This year is the 50th anniversary of Monumenta, a ground-breaking collection of outdoor sculptures by 40 different artists. Some of those names included Willem de Kooning, Christo, and Barbara Hepworth. It was an ambitious exhibit that didn’t get much attention from the art world at first, but it’s now recognized for its influence on large-scale public art. Morning host Luis Hernandez recently spoke with Jim Donahue, Curator of Historic Landscapes and Horticulture at Newport Mansions, which is hosting a symposium on Monumenta this Saturday.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Luis Hernandez: How do you describe what Monumenta was and its significance?
Jim Donahue: Monumenta was an exhibition of large scale outdoor sculptures, many of them steel, that took place in August through October of 1974 it was groundbreaking because it brought together about 40 different modern artists from the mid-20th century, many of whom hadn’t been exhibited before together, but also many big names, people like Christo and Robert Indiana and, you know, really big names of the 20th century. And we had multiples. We had 53 statues or installations throughout Newport. So in terms of both the artists participating and the scope of it, it was groundbreaking.
Hernandez: I mean, you named some very big artists, but I’m wondering, was there a piece, or maybe a couple of pieces that you could say that’s what really made the event. Or those are the things that are most remembered about the event?
Donahue: Well, Christo wrapped a cove, an ocean cove off Ocean Drive, and people still talk about that. Nearby, there were major monumental sculptures on the cliffs that you could see from that wrapped cove. So I think that’s the image that most people have in their heads. However, at our properties, 30 of the sculptures were at The Elms and Chateau-sur-Mer, both of which are Newport mansions. And we had several, I think, almost a dozen, sculptures by David Smith, more than had been shown together before. We had Barnet Newman. We had “Clam Digger” by Willem de Kooning. I mean, we had some things that are now in major collections on the grounds of Chateau-sur-Mer and The Elms as well.
Hernandez: What impact did monumenta have for Newport and for Rhode Island in the art world?
Donahue: Well, I think the organizer, the local organizer, was a man by the name of Bill Crimmins, who sort of took this whole project under his wing and organized it all. And he really felt in some ways it failed because it didn’t really catch on with the public. It was maybe a little bit too forward looking for Newporters, and maybe it happened too suddenly, and they weren’t prepared for it. In retrospect, it’s much more influential than it was at the time. And why it was influential, in retrospect, is that there weren’t really large-scale installations of monumental sculpture of that breadth in 1974 preceding that. But also since then, it’s become very common to have contemporary or modern sculpture installed on college campuses and shopping areas in public areas where they weren’t being shown before. They weren’t just limited to galleries anymore, and Monumenta had a lot to do with that.
Hernandez: Have we ever seen a gathering of this many artists and this much, you know, this much art in one place like this? Have we ever seen anything like Monumenta?
Donahue: Not as a temporary public installation, no. I mean, you can go to Storm King, or you can go to other sculpture parks and see the sort of similar concept. But again, Monumenta even contributed to those. There was no Storm King then. There was no DeCordova Sculpture Park then. It was a new idea.
Hernandez: Is it something that could happen again today?
Donahue: Well, the insurance alone would probably be prohibitive today. At that time, it was a very grassroots movement. It was really installed by a bunch of Princeton graduate students and a guy with a crane and a guy with a pickup truck. It was not like a professional installation whatsoever. They were able to sort of hobnob things together, you know, with this grassroots effort. And, you know, they sort of did it under the radar. Today, I don’t think you could possibly coordinate all the sites and all the insurance and all the delivery. I have my doubts, really, but it is the preservation society’s goal to have some sort of sculpture program on our properties, and that’s why we’re reminding people of Monumenta, because we’re headed in that direction.
Hernandez: Jim, thank you so much. I really appreciate the time and the insight.
Donahue: Oh, thank you. It’s pleasure.
The symposium will feature some of the people who made Monumenta possible 50 years ago. It takes place at Rosecliff on Saturday, August 17th from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. It’s free, though registration is required. You can learn more at Newportmansions.org.
