Untitled (Richard Fleischner artwork at Alewife station)
Richard Fleischner | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Artist |
| Known for | Environmental sculpture, including "Untitled" (1985) at Alewife MBTA station |
Untitled is a public art piece created in 1985 by American artist Richard Fleischner. It is situated within a courtyard next to Alewife station on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) Red Line in the northwest area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. This environmental artwork, which incorporates granite block formations harmonized with the natural setting, was produced at a cost of $40,000 under the auspices of the Arts on the Line initiative.
Artwork
Occupying roughly on a site bordered by Alewife Brook Parkway (MA-2/US-3/MA-16), the primary entrance to the station, and a multi-level parking structure, Untitled is an expansive outdoor installation. It features an elongated man-made pond encircled by lawns, trees, and ornamental paving stones. This design serves both as a practical environment for MBTA passengers and local inhabitants and fulfills drainage requirements associated with the adjacent concrete garage.
In keeping with other pieces from the Arts on the Line collection, Untitled integrates stone monoliths—substantial granite bollards arranged predominantly in horizontal and vertical orientations, with one uniquely angled block supported by two others. These granite components were engineered for longevity, with an anticipated lifespan of up to 75 years according to City of Cambridge public art preservation standards.
The installation exemplifies Fleischner’s hallmark approach to environmental sculpture. Renowned for projects such as "The Maze" at University of Massachusetts Amherst, Fleischner crafted Untitled to deliver both aesthetic enrichment and ecological advantages to the transit station vicinity. His oeuvre frequently includes monolithic, rectangular granite forms within large-scale sculptural arrangements, consistent with the visual and functional aims of this work.
History
Untitled originated through collaboration between the MBTA and Cambridge Arts Council as part of the Arts on the Line program—a groundbreaking effort initiated in the late 1970s and early 1980s to embed art within the MBTA’s Northwest Extension of the Red Line subway stations. This program set a precedent nationwide for integrating public artworks into transit infrastructure. Out of more than 400 artist submissions for five new stations, twenty pieces were chosen, including Untitled. The initial set of artworks was completed at a combined expense of $695,000, representing roughly 0.5% of the total Red Line Northwest Extension construction costs. In 1980, Untitled was awarded a $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and it was among six installations at Alewife financed through this fund.
The project encountered some disagreements between artists and architects; notably, Harry Ellenzweig—the architect behind Alewife station’s brutalist design and its parking garage—objected to tree planting within Fleischner’s plan due to concerns that bus emissions might harm them. Pallas Lombardi, who oversaw much of Arts on the Line and coordinated with Cambridge City Council, suggested Ellenzweig may have also sought to maintain unobstructed views of his garage architecture. Ultimately, the final design incorporated a line of trees along a pedestrian path encircling the pond. Alewife station officially opened on March 30, 1985; however, landscaping work was still ongoing at that time.