Jun 172011
Okay, you knew this was coming. I am in Philadelphia, City of Brotherly Love. City of Brotherly Love isn’t actually a nickname. It is merely a translation of the Greek phrase “brotherly love” from philos “love” and adelphos “brother”. William Penn was an English Quaker, a Latin and Greek scholar who was educated at Oxford. He chose the name when he established a peaceful and friendly city in the colony in the New World so that his fellow religionists could escape the persecution they were suffering in their native land.
In 1976 the Robert Indiana sculpture was installed in John F. Kennedy Plaza, northwest of City Hall.
The image was originally designed as a Christmas card for the Museum of Modern Art in 1964. The image has been rendered and parodied countless times including by the U.S. Post Office in 1973. (It was an 8 cent stamp).
JFK Plaza was built in 1965 and designed by architect Vincent Kling. Though the official name of the park is JFK Plaza, when Robert Indiana’s sculpture was installed at the park, it quickly became known as Love Park. The sculpture was commissioned for the country’s Bicentennial but was removed two years later. After protests from both city officials and residents, it was brought back to the park and has remained there ever since.
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As a Californian, I was also just blown away by the fountain. The amount of water and the force with which it reaches to the sky is phenomenal. Not something you see in a drought-ridden state. The power was very much a part of its majesty.
February 2018 – 210 North 18th Street
In 2015 The World Meeting of Families presided over by Pope Francis was in Philadelphia. The Association for Public Art and the Philidelphia Museum of Art purchased this sculpture by Robert Indiana, called AMOR, and placed it on the Museum’s East Terrace which overlooked the Papal Mass. The sculpture was relocated to Sister Cities Park the following year.
Such an iconic 70’s symbol!
Wonderful photographs, and thank you for the info on the name!
Ooops, got carried away looking at that first photo, and did not say..
Thank you for linking up today at The Creative Exchange!!
Great shots and a history lesson too!