980 to 2022.
Artwork Credits
Purchased by Association for Public Art (formerly Fairmount Park Art Association)
Owned by the Association for Public Art
On long-term loan to the University of Pennsylvania
Artwork Media
Museum Without Walls
Voices:
LYNN MARSDEN-ATLASS is former director of the Arthur Ross Gallery and University Curator at the University of Pennsylvania.
MARIA NEVELSON is Founder and Executive Director of the Louise Nevelson Foundation. She is the granddaughter of the artist, Louise Nevelson.
ADAM JENKINS is a conservator of sculpture and decorative arts based in Philadelphia.
Producer: Alex Lewis / Rowhome Productions