How does this artwork elucidate its History?
Untitled was created as a part of the MBTA and the Cambridge Arts Council's Arts on the Line program. This first of its kind program was devised to bring art into the MBTA's planned Northwest Extension of the Red Line subway stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and became a model for similar drives for public art across the country. This installation was one of 20 artworks created for this program, out of over 400 proposals submitted by artists for artworks spread out across five different newly created subway stations. The first 20 artworks, including Untitled, were completed with a total cost of $695,000 (equivalent to $1,610,000 in 2022) – one-half of one percent of the total construction cost of the Red Line Northwest Extension. Untitled was funded in 1980 by a $40,000 grant (equivalent to $93,000 in 2022) from the National Endowment for the Arts. It was one of six works at Alewife funded by the program.Many artworks in the project produced friction between artists and architects, and Untitled was no exception. Harry Ellenzweig, who designed the brutalist station and parking garage, wanted the planned trees removed from Fleischner's design. Pallas Lombardi, who directed much of the Arts on the Line project and served as a liaison with the Cambridge City Council, recalled in a 1987 article that "Harry insisted that Richard not plant trees along the garage, saying bus exhaust would kill them, but I think perhaps he didn't want trees hiding his beautiful garage." However, the artwork as finally built includes a row of trees along a footpath running around the pond. Alewife station opened to the public on March 30, 1985, though some landscaping work was still underway.
Alewife station Red Line National Endowment for the Arts Arts on the Line subway station public art Cambridge