369. Conversations

In the Christian Petersen Art Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Date	1947 - 1953
Material	Bedford limestone, brick
Dimensions	82 3/16 x 750 x 40 13/16 in. (208.8 x 1905 x 103.7 cm)
Description	Three groups of students along brick wall: three females, a male and female, and a single female reading.
Markings	n/a
Provenance / Location	Commissioned by Iowa State College. Permanent installation outside of the Oak-Elm Residence Hall complex. CPAC / AOC. U88.63
Alternate Title(s)	n/a
Notes / Sources	Lund, Jean (1947) "Christian Petersen Shapes 3-Ton Coeds," The Iowa Homemaker: Vol. 27 No. 3; Des Moines Tribune, April 15, 1948; Des Moines Register, June 5, 1949; Des Moines Register, Jan. 10, 1954; "He Has Carved a Heritage", The Iowan, Vol. 2 No. 3, Feb. - March 1954; Des Moines Tribune, Jan. 12, 1959; Des Moines Tribune, Feb. 1, 1960; Transmission (Northern Natural Gas Co.), Vol. VIII No. 2, 1960; Ames Daily Tribune, Feb. 7, 1961; Ames Daily Tribune, Jan 3, 1967.

The sculptures of students on the grounds of the Oak-Elm residence halls are monumental not only in size, but also in the history of Iowa State's public art. Conversations was Christian Petersen's last major sculpture for Iowa State before he retired in 1955. Petersen carved the three groupings of a total of six figures from forty tons of Bedford limestone during an eight-year period. The figures show three women looking at a book, a college couple in love and a thoughtful young woman with her hands folded around her legs. The artist carefully planned the sculpture groupings for a wall at the major east entrance to campus near Lincoln Way and Beach Avenue. He also had planned another grouping of figures for a wall opposite this one and an outdoor amphitheater, but they were never carved.

When Conversations was completed, the entrance to campus was rejected as the location for the sculptures due to campus expansion and road improvement. The sculptures were place in storage until 1963, two years after Petersen's death, when they were finally installed at Oak-Elm. The sculptor had selected the final site two months before he died.