“Sculpture,” said Henry Moore, “should always at first sight have some obscurities, and further meanings.” His one-ton bronze on the Parkway is an example of such visual ambiguities. It may appear to be a massive, polished, three-pointed stone – and in fact Moore kept a similarly shaped pebble in his studio for years. On the other hand, the bronze also looks like a weighty animal, with its three “points” like paws on which it delicately balances. Some have said that it resembles a hunched bird. From certain angles it even suggests a giant tooth or a gnawed bone. Whatever one’s first impression may be, the work changes as the viewer walks around it.
Philadelphia’s Three Way Piece was purchased by the Association for Public Art (formerly the Fairmount Park Art Association) in 1967 and installed in John F. Kennedy Plaza (now known as LOVE Park) that year. In November 1990 the sculpture was relocated to Cret Park, a nearby landscaped area along the Parkway at 16th Street.
Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).
Voices heard in the Museum Without Walls: AUDIO program: Mei-Ling Hom is a sculptor and installation artist in Philadelphia. She is known for her explorations of form in space. She works with various tactile materials including bronze, stone, and clay. Michael R. Taylor is the former Muriel and Philip Berman Curator of Modern Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Taylor is the author of Henry Moore: A Centennial Salute and the curator of the companion exhibition. | Segment Producer: Jonathan Mitchell
Museum Without Walls: AUDIO is the Association for Public Art’s award-winning audio program for Philadelphia’s outdoor sculpture. Available for free by phone, mobile app, or online, the program features more than 150 voices from all walks of life – artists, educators, civic leaders, historians, and those with personal connections to the artworks.
RESOURCES
- How to Request Images
- The Association for Public Art’s Digital Archive
- Working Model for Three Way Piece No.1: Points (Tate)
- Cast of Three Way Piece on Columbia University’s campus
This artwork is part of the Along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway tour