Sun God: detail view of sculpture and top half of vine-covered arch
Creator
Stuart Collection (San Diego, Calif.) Rittermann, Philipp Scholz (American photographer, 1955 CE-) Saint-Phalle, Niki de (French sculptor, writer, and scenographer, 1930-2002)
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Rights Holder and Contact
Rittermann, Philipp Scholz (American photographer, 1955 CE-)
Description
Garden and Landscape Architecture and City Planning Sculpture and Installations De Saint Phalle's Sun God was the first work commissioned by the Stuart Collection and was her first outdoor commission in America. The exuberantly colored, fourteen-foot bird is placed atop a fifteen-foot concrete arch and sited on a grassy area between the Faculty Club and Mandeville Auditorium. "This was the first work in the Stuart Collection. Niki came with Jean Tinguely to look and talk about ideas. She came up with this large bird welcoming people to the campus. Students started the Sun God Festival the year after it was installed, 1984, and it has become the largest annual event on campus except graduations. The Sun God is made of fiberglass with a steel armature on the inside. The colors are acrylic resin and the crown is gold leaf. Students say that to get an A on an exam one must walk backwards through the A-shaped arch." - Mary Beebe, Stuart Collection Director UC San Diego Library, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0175 (https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/contact) Mandeville Center: University of California, San Diego; La Jolla, California, United States
installations (visual works) sculpture (visual work) public art architecture (object genre) landscape architecture site-specific works caricatures
Identifier
ark:/20775/bb1264390d
Language
No linguistic content
Subject
Deities Arches Gilding Humor Women artists Crowns (headdresses) Vines Color Colossi Birds American Contemporary University of California, San Diego--History Installations (visual works) Sculpture (visual work) Public art Architecture (object genre) Landscape architecture Site-specific works Caricatures
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