9. Relax with Reclining Figure

A new sculpture came to live on Columbia’s campus in 2015. Reclining Figure, a sculpture by Henry Moore, was set to be installed directly in front of Butler Library. However, stymied by student protests, the sculpture was ultimately moved to a more secluded location on a green near the Northwest Corner Building on the campus’s northwest side.

Protests focused mostly on Reclining Figure’s aesthetic “ugliness” that they believed did not fit in with the university’s neo-classical aesthetic. The sculpture has been described as anthropoid and pterodactyl-esque, and students feared it would disrupt the harmony of Butler’s picturesque façade. However, others supported Reclining Figure’s unique qualities, overt femininity, and modernist design, believing it would represent a step forward in a university often mired in the murk of its past. (The front of Butler Library, for example, is printed with the names of seminal Greek thinkers—not exactly the most diverse bunch).