Richard Serra, Tilted Arc Defense Fund (Hand signed by Richard Serra), 1985

Richard Serra

Tilted Arc Defense Fund (Hand signed by Richard Serra), 1985

Offset lithograph

38 × 22 1/2 inches

Boldly signed in black marker on the front (see photos)

This historic limited edition poster of Richard Serra’s “Tilted Arc Defense Fund”, published by the Castelli Gallery in collaboration with the artist, is a valuable, coveted collectors item when hand signed by Serra; in fact it came directly from the artist. It is truly a piece of modern and contemporary art history, and a symbol of an important debate about the role of public art that continues to this day. 

Tilted Arc was a controversial public art installation by Richard Serra, displayed in Foley Federal Plaza in Manhattan from 1981 to 1989. It consisted of a 120-foot-long, 12-foot-high solid, unfinished plate of rust-covered COR-TEN steel. Advocates characterized it as an important work by a well-known artist that transformed the space and advanced the concept of sculpture, whereas critics focused on its perceived ugliness and saw it as ruining the site. Federal workers signed a petition to have this lumbering steel behemoth removed. Following an acrimonious public debate, the sculpture was removed in 1989 as the result of a federal lawsuit and has never been publicly displayed since, in accordance with the artist's wishes.