Untitled (After Black Forest)
Created by: Robinson Fredenthal (American, 1940 - 2009)
Gift of Bart and Carol Lippincott

On your next visit to the Arboretum, stroll through the Oak Allee and look for the newest addition to our sculpture collection, ‘Untitled (after Black Forest') by Robinson Fredenthal. This monumental sculpture, one of many polyhedral explorations, is a gift to the Morris Arboretum from Bart and Carol Lippincott, longtime Arboretum friends and supporters who commissioned the work and displayed it in their garden in Chestnut Hill for many years. The original and larger version sits on the University of Pennsylvania campus at 34th and Walnut Streets.

Robin Fredenthal was born in Claremont, New Hampshire in 1940, the son and brother of artists. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963 and a second Bachelor's degree in Architecture in 1967. At that time, Penn Design was under the visionary leadership and guidance of Louis I. Kahn, Robert Le Ricolais, Romaldo Giurgola, Carlos Vallhonrat, Robert Venturi and others. In addition to pursuing his own studies, Fredenthal created many models for building competitions that helped to establish the renown of his talented teachers. Many of his studies, scale models and papers are held at the Penn Archives.

‘Untitled (after Black Forest') is one of the artist's myriad studies of cubes and of what happens when he stands them on their corners, cuts through them with planes, rotates and stacks them. Viewed from different angles in the Arboretum's Azalea Meadow, the piece will inspire interest and lively discussion.

This piece was fabricated and installed by Sears Ironworks, a company that has created and installed many Fredenthal pieces. We are indeed lucky to have it in the garden.