Asaroton 1976 - Boston, MA
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Metro2
N 42° 21.716 W 071° 03.398
19T E 330639 N 4692011
According to the Smithsonian Inventory, this unique sculpture was commissioned for the 1976 Bicentennial Celebrations.
Waymark Code: WMHJR7
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 07/16/2013
Views: 9
The sculpture is scattered and embedded in the pavement crosswalks at Blackstone and Hanover Streets in downtown Boston.
This 1976 sculpture, entitled Asaroton by Mags Harries depicts assorted items that have been discarded onto the street and crushed by traffic. The work was commissioned for the 1976 Bicentennial celebration.
The Smithsonian Inventory (
visit link) describes it thusly:
"The sculpture depicts what remains on the floor of the food market at the end of a busy day. Bronze reliefs embedded in a concrete floor include a fish, flowers, the front page of the Boston Globe newspaper, gloves, crushed strawberries, scattered asparagus, cabbage leaves, broken crates, a crushed lobster cup, an egg box, and garbage...
The sculpture was commissioned for the 1976 Bicentennial celebration and was originally located near the food markets on the pathway between the Haymarket and the Italian quarter of Boston. IAS files contain an excerpt from an exhibition catalog "Mags Harries," Lincoln, MA: DeCordova Museum, 1982."
See addditional photos at (
visit link) which adds:
"It's a mess with a millennia-long tradition.
An asaroton, from the Greek for "unswept," is a mosaic depicting the leavings of a feast that have fallen to the floor. The inspiration for the first of these mosaics may have been to honor the wealth of a household, to camouflage the dining habits of its guests, to add a jocular touch to the interior decoration, perhaps all three. One surviving Roman asaroton can be found in the original Italian North End.
Asaroton 1976, which was commissioned for the U.S. Bicentennial, is embedded in a crosswalk in Boston's Haymarket. Nowadays the street sees much less commercial activity, and the market waste depicted in bronze is uncommon in any medium. The artwork was rededicated in 2006; reportedly, pineapples and (not shown here) portobellos are updates to the original debris."
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