Oval with Points

Hello, my name is Laura Herman and I am a member of Princeton’s class of 2018. In the fall of 2014, I took a freshman seminar titled “Historic Gardens and Designed Landscapes” with professor William Barksdale Maynard. For my final project, I studied Henry Moore’s Oval with Points and the ways it interacts with its setting and community. Through my research into Moore’s photographs, drawings, and artistic philosophy, I learned that he sought to create interaction between his work and the surrounding landscape. Indeed, his figures were so integrated into their environments that Moore claimed, “There is a danger that people will confuse their love of flowers, and gardens, and visits to the park with an interest in sculpture.” Moore believed that sculpture should extend viewers’ artistic sensibilities into the world around them, enhancing their appreciation of nature as an art form. Oval with Points does just that: the undulating organic structure of the sculpture begs the campus community to interact with it; students often are seen sitting or climbing on the sculpture. One might even say that the holes in the center of the work, which is framed by nature, function as a frame for nature. Also, it seems to me that the opening in Oval with Points echoes Blair Arch, which can be seen off to the left from one side of the sculpture. In this way there are even formal parallels between the sculpture and the architectural landscape on campus.