Maquette for Tlingit

Robert Hudson created Tlingit for the Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, as part of the government’s Art-in-Architecture Program. He named the piece in honor of the native Tlingit people, who live primarily along the northern stretches of the Alaskan coast. The full-size sculpture stands on a reflecting pool in the atrium of the building, and the flattened cubelike shapes that make up the piece echo the angles and shapes in the surrounding architecture. Hudson created this small maquette as a study before starting work on the finished version, which was close to sixteen feet tall. He painted the interior faces of the cubes so that the colors could bounce and reflect off of the different surfaces. Many people who worked in the offices around the sculpture at the time did not approve of the commission, and occasionally threw things at the artist as he began the installation. (Hudson, interview, 2006)