The Owl - Northampton, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 19.110 W 072° 38.305
18T E 694607 N 4687840
The Owl is located on the campus of Smith College in Northampton, MA..
Waymark Code: WMHWQQ
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 08/20/2013
Views: 2
A larger-than-life, 36", depiction of an owl is located on a grassy triangle near the Neilson Library. The piece was commissioned by Adeline F. and Caroline R. Wing in 1961 as a gift the the College. The sculpture was created by Leonard Baskin, a professor of art at Smith College, and was erected in 1962. It was temporarily removed during the expansion of the library in 1978. The Owl was reinstalled in 1990 by the Class of 1965.
A large bronze owl is perched, horizontally, on a 3' high rough cut granite block. It is staring straight ahead with its left leg slightly in front of its right. Its wings are partially spread suggesting it's about to take off or has just landed. Its feet and talons appear out-sized. In the artists words - “The owl is perhaps the most complex and mysterious [of predatory birds]. He kills in hallucinatory silence, and ambiguously symbolizes wisdom and tyranny".
A plaque on the base carries a quote from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer-Night’s Dream. It is inscribed:
OWL by LEONARD BASKIN
Reinstalled with affection by the
Class of 1965
May 1990
The clamorous owl, that nightly hoots,
And wonders
At our quaint spirits.