Seven to Save Spotlight: Richard Lippold's Orpheus and Apollo
A closeup view of Orpheus and Apollo
“Lippold’s sculpture — truly architectural in scale — consists of slats of polished bronze suspended from wires and bridges nearly the entire width of the interior space along the entrance facade, suggesting ascending and descending musical scales.”
Janet Parks, The Troubled Search: Max Abramovitz, Columbia University for the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery catalogue, 2004, p.116
This month’s Seven to Save spotlight takes us to Lincoln Center, and an absence that is felt by many as soon as they walk into the spacious atrium. Richard Lippold’s para-architectural installation Orpheus and Apollo was the first major site-specific artwork created for the Lincoln Center Complex in 1962. It was removed in 2014, which at the time was said to be temporary, ostensibly for maintenance and conservation. Six years later, Orpheus and Apollo is still in storage with no plans of being reinstalled. A five-ton, 190-foot-long, 39-foot-high sculpture, hung with 450 steel wires, it is not something that could just as easily find a new life elsewhere — and advocates are eager to make sure it returns to its rightful place.
The sculpture was commissioned by the architect of the hall, Max Abramovitz, who asked Mr. Lippold “to create sculpture that would float in space and relate in a contemporary manner to the interior of the foyer just as the magnificent crystal chandeliers of a former day took command of their space.” It was not quite finished in time for the opening night of the hall in 1962,but was completed a couple of months later, that December, when an article in The New York Times said it “relieves the severely plain and unadorned character of the architecture.”
“‘Orpheus and Apollo,’ Dismantled, May Be Gone for Years, Some Fear Permanently,” New York Times, 2015
A view of Orpheus and Apollo installed in the Lincoln Center atrium
The massive artwork was a commanding presence, both inside and out. The multi-story atrium is transparent, allowing a dialogue between what was happening inside and what was happening outside. Orpheus and Apollo could be admired just as easily by the public passing through the plaza as it could by those attending a performance.
Richard Lippold is an internationally renowned artist who was well known and respected when he was working in the mid-20th century. He was a key figure in architecture mostly for his elaborate kinetic constructions. His work can be found at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His work, of which Orpheus and Apollo is a shining example, speaks to the collaborative nature of Modern artists and architects. Instead of art being an afterthought or a complement to a designed space, Modern architects often worked hand in hand with artists to create site-specific works to complete their spaces. As architects pursued pared-down aesthetics, typical architectural ornament like bas relief panels, decorative moldings, and cornices were replaced in favor of site-specific works like Lippold’s.
Our colleagues at LANDMARK WEST! nominated Orpheus and Apollo to our Seven to Save program. We’ll be working with them in the coming months to help bring attention to this important piece of New York’s cultural heritage. Although left out of Lincoln Center’s recently released renovation plans, there is still time to influence that work, and we firmly believe that re-installing Orpheus and Apollo should be part of their plans.