| Chicago Picasso | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Chicago Picasso Location in Chicago | |
| Artist | Pablo Picasso |
| Year | 1967 |
| Medium | Sculpture, COR-TEN steel Fabricator: American Bridge Company |
| Dimensions | 15 m (50 ft) |
| Location | Daley Plaza, Chicago |
| 41°53′01″N 87°37′48″W / 41.88361°N 87.62997°W | |
The Chicago Picasso (often just The Picasso) is an untitled monumental sculpture by Pablo Picasso in Daley Plaza in Chicago, Illinois. The 1967 installation of The Picasso, "precipitated an aesthetic shift in civic and urban planning, broadening the idea of public art beyond the commemorative."[1]
The COR-TEN steel structure, dedicated on August 15, 1967, in the civic plaza in the Chicago Loop, is 50 feet (15.2 m) tall and weighs 162 short tons (147 t).[2] The Cubist sculpture by Picasso, who later said that it represented the head of his Afghan Hound, was the first monumental abstract public artwork in Downtown Chicago, and has become a well-known landmark. Publicly accessible, it is known for its inviting jungle gym-like characteristics.[3] Visitors to Daley Plaza can often be seen climbing on and sliding down the base of the sculpture.
The sculpture was commissioned in 1963 by the architects of the Chicago Civic Center (now known as the Richard J. Daley Center), a modernist government office building and courthouse (also clad in COR-TEN), with an open granite-paved plaza. The commission was facilitated by the architect William Hartmann of the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.[4] Picasso completed a maquette of the sculpture in 1965, and approved a final model of the sculpture in 1966. The cost of constructing the sculpture was $351,959.17 (equivalent to $3.2 million in 2022[5]), paid mostly by three charitable foundations: the Woods Charitable Fund, the Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Foundation, and the Field Foundation of Illinois. Picasso himself was offered payment of $100,000 but refused, stating that he wanted to make his work a gift to the city.[6]
- ^ Lopez, Ruth (August 7, 2017). "The story behind the 'controversial' Picasso sculpture that became a symbol of Chicago". The Art Newspaper. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
- ^ 1967 August 15—Picasso Statue Unveiled In Civic Center Plaza. Chicago Public Library (URL accessed August 14, 2005).
- ^ Artner, Alan G. (July 18, 2004). "Unfinished, but engaging, public art – 'Cloud Gate' and Crown Fountain intrigue". Chicago Tribune. Newsbank. Retrieved August 6, 2008.
- ^ "Picasso: Pablo and the Boss: The Amazing Story of Chicago's Picasso – WTTW". www.wttw.com.
- ^ "CPI Inflation Calculator". Retrieved May 11, 2018.
- ^ The Letter Edged in Black Press, Inc. v. Public Building Commission of Chicago 320 F. Supp. 1303 (1970)