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cast bronze, gold leaf and zinc
25 x 15 x 5 feet
Dedicated on June 1, 1984 Olympic Gateway was commissioned by the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee to commemorate the Games of the XXIIIrd Olympiad. Rising 25 feet above the ground, the 20,000-pound post-and lintel structure is surmounted by bronze torsos of male and female athletes.
The initial male and female torsos were modeled in clay at 27 inches in height. This scale model was enlarged to 3-times its size in clay with the use of a pointing machine, a 3-dimensional pantograph. Sixteen individual clay reliefs of male and female torsos in motion were molded in clay. Each element was constructed of bronze plate and patinaed. On each column, line drawings of torsos in athletic movements were inlaid in zinc, and the base of each cone was gold-leafed. All work on this project was completed at Robert Graham Studio in Venice, California.
Olympic Gateway is installed in front of the entrance to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Olympic Gateway The Olympic Arts Festival organizers, headed by Robert J. Fitzpatrick, selected Robert Graham to create a lasting monumental artwork for the 1984 Olympic game site. The torsos of a male and a female figure were modeled from a water polo-player and a sprinter, who both took part in the Games.
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