Photos
Adam and Eve stand again
The Venus Bronze Works team returns Adam and Eve to their home on the outskirts of Dunn's Woods. | Photo By Chris Meyer
Aug. 15, 2012
After the storm, Eve was only slightly off-kilter, but Adam needed some major work on his head and leg.
The bronze sculptures at the edge of Dunn’s Woods, “The Space Between Adam and Eve,” stood facing one another for more than four decades with arms extended in an eternal reach.
In May 2011, the bronze sculptures were damaged by felled tree limbs and other debris after a severe storm whipped through campus.
"The Space Between Adam and Eve," created by the late IU professor Jean Paul Darriau, was damaged in a severe storm in May 2011.
The tree fell on both statues, causing their shared pedestal to shift and creating distortions in the bases of both figures. Adam sustained a direct blow that pushed the figure forward, denting his head and causing a significant tear in one leg.
“The Space Between Adam and Eve” was created by the late IU professor Jean Paul Darriau, a renowned sculptor who passed away in 2006. Over the years, students and campus visitors have had fun with the sculptures, putting a bra on Eve and boxer shorts on Adam or mirroring the statues’ positions in photos.
To repair the iconic sculptures, the IU Art Museum brought in Venus Bronze Works, from Detroit, the same company that in the past has replaced and repaired the leaping fish surrounding Venus in the Showalter Fountain.
The bases of the figures were cut, returned to their original positions and re-welded.
The tear in Adam’s leg was repaired, treated to match the surrounding patina and layered with a thin coating of protective wax.
On Aug. 2, the Bronze Works team hoisted the statues back into place -- leaving nothing to chance, they created temporary cardboard signs to remind themselves of placement, reading “Eve, this side up front” and “Adam, this side up front.”
With that, the yearning couple was reunited.
