During the same years he worked on the Veterinary sculptures, State Gym and the Cha-Ki-Shi illustrations, Petersen installed a small, intimate complex at a new women’s dormitory, Roberts Hall. Like the Dairy Industry cycle, Reclining Nudes, as the work is now known, contained a fountain and a pool. In one of his rare uses of nudity in public sculpture, Petersen fitted the two female figures into a modest space at the base of a stairway. Both stare with calm concentration at the trickle of water that, according to the artist’s original design, flowed into a semicircular pool. As in several of his campus sculptures, Petersen integrated an inscription, often taken from poetry. In this case, his wife suggested the last lines of the poem "Sancta Ursula" by William Aspenwald Bradley which she felt evoked the private, contemplative world of a young woman as expressed in the privacy of her room, an appropriate sentiment for a women’s dormitory: “And no world more wide, since all her dreams start here and here abide.”
These sculptures were removed from Roberts Hall and are currently installed in the Anderson Sculpture Garden between Morrill Hall and the Hub.
I have no memory of the Reclining Nudes at Roberts Hall probably because the area of the women’s dorms were not part of my campus experience as a kid. I understand that shrubs were planted in front of the sculpture so they were likely not visible to most passersby.
-Jerome Thompson
Study for Reclining Nudes: Fountain study, 1935-1936
Christian Petersen (Danish - American, 1885 - 1961)
Paper, black graphite or conte
Purchased by University Museums from Mary Petersen. In the Christian Petersen Art Collection, Christian Petersen Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. UM92.6
Study for Reclining Nudes: Preparatory study, 1935-1936
Christian Petersen (Danish - American, 1885 - 1961)
Paper, black graphite or conte
Purchased by University Museums from Mary Petersen by the Christian Petersen Memorial Fund. In the Christian Petersen Art Collection, Christian Petersen Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. UM92.123
Study for Reclining Nudes: Archways of a building, 1935-1936
Christian Petersen (Danish - American, 1885 - 1961) Paper and colored pencil
Purchased by University Museums from Mary Petersen with the Christian Petersen Memorial Fund. In the Christian Petersen Art Collection, Christian Petersen Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. UM92.293
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