Linden Tree
Isaac Witkin
Audio Tour
1983
MATERIAL: metal: bronze
DIMENSIONS: overall: 120 in x 52 in x 52 in
EDITION: Unique
CREDIT: Grounds For Sculpture, Gift of The Seward Johnson Atelier
© Estate of Isaac Witkin, photo: Ken Ek
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‘Linden Tree’ is the artist’s first large-scale bronze reflecting Witkin's significant shift towards elongated and upright, poured and welded bronzes. This sculpture also has the designation of being the first work ever “installed” at Grounds For Sculpture, well before the construction of the sculpture park began, as a test to see how sculpture might be sited in the former NJ State Fairground grandstand.
Witkin’s sculptural language is most commonly expressed through his bronze works. That language is generated from Witkin’s improvised explorations of experimental foundry techniques in which molten bronze is directly poured onto a bed of sand. As the artist has stated, “Rather than beginning with a drawing, my ideas are always conceived three-dimensionally. My language is generated from the free flow of metal drawn in molten states onto beds of sand.” Examples of such bronze works include 'The Bathers' (1991), 'Hawthorne Tree II' (1990), and 'Linden Tree' (1983)—all of which are exhibited outdoors at Grounds For Sculpture.
