The Hedgehog and the Fox (sculpture)
Encyclopedia
The Hedgehog and the Fox is a late Minimalist sculpture of Richard Serra
, installed between Peyton and Fine halls and the football stadium at Princeton University
in 2000. It was commissioned for the university some years before his death in 1998 by Princeton graduate Peter Joseph in honour of his children.
’s home in Bridgehampton, New York
, and the single ribbon following the contour line of “Contour 290” (Glenstone, 2004). An earlier example is the larger but structurally similar "Snake" (1996) at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
and the "Double Torqued Ellipse" of 1997. However, although the ribbon sculptures relate to Serra's Torqued Ellipse series of this period, their openness also contrasts with the small private spaces carved out of the large public sites where the sculptures of that series are installed.
The title of "The Hedgehog and the Fox" refers to an essay of that name by Isaiah Berlin
, where he quotes a line from the Greek poet Archilochus
: 'The fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one great thing.' Serra has explained that 'It points to how scholars either become free thinkers and invent or become subjugated to the dictates of history. This is the classical problem posed to every student.' Harold Foster, a professor in Princeton’s art and archaeology department, has further commented upon it that 'There are those who follow on principle in all they do — the hedgehogs — and those who look to different approaches at the same time — the foxes. The suggestion is that students might negotiate a balance between these two ways.' Viewers are therefore invited to engage with the sculpture by walking through its twisting structure and so enact that intellectual journey. Serra further emphasised his thinking in the interview he gave before delivering a lecture on his work at Princeton as Belknap Visitor in the Humanities in 2001. ‘The experience of the subject is the piece itself. Without the interaction, there is no piece.'
That statement fits within the wider intention behind Serra's work. In a lecture given at Yale University
in 1990, he declared that his sculptures are meant to 'become part of the site and restructure both conceptually and perceptually the organization of the site." He further underlined this in his speech at the dedication of "The Fox and the Hedgehog" at Princeton. 'It seems to be that one of the basic functions of art is to enable us to acknowledge thought and perception in ways that other things do not. To engage thought does not mean that the thought is contained solely within the work itself, it also means that the thought is contained within the dialogue that the work engenders in relation to its place.'
In the case of "The Hedgehog and the Fox", the steel sheets are hosed down in order to enhance the reddish-brown rust on the steel ribbons and suggest the colour of the fox. The fluid sinuosity of their movement adapts itself to the curves of the football stadium in the background, so as to create a visual continuum. Fortuitously, the upper edges of the sheets are now echoed by the gables and edges of the nearby Lewis Science Library, completed later in 2008, producing the prickly effect of a hedgehog curled up in defence.
For all its seeming abstraction, the sculpture has a personal significance for Serra himself. His interest in steel as an art medium began when he was a young man working in Californian steel mills to finance his education. Another powerful influence was the San Francisco shipyard where his father worked as a pipe-fitter. Serra has said that ‘All the raw material that I needed is contained in the reserve of this memory which has become a reoccurring dream.’ As in the proletarian workspace of the shipyard, his creations are shifted from the pedestal and allow an interaction between the work and the viewer. His reading of the line by Archilochus therefore reverses the moral order of the original fable of The Hedgehog and the Fox. The hedgehog, insisting on a patrician exclusive culture, is intellectually dead; the fox's adaptability (demonstrated by this sculpture's relationship to its environment) is the correct strategy for intellectual progress.
Richard Serra
Richard Serra is an American minimalist sculptor and video artist known for working with large-scale assemblies of sheet metal. Serra was involved in the Process Art Movement.-Early life and education:...
, installed between Peyton and Fine halls and the football stadium at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 2000. It was commissioned for the university some years before his death in 1998 by Princeton graduate Peter Joseph in honour of his children.
The sculpture and its meaning
The sculpture consists of three serpentine sheets of steel standing 94 feet long and 15 feet high, each comprising two identical conical/elliptical sections, inverted relative to each other overall. The steel plates are 2 inches thick and the piece, as often in Serra's work, adapts itself to its environment. It is closely related to other outdoor installations such as the double ribbons of “Sidewinder” (1999), on the lawn adjacent to the curving drives at Leonard RiggioLeonard Riggio
Leonard S. Riggio is an American businessperson and entrepreneur. He is the largest shareholder of the book store chain Barnes & Noble, which is the largest specialty retailer in the world. As of May 5, 2009, the company operates 777 stores in 50 U.S. states and the District of...
’s home in Bridgehampton, New York
Bridgehampton, New York
Bridgehampton is a hamlet in the South Fork of Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 1,381 at the 2000 census....
, and the single ribbon following the contour line of “Contour 290” (Glenstone, 2004). An earlier example is the larger but structurally similar "Snake" (1996) at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art, designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, built by Ferrovial, and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. It is built alongside the Nervion River, which runs through the city of Bilbao to the Atlantic Coast. The...
and the "Double Torqued Ellipse" of 1997. However, although the ribbon sculptures relate to Serra's Torqued Ellipse series of this period, their openness also contrasts with the small private spaces carved out of the large public sites where the sculptures of that series are installed.
The title of "The Hedgehog and the Fox" refers to an essay of that name by Isaiah Berlin
The Hedgehog and the Fox
"The Hedgehog and the Fox" is an essay by the liberal philosopher Isaiah Berlin. It was one of Berlin's most popular essays with the general public. Berlin himself said of the essay: "I never meant it very seriously. I meant it as a kind of enjoyable intellectual game, but it was taken seriously...
, where he quotes a line from the Greek poet Archilochus
Archilochus
Archilochus, or, Archilochos While these have been the generally accepted dates since Felix Jacoby, "The Date of Archilochus," Classical Quarterly 35 97-109, some scholars disagree; Robin Lane Fox, for instance, in Travelling Heroes: Greeks and Their Myths in the Epic Age of Homer , p...
: 'The fox knows many things but the hedgehog knows one great thing.' Serra has explained that 'It points to how scholars either become free thinkers and invent or become subjugated to the dictates of history. This is the classical problem posed to every student.' Harold Foster, a professor in Princeton’s art and archaeology department, has further commented upon it that 'There are those who follow on principle in all they do — the hedgehogs — and those who look to different approaches at the same time — the foxes. The suggestion is that students might negotiate a balance between these two ways.' Viewers are therefore invited to engage with the sculpture by walking through its twisting structure and so enact that intellectual journey. Serra further emphasised his thinking in the interview he gave before delivering a lecture on his work at Princeton as Belknap Visitor in the Humanities in 2001. ‘The experience of the subject is the piece itself. Without the interaction, there is no piece.'
That statement fits within the wider intention behind Serra's work. In a lecture given at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1990, he declared that his sculptures are meant to 'become part of the site and restructure both conceptually and perceptually the organization of the site." He further underlined this in his speech at the dedication of "The Fox and the Hedgehog" at Princeton. 'It seems to be that one of the basic functions of art is to enable us to acknowledge thought and perception in ways that other things do not. To engage thought does not mean that the thought is contained solely within the work itself, it also means that the thought is contained within the dialogue that the work engenders in relation to its place.'
In the case of "The Hedgehog and the Fox", the steel sheets are hosed down in order to enhance the reddish-brown rust on the steel ribbons and suggest the colour of the fox. The fluid sinuosity of their movement adapts itself to the curves of the football stadium in the background, so as to create a visual continuum. Fortuitously, the upper edges of the sheets are now echoed by the gables and edges of the nearby Lewis Science Library, completed later in 2008, producing the prickly effect of a hedgehog curled up in defence.
For all its seeming abstraction, the sculpture has a personal significance for Serra himself. His interest in steel as an art medium began when he was a young man working in Californian steel mills to finance his education. Another powerful influence was the San Francisco shipyard where his father worked as a pipe-fitter. Serra has said that ‘All the raw material that I needed is contained in the reserve of this memory which has become a reoccurring dream.’ As in the proletarian workspace of the shipyard, his creations are shifted from the pedestal and allow an interaction between the work and the viewer. His reading of the line by Archilochus therefore reverses the moral order of the original fable of The Hedgehog and the Fox. The hedgehog, insisting on a patrician exclusive culture, is intellectually dead; the fox's adaptability (demonstrated by this sculpture's relationship to its environment) is the correct strategy for intellectual progress.