On a recent walk through Wellesley College, we were stunned to see one of our favorite pieces of outdoor art in town unavailable for our viewing pleasure. A 1,500-pound steel sculpture by Clement Meadmore (born Feb. 9, 1929, died April 19, 2005) was nowhere to be seen.
The Wellesley College piece was installed in 2012 in front of the campus’ garage, across from Alumnae Hall. More on that here.
Work by the native of Australia, who moved to the United States in the 1960s, is displayed on other college campuses including Columbia University, Middlebury College, and Princeton University, and is part of the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Australia, and other institutions.
We knew the piece, titled Upsurge, was too big to walk away all by itself, and theft seemed unlikely. The area is in full view of the campus police department, which is staffed 24/7. The grassy hill on which the Meadmore sculpture sat looked undisturbed, without so much as a scratch on the small spotlight that shines on the piece at night. So where was the minimalist artwork, donated by rich alumnae and Trustee Emerita of the College, Lynn Johnston ’64, and her husband?
An email to the College, and a little digging on their representative’s part (who was as mystified as we were) revealed that the the Meadmore has been removed for cleaning and restoration and “will be back in place later this summer; no firm date at the moment.”
Coincidentally, a Meadmore sculpture hit the auction block on July 11 in the UK. Dreweatts auction house accepted a closing bid of £40,000 (that coverts to a little over $50k) for a piece that once belonged to president of Atlantic Records, Robert Stigwood.
All of this reminds us—the colorful twirly garden doo-dad, a striking early-2000s Gardener Supply Company piece Bob’s late Uncle Jerry left us, really could use a good scrubbing.
Uncle Jerry did you a solid!