Assisi: An Online Journal of Arts & Letters Volume 4, Issues 1 & 2 | Page 28

The first time I drew Civic Virtue, it had newly arrived in Green-Wood. The orange
straps used to brace the work in its cage remained attached to the base of the sculpture.
Its new perch was still under construction.
In March 1985, I sat in a paneled room in Manhattan along with other students
from the State University of New York, College at Purchase and other local art schools,
including my future wife. We listened to Richard Serra and a parade of his supporters
testify at a public hearing arguing that Serra’s massive Cor-Ten steel sculpture, Tilted Arc,
not be removed from another public plaza in front of the United States Court of
International Trade by
Foley Square in Manhattan.
The Court is a few blocks
northeast of City Hall.
The Arc acted as a
blind, blocking view of the
rest of Foley square from
the entrance of the Court
building. The work was
commissioned by the
United States
Government’s General
Services Administration as
a part of a program to add
public art to Federal
government facilities.
Visitors needed to
circumvent the sculpture
in order to enter the Court.
The Chief Judge and many

Howard Skrill, Plaza of the United States Court of In t er na t i on a l Trade that on ce
was t he si t e of T i l ted Ar c, O il P a st el , O i l St i ck , Pen ci l , C ha l k Pa s te l on
Pa p er , 14 ” x 1 7 ”. ©2 0 15

office workers, at the court and in other offices surrounding Foley Square, demanded the
Arc’s removal. The public hearing featured speaker after speaker pleading for Tilted Arc
to remain in place. The Arc was a site specific sculpture designed to interact with the
triangular plaza in front of the Court as a visual and physical counterpoint. The bird’s eye
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