Reclining Nudes, (sculpture).

Reclining Nudes, (sculpture).

Petersen, Christian, 1885-1961, sculptor.

Reclining Nudes, (sculpture).

Roberts Hall Fountain, (sculpture).

Roberts Hall Bas-Relief, (sculpture).

1936. Relocated 1990s.

Digital Reference:

26 x 163 x 5 in.

(Across lower edge of relief, preceded and followed by a row of three stars each, incised:) AND NO WORLD MORE WIDE SINCE ALL HER DREAMS START HERE AND HERE ABIDE unsigned

Bas-relief depicting two nude reclining women. The relief is shaped like a trapezoid, wider at the bottom than at the top. The figure at left reclines on her stomach and legs, with her upper body raised up, resting on her bent elbows. Only her proper right side is shown in profile. She cups her hands beneath the small font-like outlet that projects out from the relief. The figure at right half-sits, half-reclines, leaning back on her proper right arm, with her proper right knee bent. Her proper left hand rests on her proper right knee. She looks back over her proper right shoulder at the other figure's cupped hands, below the font.

Figure group -- Female

Occupation -- Education -- Student

Literature -- Bradley -- Sancta Ursula

Architectural component

Outdoor Sculpture -- Iowa -- Ames

Administered by Iowa State University, University Museums, Brunnier Art Museum, 290 Scheman Building, Ames, Iowa 50011

Located Iowa State University, Morrill Hall, Ames, Iowa

Formerly Located Iowa State University, Roberts Hall, East Courtyard Steps, Ames, Iowa until 1990s

By the 1990s, this bas-relief formerly installed at the front stairs of Roberts Hall was in need of restoration --a small fountain pool installed at the base of the relief had been been removed, a terrace of brick and concrete aggregate had replaced it, and the font outlet had been filled with cement. The relief was removed from Roberts Hall in the 1990s, and was restored and moved to Morrill Hall where the fountain pool was reinstalled. IAS image files contain depictions of the relief in its Roberts Hall location. The inscription across the lower edge of the relief is the last line of a poem, "Sancta Ursula," written by William Aspenwald Bradley. According to two books written by Patricia L. Bliss and published in 1986, "Christian Petersen Remembered" and "Christian Petersen, Sculptor," the theme of the relief was based on Bradley's poem. IAS files contain excerpts from both of these books; "Christian Petersen Remembered" includes the text of Bradley's poem. Text on a plaque below relief when it was installed at Roberts Hall read: Christian Petersen /ROBERTS HALL FOUNTAIN, 1936/Terra Cotta.

Iowa State University, Brunnier Gallery and Museum, 1989.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Iowa survey, 1993.

Bliss, Patricia L., "Christian Petersen Remembered," Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1986.

Bliss, Patricia L., "Christian Petersen, Sculptor," Bettendorf, Iowa: Pegasus Productions, 1986.

Iowa State University, University Museums, 2017.

Bliss, Patricia L., "Christian Petersen Remembered," Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press, 1986, pg. 76.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9382

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