Established in 1872 in Philadelphia, the Association for Public Art (formerly Fairmount Park Art Association) is the United State's first private, nonprofit public art organization dedicated to integrating public art and urban planning. The Association for Public Art (aPA) commissions, preserves, promotes and interprets public art in Philadelphia, and it is largely due to the work of the aPA that Philadelphia is said to have more public art than any other American city. The aPA has acquired and commissioned works by many famous sculptors (including Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Alexander Stirling Calder, Daniel Chester French, Frederic Remington, Paul Manship, and Albert Laessle); supported city planning projects; established an outdoor sculpture conservation program; and sponsored numerous publications, exhibitions, and educational programs. The aPA interprets and preserves more than 200 works of art throughout Philadelphia – working closely with the City's Public Art Office, Fairmount Park, and other organizations and agencies responsible for placing and caring for outdoor sculpture in Philadelphia – and maintains an inventory of all of the city's public art.
Chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1872, the Fairmount Park Art Association (now the Association for Public Art) was founded by a group of concerned citizens in the late nineteenth century who wanted to beautify Philadelphia's urban landscape with public art to counter the city's encroaching industrialism. The Association initially focused on enhancing Fairmount Park with outdoor sculpture, but the organization's mission expanded in 1906 to include the rest of the city as a whole: to "promote and foster the beautiful in Philadelphia, in its architecture, improvements, and the city plan." Friends Charles H. Howell and Henry K. Fox conceived of the Fairmount Park Art Association, and the organization's first president was Anthony J. Drexel, founder of Drexel University. The Association's first official venture was purchasing Hudson Bay Wolves Quarreling Over the Carcass of a Deer (1872) by Edward Kemeys, and its first major undertaking was commissioning Alexander Milne Calder for an equestrian statue of Major General George Meade in 1873.
In May 2012, the Fairmount Park Art Association changed its name to the Association for Public Art (aPA). The change was made to more clearly communicate the nature and scope of the organization's work, and to distinguish itself from other local and national public art agencies The organization's first major project under its new name was Open Air (2012), a world-premiere interactive light installation for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.
Commissioned works:
Magic Carpet (2014), Candy Coated (formerly Candy Depew) OPEN AIR (2012) Rafael Lozano-Hemmer The Labor Monument: Philadelphia’s Tribute to the American Worker (2010), John Kindness Common Ground (2009), John Stone and Lonnie Graham in collaboration with Lorene Cary for Project H.O.M.E. Embodying Thoreau: Dwelling, Sitting, Watching (2003), Ed Levine I have a story to tell you…(2003), Pepón Osorio Manayunk Stoops: Heart and Home (1996), Diane Pieri Pavilion in the Trees (1993), Martin Puryear Sleeping Woman (1991), Tom Chimes and Stephen Berg Fingerspan (1987), Jody Pinto Louis Kahn Lecture Room (1982), Siah Armajani El Gran Teatro de la Luna (1982), Rafael FerrerThe Spirit of Enterprise (1950-1960), Jacques Lipchitz Aero Memorial (1948), Paul Manship The Ellen Phillips Samuel Memorial (1933-1961), various artists Shakespeare Memorial (1926), Alexander Stirling Calder Cowboy (1908), Frederic Remington General Ulysses S. Grant (1897), Daniel Chester French and Edward C. Potter James A. Garfield Monument (1895), Augustus Saint-Gaudens Stone Age in America (1887) by John J. Boyle Works acquired and owned by the aPA:
Symbiosis (2011; installed 2014), Roxy Paine Iroquois (1983-1999; installed 2007), Mark di Suvero The Wedges (1970), Robert Morris Atmosphere and Environment XII (1970), Louise Nevelson Rock Form (Porthcurno) (1964), Barbara Hepworth Three Way Piece Number 1: Points (1964), Henry Moore Works initiated by the aPA:
The Mounted Amazon Attacked by a Panther (1929), Auguste KissThorfinn Karlsefni (1918), Einar Jónsson (initiated with J. Bunford Samuel)Billy (1914), Albert LaessleDuck Girl (1911), Paul ManshipThe Medicine Man (1899), Cyrus E. DallinDickens and Little Nell (1890), Frank Edwin ElwellThe Lion Fighter (1858), Albert WolffThe Dying Lioness (1873), Wilhelm Franz Alexander Friedrich WolffLion Crushing a Serpent (1832), Antoine Louis BaryeNew Land Marks: public art, community, and the meaning of place, 2001Public Art in Philadelphia, 1992Form and Function: Proposals for Public Art for Philadelphia, 1982Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia’s Treasures in Bronze and Stone, 1974Awards and Recognition
Public Art Network Award, Americans for the Arts, 2015Best of Philly ® 2014 – New Public Artwork for Roxy Paine's Symbiosis, 2014 Inaugural Tyler Tribute Award for aPA Executive Director Penny Balkin Bach, 2013 PAD award for achievement in the field of public art for aPA Executive Director Penny Balkin Bach, 2013AASLH Award of Merit, American Association for State and Local History, 2011 PNC Arts Alive Award for Arts Innovation in Honor of Peggy Amsterdam, Arts and Business Council of Greater Philadelphia, 2011Named one of "10 great sculpture gardens across the USA," USA Today, 2011 aPA public art projects I have a story to tell you... and Embodying Thoreau: dwelling, sitting, watching named among "the country's best," Year in Review, Americans for the Arts, 2004EDRA/Places Award for Place Planning, Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) and the publication Places, A Forum of Environmental Design, 2002Henry J. Magaziner EFAIA Award, the AIA Philadelphia Historic Preservation Committee, 2002Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections, The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works and Heritage Preservation, 2000First-place SOS! Achievement Award, Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!), 1999The Herbert Adams Memorial Medal for outstanding service to American sculpture, National Sculpture Society, 1979Centennial Award of Honor from The Philadelphia Chapter of American Institute of Architects, 1969
