Please join The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union for a walking tour of works by Sardinian-born artist and sculptor, Costantino Nivola, on Saturday, October 26^th at 10am. The tour will begin at Louis Brandeis High School, located at 145 West 84^th Street in Manhattan. This event is being held in conjunction with the upcoming exhibition of Nivola works set to open at The Cooper Union in January 2019.

Costantino Nivola was a unique figure who bridged art and architecture by creating site-specific artwork for buildings, most of them publicly accessible and many in collaboration with prominent architects. He occupies a largely unexamined but important place in the post-war modern movement, and his artwork communicates to a broad audience using a symbolic language he created with materials and methods often shared by the buildings he embellished.

For his pieces that adorned architecture, Nivola worked mostly in concrete and explored a wide range of techniques including cast and sculpted concrete, frescoes, bas-reliefs and scrafitto. He placed free-standing sculptures in and around buildings, affixed cast panels to facades and inscribed wet concrete with designs on-site.

New York City is home to the largest gathering of Nivola’s public artworks – 21 pieces across all five boroughs, at least 17 of which still exist. The tour will include visits to six sites in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

(Rain date: Sunday, October 27^th – 10am)

Manhattan Sites – 10am Start Time

Louis Brandeis High School, 145 West 84^th Street [1962 – Richard Stein, Architect]

Stephen Wise Recreation Area, 117 West 90^th Street [1963 – Richard Stein, Architect]

Junior High School 13, 1573 Madison Avenue [1958 – Frederick G. Frost Jr., Architect]

Raymond Loewy House, 1025 5^th Avenue [1955 – Raymond Loewy, Architect]

19^th Precinct Combined Police & Fire Facilities 153 East 67^th Street [1991 – Richard & Carl Stein, Architects]

Lunch Break

Brooklyn Sites – 3pm Start Time

Public School 46, 100 Clermont Avenue [1959 – Katz, Waisman, Blumenkranz, Stein & Weber Architects]

Junior High School 113, 300 Adelphi Street [1961 – Frederick G. Frost Jr., Architect]

Please note: we will be traveling by bus between some Manhattan locations, and via subway between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The tour will be led by exhibition co-curator Roger Broome, a licensed, LEED-accredited architect. He practices in the greater New York City area, holds a Bachelor of Architecture from The Cooper Union (1990) and has been working in the field for over 30 years. He has worked in a broad variety of specialties such as exterior renovation, acoustical, exhibition and retail design.

Nivola in New York  I  Figure in Field will be on display in Cooper Union’s Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery from January 23 – March 15, 2019. In parallel with the exhibition, The Cooper Union will organize onsite events, including a public panel discussion and gallery tours.