Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens
Encyclopedia
The Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens is a collection of 45 pieces of outdoor sculpture at the PepsiCo
world headquarters in Purchase, New York
. The collection includes work from major modern sculptors including Auguste Rodin
, Henry Moore
, Alexander Calder
and Alberto Giacometti
.
The collection, which also features works by Henri Laurens
, Arnaldo Pomodoro
, Richard Erdman
, Jean Dubuffet
, and Claes Oldenburg
, focuses on major 20th century art. The sculpture "gardens" mostly consist of park-like landscaping, including lawns, trees, ponds, and fountains, as well as landscaped gardens with a topiary, tended hedges, flower beds and water-lily ponds.
The sculpture collection is meant to "exist in harmony on approximately 168 acre (0.67987248 km²) of carefully tended landscape", according to a PepsiCo pamphlet about the gardens, and expansion of the collection occurred after the headquarters had been built and the gardens had begun to take shape. The gardens themselves were, in turn, designed with regard to the sculpture in the collection, and all were meant by the former PepsiCo chairman and founder of the gardens, Donald M. Kendall
, to help create an atmosphere of "stabiity, creativity and experimentation that would reflect his vision of the company", according to the pamphlet. Kendall continued to be involved with the collection and the gardens after he stepped down as leader of the company.
The building's square blocks rise from the ground "into low inverted ziggurats", according to the pamphlet, with each of the three floors having strips of dark windows topped by strips of tan-white concrete or stone. At the entrance, a long, straight drive leads up to the building. Where the courtyard meets the driveway, the PepsiCo corporate flag flies together with the flag of the United States. A strip of lawn and rows of trees extend down the open, north arm of the cross-like courtyard, ending in the center, where a large fountain with David Wynne's "Girl with a Dolphin" is surrounded by a wide paved area. The three closed arms each have sunken gardens with trees, bushes and, in the middle arm, a small pond, together with sculptures, none of which are monumental. Surrounding the building, and seen in distant vistas, are monumental sculptures and nearby gardens with small ponds.
The vast south lawn allows the viewer to take in the full size of the structure, and the lower ground enhances the height of the building, an effect lessened on the north (entrance) side by trees and a more level approach.
commuter trains to White Plains
or Rye
, and then take a taxi to the headquarters. The No. 12 bus from the White Plains railroad station stops at the headquarters.
"PepsiCo World Headquarters" is a seven-building complex designed by Edward Durrell Stone. Across the street (Anderson Hill Road) from the headquarters, more modern art can be seen at the Neuberger Museum of Art on the campus of Purchase College
of the State University of New York. The PepsiCo Web site gives out very little information on the gardens.
, who was chief executive officer of PepsiCo when the company moved in 1970 from Manhattan to the 168 acre (0.67987248 km²) site in suburban Purchase. Kendall "sought to create an atmosphere of stability, creativity and experimentation. He envisioned as essential to that ambience a museum without walls, where works of art could be enjoyed by the employees, the community and the public," according to an article in The New York Times
. Kendall himself selected the sculptures. When the new site was officially dedicated on October 2, 1970, Kendall said he wanted to create "one of the greatest modern sculpture exhibits in the world". At the time, Kendall said he wanted the gardens to have works by "all of the major sculptors of the modern period."
The original landscape design was created in the late 1960s just before PepsiCo moved to the property, by E. D. Stone Jr., son of Edward Durell Stone
, the architect of the headquarters. The younger Stone had about 6,000 trees from 38 species plus thousands of flowering bulbs planted. Originally, only eight pieces of artwork were in the sculpture garden. Employees liked the idea so much that Kendall decided to enlarge the collection. As late as 1991, after Kendall had stepped down as CEO, he was still overseeing the collection.
From 1981 to 1985, landscape designer Russell Page
redesigned the gardens to harmonize them with the sculptures. He added intimate gardens and walks. Since 1985, a third landscape designer, Francois Goffinet, has been in charge of garden development.
"Caryatid", a welded steel sculpture made of automobile parts. At one point, carpenter bees started chewing into Robert Davidson
's "Totems," a 45 feet (13.7 m) Western red cedar sculpture. Removing bird guano is a constant task. The huge model statue of a bear was a favorite target for some.
The piece "Grizzly Bear" by David Wynne
faces harm even from the temperature. "When the sun hits that black rock during the day the temperature can go up to 120 degrees on the surface, and drop to 40 degrees at night," according to Douglass Kwart, a freelance objects conservator who was overseeing the conservation program at PepsiCo as of 1991. "That change puts the stones through tremendous stress, because of contraction. Water is absorbed into the stone and driven out, absorbed and driven out again."
As of 1991, maintenance staff at the garden wrote up a weekly report on each piece of sculpture after observing each for damage.
41.03422°N 73.690765°W
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
world headquarters in Purchase, New York
Purchase, New York
Purchase, New York is a hamlet of the town of Harrison, in Westchester County. Its ZIP code is 10577. Its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, for Harrison could have as much land as he could ride in one day...
. The collection includes work from major modern sculptors including Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
, Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
, Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry, jewelry and household objects.-Childhood:Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton,...
and Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
.
The collection, which also features works by Henri Laurens
Henri Laurens
Henri Laurens was a French sculptor and illustrator.-Early life and education:Born in Paris, Henri Laurens worked as a stonemason before he became a sculptor...
, Arnaldo Pomodoro
Arnaldo Pomodoro
Arnaldo Pomodoro is an Italian sculptor. He was born on 23 June 1926, in Morciano, Romagna, Italy. He currently lives and works in Milan. His brother, Giò Pomodoro was also a sculptor....
, Richard Erdman
Richard Erdman (artist)
Richard Erdman is an American artist. His family moved to Vermont when he was five. He was a two-time NCAA All-American skier at the University of Vermont. Erdman is the grandson of Charles R. Erdman, Jr., former mayor of Princeton.-Career:Erdman's first real success came with the installation...
, Jean Dubuffet
Jean Dubuffet
Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a more authentic and humanistic approach to image-making.-Life and work:Dubuffet was...
, and Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
, focuses on major 20th century art. The sculpture "gardens" mostly consist of park-like landscaping, including lawns, trees, ponds, and fountains, as well as landscaped gardens with a topiary, tended hedges, flower beds and water-lily ponds.
The sculpture collection is meant to "exist in harmony on approximately 168 acre (0.67987248 km²) of carefully tended landscape", according to a PepsiCo pamphlet about the gardens, and expansion of the collection occurred after the headquarters had been built and the gardens had begun to take shape. The gardens themselves were, in turn, designed with regard to the sculpture in the collection, and all were meant by the former PepsiCo chairman and founder of the gardens, Donald M. Kendall
Donald M. Kendall
Donald Mcintosh Kendall is a former businessman, political adviser. He is a former CEO of Pepsi Cola and served as CEO of PepsiCo from 1971 to 1986....
, to help create an atmosphere of "stabiity, creativity and experimentation that would reflect his vision of the company", according to the pamphlet. Kendall continued to be involved with the collection and the gardens after he stepped down as leader of the company.
Description of the site
The site, built partly on a former polo field, with the enormous, three-story headquarters building in the center, surrounded by bushes, vast lawns, streams on the east and west, gardens and bushes dispersed around the site, and a pond in the back. Parking (with separate lots for employees and visitors) is hidden behind trees, mostly on the east side. From above, the headquarters building is shaped like seven squares, connected by their corners and forming a cross with an inner cross-shaped courtyard, open at the north side (the front of the building, facing Anderson Hill Road).The building's square blocks rise from the ground "into low inverted ziggurats", according to the pamphlet, with each of the three floors having strips of dark windows topped by strips of tan-white concrete or stone. At the entrance, a long, straight drive leads up to the building. Where the courtyard meets the driveway, the PepsiCo corporate flag flies together with the flag of the United States. A strip of lawn and rows of trees extend down the open, north arm of the cross-like courtyard, ending in the center, where a large fountain with David Wynne's "Girl with a Dolphin" is surrounded by a wide paved area. The three closed arms each have sunken gardens with trees, bushes and, in the middle arm, a small pond, together with sculptures, none of which are monumental. Surrounding the building, and seen in distant vistas, are monumental sculptures and nearby gardens with small ponds.
The vast south lawn allows the viewer to take in the full size of the structure, and the lower ground enhances the height of the building, an effect lessened on the north (entrance) side by trees and a more level approach.
Visitor access and nearby art
The sculpture garden is open to the public, and a visitor's booth is in operation during the spring and summer, according to the PepsiCo Web site, although a The New York Times article reported that it was open from March to November. When the center is closed, visitors may get a map of the gardens from a security guard at the headquarters entrance. No admission is charged for entrance, and parking is free. According to The New York Times, as of September 2006, the sculpture garden is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., April to October, and from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., November to March. Visitors can take Metro-NorthMetro-North Railroad
The Metro-North Commuter Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, or, more commonly, Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service that is run and managed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority , an authority of New York State. It is the busiest commuter railroad in the United...
commuter trains to White Plains
White Plains (Metro-North station)
The White Plains Metro-North Railroad station serves the residents of White Plains, New York via the Harlem Line. It is 22.3 miles from Grand Central Terminal, and the average travel time varies between 30 and 44 minutes...
or Rye
Rye (Metro-North station)
Rye is a Metro-North commuter rail station that serves Rye, New York via the New Haven Line. During the spring and summer months, the Playland amusement park is accessible from the station via the seasonal 75-Playland route on the Bee-Line Bus System; this service provides a sizeable source of...
, and then take a taxi to the headquarters. The No. 12 bus from the White Plains railroad station stops at the headquarters.
"PepsiCo World Headquarters" is a seven-building complex designed by Edward Durrell Stone. Across the street (Anderson Hill Road) from the headquarters, more modern art can be seen at the Neuberger Museum of Art on the campus of Purchase College
State University of New York at Purchase
Purchase College, State University of New York, is a public four-year college located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York system...
of the State University of New York. The PepsiCo Web site gives out very little information on the gardens.
List of works in the sculpture gardens
The sculpture gardens have 45 works:- Judith BrownJudith Brown (sculptor)Judith Brown was a dancer and a sculptor who was drawn to images of the body in motion and its effect on the cloth surrounding it. She welded crushed automobile scrap metal into energetic moving torsos, horses, and flying draperies...
, "Caryatids" - Alexander CalderAlexander CalderAlexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry, jewelry and household objects.-Childhood:Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton,...
, "Hats Off" (Calder sited the piece in the park) - William Crovello, "Katana"
- Robert DavidsonRobert Davidson (artist)Robert Charles Davidson, CM, OBC , is a Canadian artist of Haida heritage. His specialties are in carving , sculpture and painting....
:- "Frog"
- "Totems"
- Jean DubuffetJean DubuffetJean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a more authentic and humanistic approach to image-making.-Life and work:Dubuffet was...
, "Kiosque l'evide" - Richard ErdmanRichard Erdman (artist)Richard Erdman is an American artist. His family moved to Vermont when he was five. He was a two-time NCAA All-American skier at the University of Vermont. Erdman is the grandson of Charles R. Erdman, Jr., former mayor of Princeton.-Career:Erdman's first real success came with the installation...
, "Passage" - Max ErnstMax ErnstMax Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
, "Capricorn" - Alberto GiacomettiAlberto GiacomettiAlberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
:- "Large Standing Woman II"
- "Large Standing Woman III"
- Gideon Graetz, "Composition in Stainless Steel No. 1"
- Barbara HepworthBarbara HepworthDame Barbara Hepworth DBE was an English sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism, and with such contemporaries as Ivon Hitchens, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo she helped to develop modern art in Britain.-Life and work:Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was born on 10 January 1903 in Wakefield,...
:- "Meridian"
- "The Family of Man"
- Henri LaurensHenri LaurensHenri Laurens was a French sculptor and illustrator.-Early life and education:Born in Paris, Henri Laurens worked as a stonemason before he became a sculptor...
- "Le Matin"
- "Les Ondines"
- Jacques LipchitzJacques LipchitzJacques Lipchitz was a Cubist sculptor.Jacques Lipchitz was born Chaim Jacob Lipchitz, son of a building contractor in Druskininkai, Lithuania, then within the Russian Empire...
, "Towards a New World" - Seymour LiptonSeymour LiptonSeymour Lipton was an American abstract expressionist sculptor. He was a member of the New York School who gained widespread recognition in the 1950s. He initially trained as a dentist but focused on sculpture from 1932. His early choices of medium changed from wood to lead and then to bronze, and...
:- "The Codex"
- Seymour LiptonSeymour LiptonSeymour Lipton was an American abstract expressionist sculptor. He was a member of the New York School who gained widespread recognition in the 1950s. He initially trained as a dentist but focused on sculpture from 1932. His early choices of medium changed from wood to lead and then to bronze, and...
, "The Wheel"
- Aristide MaillolAristide MaillolAristide Maillol or Aristides Maillol was a French Catalan sculptor and painter.-Biography:...
, "Marie" - Marino Marini, "Horse and Rider"
- Joan MiróJoan MiróJoan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
, "Personnage" - Henry MooreHenry MooreHenry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
:- "Double Oval"
- "Locking Piece"
- "Reclining Figure"
- "Sheep Piece"
- Louise Nevelson, "Celebration II"
- Isamu NoguchiIsamu Noguchiwas a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
, "Energy Void" - Claes OldenburgClaes OldenburgClaes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
, "Giant Trowel II" - Arnaldo PomodoroArnaldo PomodoroArnaldo Pomodoro is an Italian sculptor. He was born on 23 June 1926, in Morciano, Romagna, Italy. He currently lives and works in Milan. His brother, Giò Pomodoro was also a sculptor....
- "Grande Disco"
- "Triad"
- Art PriceArt PriceArt Price is a former linebacker in the National Football League. He played with the Atlanta Falcons during the 1987 NFL season.-References:...
, "Birds of Welcome" - Bret Price, "Big Scoop"
- George RickeyGeorge RickeyGeorge Rickey was an American kinetic sculptor.Rickey was born on June 6, 1907 in South Bend, Indiana.-Life and work:...
, "Double L Excentric Gyratory II" - Auguste RodinAuguste RodinFrançois-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
, "Eve" - Victor Salmones, "The Search"
- George SegalGeorge Segal (artist)George Segal was an American painter and sculptor associated with the Pop Art movement. He was presented with a National Medal of Arts in 1999.-Works:...
, "Three People on Four Benches" (Seagal "likes the fact that people routinely plant big red lipstick kisses on the piece", a conservator at the garden said in 1991.) - Asmundur Sviensson, "Through the Sound Barrier"
- David SmithDavid Smith (sculptor)David Roland Smith was an American Abstract Expressionist sculptor and painter, best known for creating large steel abstract geometric sculptures.-Biography:...
, "Cube Totem Seven and Six" - Tony SmithTony Smith (sculptor)Tony Smith was an American sculptor, visual artist, architectural designer, and a noted theorist on art. He is often cited as a pioneering figure in American Minimalist sculpture.-Education:...
, "Duck" - Kenneth SnelsonKenneth SnelsonKenneth Snelson is a contemporary sculptor and photographer. His sculptural works are composed of flexible and rigid components arranged according to the idea of 'tensegrity', although Snelson does not use the term....
, "Mozart I" - Wendy Taylor, "Jester"
- David WynneDavid Wynne (sculptor)David Wynne, OBE is a British sculptor of figures, animals, and portraits.Born in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, son of Comdr Charles Edward Wynne and Millicent , he married Gillian Grant, daughter of the writer Joan Grant, in 1959 and had two sons, Ed and Roly Wynne of Ozric Tentacles.He was awarded the...
:- "Dancer with a Bird"
- "Girl on a Horse"
- "Grizzly Bear"
- "The Dancers"
- "Girl with a Dolphin"
History
The sculpture garden was created at the direction of Donald M. KendallDonald M. Kendall
Donald Mcintosh Kendall is a former businessman, political adviser. He is a former CEO of Pepsi Cola and served as CEO of PepsiCo from 1971 to 1986....
, who was chief executive officer of PepsiCo when the company moved in 1970 from Manhattan to the 168 acre (0.67987248 km²) site in suburban Purchase. Kendall "sought to create an atmosphere of stability, creativity and experimentation. He envisioned as essential to that ambience a museum without walls, where works of art could be enjoyed by the employees, the community and the public," according to an article in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. Kendall himself selected the sculptures. When the new site was officially dedicated on October 2, 1970, Kendall said he wanted to create "one of the greatest modern sculpture exhibits in the world". At the time, Kendall said he wanted the gardens to have works by "all of the major sculptors of the modern period."
The original landscape design was created in the late 1960s just before PepsiCo moved to the property, by E. D. Stone Jr., son of Edward Durell Stone
Edward Durell Stone
Edward Durell Stone was a twentieth century American architect who worked primarily in the Modernist style.-Early life:...
, the architect of the headquarters. The younger Stone had about 6,000 trees from 38 species plus thousands of flowering bulbs planted. Originally, only eight pieces of artwork were in the sculpture garden. Employees liked the idea so much that Kendall decided to enlarge the collection. As late as 1991, after Kendall had stepped down as CEO, he was still overseeing the collection.
From 1981 to 1985, landscape designer Russell Page
Russell Page
Montague Russell Page was a British gardener, garden designer and landscape architect.Former partner of Geoffrey Jellicoe and author of The Education of a Gardener . In this book he includes some reference to Islamic and classical gardens...
redesigned the gardens to harmonize them with the sculptures. He added intimate gardens and walks. Since 1985, a third landscape designer, Francois Goffinet, has been in charge of garden development.
Maintenance
In 1991, The New York Times published a feature article on maintenance of the garden. An employee monitors the sculptures with weekly inspections, driving around in a golf cart "outfitted with brooms, brushes, a ladder, calipers, thermometers and a can of Pepsi." Nature and pollution can threaten the artwork. In the spring, birds like to nest in a work by Nevelson, chipmunks prefer the mysterious inner spaces of Judith Brown'sJudith Brown (sculptor)
Judith Brown was a dancer and a sculptor who was drawn to images of the body in motion and its effect on the cloth surrounding it. She welded crushed automobile scrap metal into energetic moving torsos, horses, and flying draperies...
"Caryatid", a welded steel sculpture made of automobile parts. At one point, carpenter bees started chewing into Robert Davidson
Robert Davidson (artist)
Robert Charles Davidson, CM, OBC , is a Canadian artist of Haida heritage. His specialties are in carving , sculpture and painting....
's "Totems," a 45 feet (13.7 m) Western red cedar sculpture. Removing bird guano is a constant task. The huge model statue of a bear was a favorite target for some.
The piece "Grizzly Bear" by David Wynne
David Wynne (sculptor)
David Wynne, OBE is a British sculptor of figures, animals, and portraits.Born in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, son of Comdr Charles Edward Wynne and Millicent , he married Gillian Grant, daughter of the writer Joan Grant, in 1959 and had two sons, Ed and Roly Wynne of Ozric Tentacles.He was awarded the...
faces harm even from the temperature. "When the sun hits that black rock during the day the temperature can go up to 120 degrees on the surface, and drop to 40 degrees at night," according to Douglass Kwart, a freelance objects conservator who was overseeing the conservation program at PepsiCo as of 1991. "That change puts the stones through tremendous stress, because of contraction. Water is absorbed into the stone and driven out, absorbed and driven out again."
As of 1991, maintenance staff at the garden wrote up a weekly report on each piece of sculpture after observing each for damage.
External Links
Unofficial guide to the Gardens41.03422°N 73.690765°W