Food & Drink Sep 7, 2010 at 8:22 pm

The Mysteries of the Indiana Memorial Union

Dan Savage
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Comments

1
Would dogs playing poker be more to your liking?

In it's defense, the sculpture clearly moved you, which is better than boring you or having no impact at all.

What the hell are you doing in Indiana for 2 weeks?
seandr on September 7, 2010 at 8:31 PM Report this
2
Not all of "us" get to see classical art everyday.
Thanks
What do you think Indiana would get?
on September 7, 2010 at 8:37 PM Report this
3
Why so much time in Indiana, Dan? Taking an Elderhostel course? ;-)

That Union is much nicer than the Union at The University of Iowa, where I worked as Night Manager for several very fun years.

They got rid of our bowling alley in the 80's, but in our defense, we didn't have any depressing statuary.

But our IMU also got flooded, and they still haven't reopened the basement, so the whole point may be moot.
Catalina Vel-DuRay on September 7, 2010 at 8:38 PM Report this
4
WHY are you in Indiana for 2 weeks? Something to do with the Kinsey Institute? Your book? Why must you be so cryptic?
Canuck on September 7, 2010 at 8:44 PM Report this
5
Well, OBVIOUSLY, if you took the statue out, handicapped students would not have any art to look at as they trundle up and down the ramp.

As an IU grad, I can tell you that I passed that statue many times and never thought anything deeper about it than "Man I want a cookie Oh hey a statue I hope the cookie place is still open..." Only once did I ever feel prompted to inspect it, and that was out of sheer boredom as I waited for an event in the auditorium. I did notice at that time, however, that one of the youths' arms was missing an elbow. He had his arm from the shoulder to the middle of the upper arm, and the hand, wrist, and half a forearm were still present, stuck to his leg. From your photo it looks like it has been repaired. Clearly, if the administration cared anything for the piece, they would put it into storage once in a while, or erect an Impenetrable Velvet Rope to keep it safe from damage.
StoatCat on September 7, 2010 at 8:53 PM Report this
6
They should take out that depressing Ugolino and get some cheerful Chihuly glass. That stuff turns your frown upside down and that's why America loves Dale Chihuly.
elenchos on September 7, 2010 at 8:59 PM Report this
7
Explain your presence at IU!. Also I always thought that was a neat statue to have around.

Go Hoosiers!
mujeresliebres on September 7, 2010 at 9:02 PM Report this
8
Hey, don't forget to visit Columbus Indiana - dubbed "Athens of the Prarie" by Laby Bird Johnson on account of it's collection of buildings by major architects. Yes, you'll find TWO Saarinen churches there - one by the father and one by the son - a library by I.M. Pei, fire station by Robert Venturi - no kidding the list keeps going. Courtesy of the Cummins Engine Company, a case of corporate philanthropy done ruther smartly.
Arsfrisco on September 7, 2010 at 9:04 PM Report this
9
Ah, Kinsey! Dan went there last year and I wound up googling his speaker bureau for booking info. Looking at it again to find hints of what has him in Indiana for two solid weeks (lectureship? research?) I wonder: has the bureau dabbed photoshop lipstick on our favorite photo of Dan?

Thanks to Kinsey playing a significant part in Samuel Steward's life (spurring him to continue documenting it ever more closely) we have the magnificent written body unearthed in a San Francisco attic that led to the recent publication of "Secret Historian," which has me agog right now.

Rock on, sculpted ass noticer, sir.
gloomy gus on September 7, 2010 at 9:04 PM Report this
10
Hey, cool book link, Gus! My parents are from Indiana, and it always surprises me when I'm reminded the Kinsey Institute is there. I, too, Googled, and could find nothing...I'm beginning to think Dan is a bit of a tease...
Canuck on September 7, 2010 at 9:17 PM Report this
11
What's with this picking on the French stuff? Trying to make the new French intern really welcome?
Teslick on September 7, 2010 at 9:27 PM Report this
12
*facepalm*

THAT SCULPTURE IS A MASTERPIECE! Of course France isn't going to send the original! Of course they're going to put it in a place of honor!
Cory on September 7, 2010 at 9:28 PM Report this
13
I think it is wonderful, but I would have preferred Rodin's "The Kiss", which was originally titled Francesca da Rimini, as it depicts the 13th-century Italian noblewoman immortalised in Dante's Inferno (Circle 2, Canto 5) who falls in love with her husband Giovanni Malatesta's younger brother Paolo. But that is not a surprise seeing that I'm a straight girl.

Still, I concur that is a beautiful sculpted butt.
kim in portland on September 7, 2010 at 9:38 PM Report this
14
This is probably their way of saying Americans have incompetent leadership and need to drop a few pounds.
Such a backhanded gift!
ams_ on September 7, 2010 at 9:41 PM Report this
15
When I was a teenager growing up in Bloomington, this statue faced a full-size replica of the Laocoon (Lay-ok-co-wan), which was taken as the sine qua non of Greek sculpture by the Victorians, IIRC. It, like the Ugolino, is about death and can be characterized as 'wiggly':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C3%B6…

You may well imagine the many cortically-enhanced teenage hours spent contemplating this pair of entry-way guardians.

The Union is also the primary stomping ground for my general teenage up-to-no-good adventures. Many, many, many happy memories in that pile.
mwhybark on September 7, 2010 at 9:42 PM Report this
16
@6: Better yet, they should replace it with a speaker that plays KEXP all day long! For free!!

seandr on September 7, 2010 at 9:55 PM Report this
17
Complete agreement with mwhybark's post.
Also agree that those are super buff buttocks for someone that is starving to death.
kateeloo on September 7, 2010 at 10:07 PM Report this
18
There's an excellent (marble) copy of this at The Met in NY as well!
on September 7, 2010 at 10:21 PM Report this
19
There is also a cast in NYC's Met
on September 7, 2010 at 10:25 PM Report this
20
My guess is that the plaster cast was intended as a study model for art students. The french assumed that the US had art students so they sent this as a gift. Perplexed hoosiers assumed it was a monument and did what they could with it, chalking up the subject matter to French pessimism (there are too many Germans - in what direction to do we retreat?).
kinaidos on September 8, 2010 at 12:22 AM Report this
21
ooooohhhh!

ButtCheeks!!

I can see that guys NAKED BUTT!!!
on September 8, 2010 at 4:33 AM Report this
22
i'm pretty sure the original is at the met, i've seen that agonized face many times there
bigmouth8 on September 8, 2010 at 5:51 AM Report this
23
I think it's reflecting the agony of parents paying for the tuition of their children (and grandchildren). It's supposed to remind students that their parents are worried about them being in a liberal institution, and to call home and talk to their parents now and then.
lgatlin on September 8, 2010 at 7:27 AM Report this
24
You forgot the part in Dante's story where Ugolino's children begged him to eat them as they starved.
Gloria on September 8, 2010 at 7:37 AM Report this
25
everyone's a critic.
cpt. tim on September 8, 2010 at 7:47 AM Report this
26
Maybe it's prominently placed as a permanent apology for the nasty cafeteria food.
Katy on September 8, 2010 at 7:50 AM Report this
27
If you liked this one, you'll love Emmanuel Fremiet's Bear Cub Thief at the Krannert Art Museum in Champaign Illinois. Google it—I promise you you won't be disappointed. (Also features butt cheeks).
cheakamus on September 8, 2010 at 8:27 AM Report this
28
Great butt on the guy, not so much on the dancing ladies. What gives?
pales on September 8, 2010 at 9:13 AM Report this
29
The Friendship Train delivered over 700 train-car loads of food to a starving Europe in 1947. Sending back a reminder of what starvation means allowed people to see what they had helped relieve.
thatsnotright on September 8, 2010 at 9:40 AM Report this
30
+1 internets to thatsnotright.
long-time reader on September 8, 2010 at 9:58 AM Report this
31
When I was at IU, I always thought the story of Count Ugolino despairing over whether to eat his own children was a fairly apt metaphor for the university tenure system.
on September 8, 2010 at 10:06 AM Report this
32
@22: The original was plaster, a marble version (usually the version you see in Art History texts) is at the Met, and an earlier bronze cast from the original plaster is in the Musée d'Orsay. There doesn't appear to be a version in the Louvre as Dan suggests, as the Louvre really only collects works made prior to 1850--later artworks (like Ugolino here, made in 1861) go into the Musée d'Orsay (1848-1915, mostly French) or the Centre Georges Pompidou (modern & contemporary).

My art degree is so useful sometimes.
Ratatoskr on September 8, 2010 at 10:10 AM Report this
33
excellent explanation, thatsnotright.

I'm still trying to figure out if I have retro-hallucinated the Laocoon.
mwhybark on September 8, 2010 at 10:12 AM Report this
34
32 assuming facts not in evidence
on September 8, 2010 at 11:27 AM Report this
35
The NYC Metropolitan Museum of art has a copy, so.... why would the Indiana Memorial Union has the original?
yonush18 on September 8, 2010 at 4:23 PM Report this
36
The sign near the statue says the original is in the Louvre. Damn sign.
Dan Savage on September 8, 2010 at 4:44 PM Stranger Staff
37
@36 It's a test for the Art History students. It's also probably a message from God that you should tell us why you're at IU...
Canuck on September 8, 2010 at 7:00 PM Report this
38
@36/37 Well, if the plaque next to the cast hasn't been updated since it was sent over in 1948 it *actually* makes sense now that I think about it, the Musée d'Orsay wasn't opened until the 1980s, so the statue could have very well been in the Louvre's collection at the time. Can't say I feel like wading through French provenance articles right now to confirm though.
Ratatoskr on September 8, 2010 at 11:27 PM Report this
39
Dan, apparently you have no outstanding student loans, otherwise you might "get" why the statue is there.
carnivorous chicken on September 9, 2010 at 11:56 AM Report this
40
1. The tale is that Ugolino's sons begged him to eat them. Some versions of the tale claim that he did.
2. The statue depicts the moment when that decision was made.
3. It was reported that some women used to faint when they saw the statue. I guess nobody remembers now what the statue is about....
4. According to Wikipedia, the original is at the Metropolitan musem in NY, "with versions in other museums including the Musée d'Orsay". So, Dan, please don't believe everything you read.
5. I had seen the statue in the Met museum. Interestingly enough, it is located right near the entrance to the cafeteria (see #3)...
on September 26, 2010 at 2:46 AM Report this
41
The original is at the Metropolitan Museum in NY. Those complaining students are typical of the brain dead, ignoramuses buying college degrees these days. Go back to your TVs, your missing the latest episode of "The Biggest Loser!!!!"
on June 23, 2011 at 9:42 AM Report this
42
I can take some pride in upsetting you with this statue in the IMU. It was located outside at Wright Quad when I found it. Vandals had broken it in places. I photographed it and published the pix in the IDS. The University reluctantly restored it and placed it in hiding at the IMU. I WAS ABOUT 19 at the time, but now, I am 65. Take a chill pill.
BillB on April 20, 2014 at 5:43 PM Report this

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