Witkin Sculptures Will Help Mold Campus Splendor

Rider University will host a dedication ceremony for the Isaac Witkin Sculpture Park, featuring monumental outdoor sculptures from the late artist’s collection installed on the University’s Lawrenceville and Princeton campuses, on Monday, April 21, at 11:30 a.m. on the Lawrenceville campus.

Witkin, whose renowned work is also on display locally at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, N.J., earned widespread recognition as one of the most original and masterful sculptors of the modern era prior to his death on April 23, 2006, in Pemberton, N.J.

In the spring of 2005, Rider University hosted the last large-scale exhibition of Witkin’s work of his lifetime. Professor Harry Naar, director of the Rider University Art Gallery, collaborated with the New Jersey Council on the Arts to bring the show Out of the Crucible: Images Born of Fire and Water to Lawrenceville for a five-week exhibit.

During that period, Witkin felt the admiration and respect shown to him by Rider University, and began to return the feeling in earnest, remarking how strongly he appreciated the welcome extended to him in the process of creating the exhibition.

Following Isaac Witkin’s passing, as his daughter Nadine Witkin carefully considered institutions to host long-term exhibits of her father’s collections, Rider became a clear favorite. As a sculptor, Witkin was considered a pioneer in his field, so the opportunity to have his early steel works comprise the first outdoor sculpture park at Rider, especially at a time that sees the full integration of the Westminster College of the Arts into the Rider community, is appropriate and timely. The six large-scale steel works at Rider, which represent the first half of Witkin’s career, are an ideal complement to the six monumental bronze works from Witkin’s later years on exhibit at the nearby Grounds for Sculpture.

“For many years, the University wanted to display on our campus examples of outdoor sculpture on a more permanent basis, and the opportunity to exhibit work by Isaac Witkin, a world-renowned artist, sculptor and teacher, opened the door for us,” said Naar. “This is significant to Rider because Witkin had his last major exhibition in our gallery, and also because he had such a positive experience with our students. The works on display demonstrate Witkin’s independent vision, thought and continued desire to expand his visual language. We hope that his dynamically welded steel sculptures will lead people to continually rediscover something new and visually exciting each time they view the works. We’re incredibly grateful to Nadine Witkin and the Witkin Estate for their careful consideration of Rider.”

The dedication ceremony will begin on the lawn in front of Ciambelli Hall, near Witkin’s Chesterwood sculpture, at 11:30 a.m. It will include a welcome from Rider President Mordechai Rozanski and remarks by distinguished guests, including Witkin’s daughter, Nadine Witkin. That will be followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the park.

Then, at 1 p.m. in the Bart Luedeke Center Theater, there will be a program entitled Perspectives – Insight and Interpretations of the Work of Isaac Witkin through Lecture, Film and Dance.  This program will feature a lecture by art critic Karen Wilkin, author of the 1998 monograph ISAAC WITKIN, a screening of the film Isaac Witkin: In His Own Words and a specially commissioned dance performance by Rider University dance students and choreographed by artist Ana Lorena Sanchez Castillo. A reception in Bart Luedeke Center lobby will conclude the day’s events, beginning at 2:30 p.m.

Isaac Witkin’s work has been exhibited by the Elkon Gallery in New York, Marlborough Gallery in New York, Hirschl & Adler Galleries in New York, Locks Gallery in Philadelphia, and can be found in the Tate Gallery in London, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis and the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, in conjunction with the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, as well as with many other public and private collections worldwide.

 

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