Hopping along a walkway in Society Hill since 1972, these two welded stainless steel kangaroos were commissioned through the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority’s Percent for Art Program by the Penn Tower Development Corporation for Lawrence Court. The kangaroos are one of the many metal sculptures throughout the Philadelphia region by Harold Kimmelman.
He received a number of large public commissions in the 1960s and 1970s, including his 20-foot Giraffe (1969) for the Junod Recreation Center. One of his best known public works is Burst of Joy (1977), an exploding column of stainless steel that was commissioned for The Gallery on Market Street.
“I strive to portray a spirit and an energy flux in sculpture,” wrote Kimmelman. “I work with metal. Transforming it from a static, heavy mass to an animated presence pulsing with energy, alive with movement. I sculpt recognizable forms designed in a contemporary language. I usually prefer to work directly with metal developing shapes by heat and pressure, tension and compression.”
Born and raised in Philadelphia, Kimmelman began his formal training with painters Henry Hensche and Hans Hoffman at the Cape School of Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and continued his sculpture studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He was a longtime resident of Wayne, Pennsylvania and had a studio in Mount Airy.
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