LOVE

LOVE

Indoor Sculpture - Outdoor Sculpture

Email: llord@indyarts.org

Website: http://imamuseum.org

 (317) 631-3301 ext. 214

 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, IN, 46208

LOVE is an artwork by American artist Robert Indiana, located at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields.  It was created in 1970 as the first sculptural form of the artist’s famous LOVE painting and has been on continuous exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art since it was acquired in 1975. In 2017 the artwork was moved from its outdoor location indoors to enhance its preservation.

The sculpture is based on the artist’s original 1965 Christmas card design for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.  The capital letters of the word “love” are arranged in a 2×2 square, LO atop VE, and the O tilted to align with the diagonal of the square. MoMA’s commission for the card came one year after Indiana had designed similar Christmas cards for close friends.

Although the word “love” had significance in the cultural context of the 1960s, Indiana traces his infatuation with the word to Christian Science church services he experienced as a child in Indianapolis.  He was impressed by a small plaque over the reader’s platform bearing the inscription “God Is Love,” and he indicated that he wanted the word to be understood spiritually.

The IMA’s LOVE is the original sculptural rendition of the design. Many other versions have been made and are displayed worldwide, including editions in Hebrew,Chinese, Italian, and Spanish.

Before its permanent move to Indianapolis in 1975, the sculpture was originally installed on the main plaza at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1970 for the opening of the museum’s current building. It then spent nearly a year displayed on City Hall Plaza in Boston before being loaned to New York City, where it was exhibited in Central Park for the 1971 holiday season.  Upon the artwork’s return to Indianapolis in 1972, it was showcased for several months in front of the Indiana National Bank building and later appeared for a short time on the mall behind Eli Lilly and Company’s administration building.

The artist, Robert Indiana, was born in New Castle, Indiana and lived in a variety of locations in Central Indiana including Indianapolis.  He graduated from Arsenal Technical High School and moved from the state to join the military, then pursued his artistic career in New York City.  In 1969 he rented a floor in a building on the island of Vinalhaven, Maine, to use as a fall-season studio; he moved to the island permanently in 1978. He passed away in 2018.

 

Medium type: Steel

Date created: 1970

Location Info

4000 Michigan Road

4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, IN, 46208