Artwork Details
- Title
- Covenant
- Artist
- Alexander Liberman (1912 – 1999)
- Year
- 1974; installed 1975
- Medium
- Painted steel
- Dimensions
- Height 45′; width 34′; depth 67′
Artwork Description
Students walking to or from the University of Pennsylvania’s residential complex pass a giant, angular composition of tubular red steel. Weighing over 25 tons, Covenant was commissioned as part of the university’s fulfillment of the Redevelopment Authority’s Percent for Art requirement.
Alexander Liberman’s sculpture has been described as so “wildly asymmetrical” that every change in the viewer’s angle of perception alters the apparent axes. During his long career his sculpture became increasingly monumental, and he characterized his larger works as a kind of “free architecture” that should have the impact of a temple or cathedral. In Covenant Liberman specifically intended to convey a feeling of unity and spiritual participation. The installation in 1975 was assisted by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
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
Commissioned by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority
Owned by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania