Take a detour

Yale has approximately 30 public art installations throughout campus in courtyards, plazas, and green spaces. Take the long way to your next meeting on campus and check out this selection of five oversized sculptures.

Modern Head

Standing stoically at the bottom of Sachem’s Wood is Roy Lichtenstein’s silvery Modern Head. This thirty-one-foot-tall stainless-steel silhouette with its broad nose and watchful eye appears to be leaning forward as if to brace for a strong wind. Lichtenstein was known for his pop art paintings and often used his work to poke fun at existing trends in modern art. This piece represents his challenge to the notion of what was at the time the definition of “modern” in the 1970s and 1980s. The donation of the sculpture was intended to commemorate the inauguration of President Emeritus Richard C. Levin ’74 Ph.D. and was presented to Yale in 1995 by Jeffrey H. Loria ’62 and James Goodman.

Location: Sachem Street at Hillhouse Avenue
Date: 1974/1989
Material: brushed stainless steel
Artist: Roy Lichtenstein (1923 – 1997)
Collection: Yale University Art Gallery

Indeterminate Line

Strolling along Hillhouse Avenue is always time well spent. This beautiful tree-lined street provides wonderful shade during summer and a peaceful break anytime. A stone’s throw from Modern Head is Indeterminate Line, a supersized brown metal coil set on the front lawn of Luce Hall. Take a moment to consider the long square rods of steel that Bernar Venet bent and twisted with an overhead crane into a graceful curve. Indeterminate Line was given to Yale by Marion J. Lebworth ’48 in honor of Henry Luce III ’45W and is part of the Campus Art Collection.

Location: 34 Hillhouse Avenue
Date: 1994
Material: rolled weathering steel
Artist: Bernar Venet (b. 1941)
Collection: Campus Art Collection

The Women’s Table

Meandering toward Sterling Memorial Library, one begins to hear the soft trickle of water as The Women’s Table comes into view. Designed by Maya Lin ’81, ’86 M.Arch., ’87 D.F.A., the oval granite slab is a tribute to the women of Yale. To appreciate its design and understand its significance, get close to see the string of digits on its surface marking the number of female students at Yale each year since its founding in 1701 through 1993. The numbers spiral toward the tabletop’s edge and are covered by water that gently bubbles up from the central spring and cascades over the smooth green, tan, and gray-speckled granite sides. The table was gifted anonymously to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of co-education at Yale.

Location: Rose Walk, by Sterling Memorial Library
Date: 1993
Material: Granite
Artist: Maya Lin (b.1959)
Collection: Campus Art Collection

Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks

Peek through the Morse College gate to glimpse the gigantic tube of orangey-red lipstick sprouting from a black military vehicle. Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks, created by Claes Oldenburg ’50, was originally and surreptitiously installed on Beinecke Plaza in 1969. A group of Yale students and faculty commissioned and gifted it to the university as a challenge to the university’s policies at that time. The first version was a wood base with an inflatable red vinyl tip (soon after replaced by a metal tip). Oldenburg removed it ten months later, and he eventually remade the form in steel, aluminum, and fiberglass. In 1974, it was reinstalled in the Morse College Courtyard, where it currently remains. It is part of the Yale University Art Gallery’s collection.

Location: Morse College Courtyard, along Tower Parkway
Date: 1969/1974
Material: painted steel, aluminum, and fiberglass
Artist: Claes Oldenburg (1929 – 2022)
Collection: Yale University Art Gallery

Trees

Throughout the seasons, the six, twenty-five-foot-tall, steel Trees are a welcome sight when walking down Howard Avenue. The architect, Robert Venturi, wanted these evergreen objects to provide a whimsical touch to the brick and limestone Anlyan Center, also designed by his firm Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates, Inc. in collaboration with Payette Associates of Boston. The Trees’ clusters of aluminum circles, in varying shades of green, signify Venturi’s rejection of rigid formalism in architecture, while providing the streetscape a playful touch.

Location: Anlyan Center along Howard Avenue
Date: 2000-03
Material: Painted steel and aluminum
Artist: Robert Venturi (1925-2018) for Venturi, Brown & Associates, Inc.
Collection: Campus Art Collection