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The term “public” signifies the world itself, in so far as it is common to all of us … It is related to the human artifact, the fabrication of human hands, as well as the affairs which go on among those who inhabit the man-made world together … If the world is to contain a public space, it cannot be erected for one generation and planned for the living only; it must transcend the life-span of mortal men. 11

— Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition

History

This volume does not pretend to be a comprehensive history or academic critique of public art: many admirable histories have been written – by art historians, leaders of government agencies charged with the promotion and stewardship of public art, and independent consultants. This is my story.

I have had meaningful relationships with the contemporary artists I cite and whose works illustrate my convictions about public art. They have been mentors, associates, and friends. I wish I could say that I have completed projects with all of them, but realistically, one has only so much time.

At the approximate midpoint of my career, editor Joseph Wilkes invited me to write a chapter on public art for a multi-volume Encyclopedia of Architecture. 12 The profusion and diversity of art in public places from ancient times provided the historical backdrop for my focus on the evolution of public art in the United States. I suggested that public art offered the unique cultural legacy for a complex and diversified nation.

Beginning tentatively in the late 1960s, just as I was launching my career, the United States General Services Administration (GSA) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) resuscitated imperatives of the Depression-era Works Projects Administration (WPA). The program had lost its vitality and all but disappeared in the years immediately following WWII. The GSA was both building owner and art patron; the NEA provided incentives by officially promoting art as a positive contributor to the health of communities, the renewed urbanization of cities, and the general well-being of America. Percentfor-art legislation, initially the province of the federal government (already widespread in Europe), was adopted by states, counties, and cities throughout America. This excitement about the promise of art in public places coincided with the burgeoning conceptual art and environmental art movements and contemporary artists’ growing desire to move beyond the gallery and museum spheres.

I described public art’s powerful role in illuminating the majesty of America’s spectacular landscapes, threats to our natural environment, and the

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Robert Irwin

Two Running Violet V Forms

1983

Stuart Collection, UC San Diego, CA

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Donatello

Equestrian Statue of Gattamelata

1445–53

Padua, Italy