Arts and Artists WOODROW WILSON PLAZA
Woodrow wilson Plaza honors u.s. President Woodrow Wilson, scholar and former president of Princeton University. The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, located in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center on the plaza’s west side, is the nation’s memorial to our 29th chief executive. This nonpartisan institution studies national and world affairs. The plaza showcases monumental sculptures by two Washington-born artists: the cast aluminum Federal Triangle Flowers by Stephen Robin and the hammer-formed and welded bronze Bearing Witness by Martin Puryear. Robin’s rose and lily reflect the traditional use of flowers as architectural ornamentation. The familiar yet mysterious shape of Puryear’s work allows viewers to create their own associations. The sculptures, commissioned by the U.S. General Services Administration’s Art in Architecture Program, continue a long history of government- sponsored art for public buildings. Bas-reliefs (sculptures slightly raised from their backgrounds) by Adolph Alexander Weinman and Anthony De Francisci adorn the former Post Office Department (now Ariel Rios) building. Just under the roofline at either end of the curved façade are The Transmission of Mail by Day and The Transmission of Mail by Night . A timeline of postal service history and a romantic statement of mail delivery’s effect on American life are inscribed between the sculptures. Just below them, a series of plaques by Weinman and Joseph Renier illustrates communications developments: carrier pigeons, smoke signals, and drums. Benjamin Franklin tops the list of postmasters general carved into the façade. Passageways leading to 12th Street and to the National Mall via Constitution Avenue evoke architectural traditions of older European cities.
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