Kent State Memorial: Abraham and Isaac
Date
2015-05-07
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Abstract
Description
George Segal, who taught sculpture at Princeton from 1968 to 1969, was commissioned in 1978 by Kent State University to create a memorial to the four students killed by members of the National Guard during an antiwar demonstration on their campus. Segal found a metaphor for the tragedy in the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. In Segal�s version, Abraham, dressed in contemporary clothing, looms over a college-aged Isaac, who is stripped of his shirt and bound with rope. Kent State University officials refused it, interpreting it as a politically volatile depiction of murder. According to Segal, however, this group misunderstood the memorial: the theme, in Segal�s words, was �the eternal conflict between adherence to an abstract set of principles versus the love of your own child.� Segal selected Princeton�s site for the sculpture, near the University Chapel, to reinforce the work�s biblical associations.
Original file name IMG_2716.jpeg
Original file name IMG_2716.jpeg
Keywords
Kent State Memorial Abraham and Isaac, Kent State Memorial, Art on Princeton Campus, Campus of Princeton University, Princeton University, Ivy League, University, Princeton, Mercer County, The Delaware Region, New Jersey, NJ, Jersey, The Garden State
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