''Light Up'', often stylised as ''Light Up!'', is a painted steel plate public art

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

by American artist Tony Smith and dedicated on May 15, 1974. The sculpture is located in the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

's Forbes Quadrangle between

Posvar Hall Wesley W. Posvar Hall (WWPH), formerly known as Forbes Quadrangle, is a landmark building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. At it is the largest academic-use building on campus, providing ...

, the Barco Law Building, and

Hillman Library Hillman Library is the largest library and the center of administration for the University Library System (ULS) of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Located on the corner of Forbes Avenue and Schenley Drive ...

. Commissioned in 1971 by

Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...

, it was originally situated in Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh, but was donated to the University of Pittsburgh and relocated to its

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

campus in 1988. The sculpture was temporarily recited to the Seagram Plaza in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1998 for an exhibition of Smith's work at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

History

In 1971, then-board-chairman of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation Donald Burnham commissioned Tony Smith for a piece of public artwork for the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh. ''Light Up!'' was assembled with a crane on-site in 1974. With the help of University of Pittsburgh architect Ana Guzman, the sculpture was relocated to its current location on the University's campus. Although generally well received at the time of its dedication, it was described as a disappointment by a news columnist for the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'' for not being as "dynamic" as some of Smith's other works.

Description

''Light Up'' is 20 feet and 6 inches in height and most noted for it being a bright shade of yellow; a departure from the sculptor's more numerous black works. It combines a tetrahedron and octahedron into what Smith described as a "continuous space grid" which "may be seen as interruptions in an otherwise unbroken flow of space." In its public settings it has been seen to be a stark comparison to the surrounding colors and shapes of its neighboring architecture, with one writer describing it in comparison to an adjacent

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

skyscraper in its temporary New York retrospective setting as being "a jazzy counterpoint to its staid geometry." For this reason some posit Smith's intention, for its original setting, was to lighten up its surroundings and perhaps the attitudes of passers-by. Although Smith acknowledged that the color provided warmth against the sculpture's original backdrop which was a dark building, Smith's actual inspiration came from his observation of yellow newspaper truck driving around Pittsburgh that he had witnessed from a vantage point on the

Mount Washington Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...

overlook above the city's downtown.

References

{{University of Pittsburgh Sculptures by Tony Smith 1974 sculptures Abstract sculptures in Pennsylvania Culture of Pittsburgh Outdoor sculptures in Pennsylvania Steel sculptures in Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh

History

Description

See also

References