I DO NOT KNOW THE THE NAME OF THE ARTWORK BUT I DO KNOW THAT THE LIBRARY IS TO BE DENAMED
Note: According to a friend that was with me when I visited the Trinity Campus “dename” is not a Scrabble valid word.
I first photographed this sculpture near the Berkeley Library back in February 2018 and I could not find any information about it or the artist. It now 2023 and I still have no information but I do have some information relating to the library.
[26 April 2023] Trinity College Dublin to dename the Berkeley Library.
The name has been judged inconsistent with the University’s core values. Trinity is to dename the Berkeley Library while adopting a retain-and-explain approach to a stained-glass window commemorating George Berkeley.
Opened in 1967, Trinity’s largest library was named in 1978 after George Berkeley, the world-renowned philosopher, and former Librarian at Trinity. Berkeley published some of his most important philosophical works while at Trinity in the 1700s. He bought slaves – named Philip, Anthony, Edward, and Agnes Berkeley – to work on his Rhode Island estate in 1730-31 and sought to advance ideology in support of slavery.
When I was at school we had an American teacher/priest who was not a George Berkeley fan claiming that the man in question had constantly complained about the laziness of “our native Irish” and suggested that this laziness might be cured by a combination of eugenics and forced labour.
If you want to be confused then I suggest that you read about George Berkeley … there is plenty of information online.
‘Sfera con Sfera’ (‘Sphere within a Sphere’), 1982-83 bronze Donated by the artist (with support from Trinity College Dublin and Italian organisations in Ireland), 1986
Arnaldo Pomodoro (born 23 June 1926) is an Italian sculptor. He was born in Morciano, Romagna, and lives and works in Milan. His brother, Giò Pomodoro (1930–2002) was also a sculptor.
Pomodoro designed a controversial fiberglass crucifix for the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The piece is topped with a fourteen-foot diameter crown of thorns which hovers over the figure of Christ.
Some of Pomodoro’s Sphere Within Sphere (Sfera con Sfera) can be seen in the Vatican Museums, Trinity College, Dublin, the United Nations Headquarters and Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, American Republic Insurance Company in Des Moines, Iowa, the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Ohio, the University of California, Berkeley, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, and the Tel Aviv University, Israel.
You must be logged in to post a comment.