Images(5)

Untitled (Colombo #3)

Object number2023.130.1

Artist Saverio F. Gerbino

Date2021

MediumOil paint; Paper; Graphite

Credit LineMuseum purchase

DescriptionOil painting on watercolor paper. Rectangular white 140-pound paper with rough left and right edges. White border. Painting depicts the Christopher Columbus statue wrapped in gray-white plastic that is secured with yellow tape. Background is blue sky above green and purple/red/orange/white foliage in the viewer's bottom left corner and a green tree in the viewer's bottom right corner.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 30 x 22.5 x 0.031 in. (76.2 x 57.2 x 0.1 cm)
SignedSigned in pencil at bottom center of painted area "Gerbino 2021".
MarksHandwritten on reverse at center in pencil "2021 / UNTITLED (COLOMBO #3) / OIL ON PAPER (140 LB) / 30 x 22 INCHES / Gerbino".
Historical NotesUntitled (Colombo #3) by Pittsburgh Artist Saverio F. Gerbino. This oil painting on watercolor paper is one of several of studies made by Italian-born, Italian-trained painter Fabrizio Gerbino of Stowe Township, Pennsylvania. In the summer of 2020, the city of Pittsburgh led public hearings about whether to remove the Christopher Columbus monument in Schenley Park after a petition for removal was circulated. The artwork, installed in 1958, was commissioned by the Sons of Columbus, an Italian American organization based in East Liberty, as a gift for the city of Pittsburgh. After collecting comments and votes from city residents, a decision was made shortly before Columbus Day in 2020 by the Arts Commission (and later endorsed by Mayor Bill Peduto) to remove the statue from public view. In response to the decision, the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, another Italian American organization based in Pittsburgh, sued the city of Pittsburgh, placing the statue’s removal on hold. Gerbino visited the monument in October 2020 within days of the city’s decision and found that the bronze statue and granite base were wrapped in a plastic covering. He photographed the wrapped monument from several angles; these images became the basis of his paintings. The compositions are a study of the statue’s materials (metal, stone, plastic, and tape) and their aesthetic qualities, not a commentary on the political nature of the American debates surrounding Columbus monuments. Gerbino commented in the article “Artist says treating Columbus painting as political statement would undermine art” in the Hyperlocal Media – Gazette 2.0 that, “You should leave a little bit of the door open for people to interpret your work.” As of October 2023, the statue remains wrapped under plastic in its original location.

Related person Christopher Columbus

Related person Frank Vittor (1888 - 1968)

Related institution Sons of Columbus of America, Inc.

Related person William Mark Peduto

Related institution Italian Sons and Daughters of America

Related institution City of Pittsburgh

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On View

Not on view