The Davis Square statues, entitled ''Ten Figures'', are life-sized cast concrete

public sculpture Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically access ...

, created by James Tyler,James Tyler public art listing
Accessed January 7, 2012 located in

Davis Square Davis Square is a major intersection in the northwestern section of Somerville, Massachusetts where several streets meet: Holland Street, Dover Street, Day Street, Elm Street, Highland Avenue, and College Avenue. The name is often used to refer ...

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81, ...

at or near the

Davis Davis may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Davis (Antarctica) * Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago) * Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land Canada * Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community * Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Gre ...

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

subway station. The statues are mostly based on people who lived near Davis Square in the 1980s. In 1996 bronze "masks" were added to the sculptures to repair damage and deter future vandalism.

Arts on the Line

The sculptures were created as a part of the MBTA and the Cambridge Arts Council's

Arts on the Line Arts on the Line was a program devised to bring art into the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Arts on the Line was the first program of its kind in the United States and became th ...

program. This first of its kind program was devised to bring art into the MBTA's planned Northwest Extension of the Red Line

subway station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the ...

s in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and became a model for similar drives for public art across the country. The statues were one of 20 artworks created for this program, out of over 400 proposals submitted by artists for artworks spread out across five different newly-created subway stations. The first 20 artworks, including this one, were completed with a total cost of

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

$695,000, or one-half of one percent of the total construction cost of the Red Line Northwest Extension.Red Line Northwest Extension Pamphlet page 5
The Davis Square Tiles Project. Accessed October 10, 2010

History

The statues in Davis Square are almost all based on actual people who lived in or around the square.Historic Preservation Commission: The Statues of Davis Square
. City of Somerville. Accessed March 17, 2011. For instance, one of the statues is of an elderly man and woman standing arm in arm; it depicts a couple who owned a little restaurant. "They were the nicest people you'd ever meet in your whole life", said a woman who knew them, "If you didn't have a dime, you could still get a nice dinner for nothing".Arts on the Line
Northern Light Productions. 0:36- 0:55. Accessed March 17, 2011. The sculptor added a fictional

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, who performs for a teenager (who was killed in Vietnam in 1969), accompanied by his mother. The statues are composed of cast concrete,Red Line Northwest Extension Pamphlet pages 10-11
The Davis Square Tiles Project. Accessed May 30, 2010 and were all originally located in one plaza, in front of J.P. Licks and a Store 24. In 1996, the Somerville Arts Council, in conjunction with the city, chose to move the statues to their current locations all around Davis Square, in front of subway stations, and in other small parks nearby. Also in 1996, bronze "masks" were added to the statues. Steven Post stated, “the statues were meant to be ‘temporary’ in that they were not made of bronze. Vandals destroyed some of the faces of the statues over the years, so the artist and the city decided to replace the faces with the bronze 'mask' that the statues all now 'wear'.”

References

External links

{{commons category, Ten Figures
Sculptor James Tyler: website index page
Outdoor sculptures in Massachusetts Statues in Massachusetts Bronze sculptures in Massachusetts Concrete sculptures in Massachusetts Arts on the Line Somerville, Massachusetts Sculptures of men in Massachusetts Sculptures of women in Massachusetts Vandalized works of art in Massachusetts

Arts on the Line

History

See also

References

External links