Musings on Monumenta

Michelle Coppedge, Jamie MacGuire ’70, Matt Walter and Paula Walter at "Monumenta 50" August 17, 2024.

The 1974 logo for “Monumenta” was replicated in the design for “Monumenta 50”. (Logo from the Newport Preservation Society.)

Five hundred cubic yards of Earth were used to form the 18-inch-high rings. These rings are spaced 15 feet and 9 inches apart. The rings were first formed by a bulldozer, and later, shaped to perfection using fine-tooth rakes. The ring-shaped earth was then covered by a layer of sod. (Photo from the Newport Preservation Society.)

Christopher Buckley ’70, Bill Crimmins ’48 and Jamie MacGuire ’70. (Photo from Portsmouth Abbey School archives.)

Musings on Monumenta

By: Brother Sixtus Roslevich, O.S.B.

Portsmouth Abbey and School were well-represented at a standing-room-only symposium Saturday, August 17, in the Ballroom at Rosecliff Mansion in Newport. The symposium marked the 50th anniversary of the opening of an outdoor, modern art event that was so monumental at the time that it simply had to be named “Monumenta.”

In attendance through the invitation of Jamie MacGuire ’70 were Head of School Matt Walter and Paula Walter, dean of student life, along with Br. Sixtus Roslevich, O.S.B. Their representation was significant in that both the Abbey and School played a part in the germination of the original idea and in the many details and logistics implemented in bringing the historic event to fruition throughout the City of Newport in 1974. Other Portsmouth Abbey community members listened to the panel discussions at the symposium via Zoom.

One name mentioned many times throughout the 90-minute symposium, billed as “Monumenta 50,” even more than any of the 40 artists initially involved, was that of William A. Crimmins ’48. Crimmins served as the president and principal backer of the outdoor art show, which featured 54 individual large-scale abstract sculptures. An overview written by MacGuire in the 2021 Winter Bulletin highlights the accomplishments of Crimmins at the time of the School’s establishment of the William A. Crimmins ’48 Scholarship Fund for Arts, Athletics and Civilization.  The May 6, 2021, issue of “Newport This Week” noted, "The establishment of the scholarship fund connects a precious link to the School’s founding headmaster, Rev. Hugh Diman, to the upcoming celebration of the centennial in 2026.”

The symposium was hosted by The Preservation Society of Newport County and focused on “Sculpture in the Environment” to mark the golden anniversary. In a press release, CEO Trudy Coxe was quoted, “Monumenta was a milestone cultural happening for the city of Newport and the state of Rhode Island that has somehow been largely forgotten, even though it was one of the first large-scale outdoor sculpture exhibitions in the world.”  While it engaged locals and tourists alike, it challenged viewers to reconsider the unique experience of both private and public spaces being temporarily transformed through artistic intervention, into what has now come to be known as public art. According to Monastic Librarian Roberta Stevens, Abbot Caedmon Holmes, O.S.B., Fr. Damian Kearney, O.S.B. ’45, Fr. Peter Sidler, O.S.B. and Fr. Hilary Martin, O.S.B. attended the opening of the exhibition in 1974.

Of the 54 artworks assembled that summer, only one remains in situ, in the place for which it was designed, and may still be viewed to this day. Titled “Sod Maze” by environmental artist Richard Fleischner, now 80 years old, it is located and maintained on the grounds of Chateau-sur-Mer on Bellevue Avenue in Newport. Besides Christo and Fleischner, other luminaries of the mid-century modern art world who came to Newport included Louise Nevelson, Willem de Kooning, Henry Moore, Barnett Newman and David Smith.