Octagon's Homage to Amherst Sabrina Defaced

Local blogger "retro info!' from Populuxebooks has reported that the Sabrina statue which sits on the Octagon property facing the Western Channel of the East River and Manhattan has been defaced literaly and figuratively.

I forwarded the email sent to me by Retro Info onto Bruce Becker, the Octagon's developer and Amherst alumus extroadinaire for his comment and request as to what can be done to restore the beauty of this recasting of the original Sabrina statue which sat at Amherst.

The Octagon Sabrina - Part 2

The following text is from an email I received from Bruce Becker regarding the Octagon Sabrina pictured above. Bruce’s reply clearly answers the question raised on the Amherst website whether the Roosevelt Island Sabrina was “the” Sabrina. Per the response below it is a recasting.

“Sabrina is a mythic river goddess, originally sculpted by the the Scottish sculptor William Calder Marshall in 1845. She was inspired by John Milton's poem titled Sabrina Fair which can be found at the following weblink:

http://www.bartleby.com/101/315.html

Marshall's original statue was made of plaster and in 1847 he made a marble copy. Both were exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Sabrina's location at the Octagon overlooking the East River is a perfect setting for this river goddess to "listen and save", augmenting the island's interesting collection of sculpture along the west promenade.

Sabrina is also the patron goddess of Amherst College. A metal casting of her, made by the J.L. Mott Iron Works of New York City, was given to the college by Massachusetts Lieut. Governor Joel Hayden in 1957. The statue was located adjacent to The Octagon building on the Amherst campus until 1885. Roosevelt Island's installation reestablishes the historic setting of Sabrina adjacent to an Octagonal building.

Sabrina has been installed at a number of other projects designed by Becker and Becker over the past 15 years. Copies can be found at the courtyard of a New York City Housing Authority project at Avenue D and 8th Street in Manhattan, the Times Square Hotel, Urban Horizons (the former Morrisania Hospital) in the Bronx, Avalon Grove in Stamford, The Crescent Building in Bridgeport and The Marvin in Norwalk, CT. None of these installations incorporate the original statue which has been the object of class rivalries at Amherst College.

The castings were made from a mold of 19th Century casting I locating in Rochester Vermont that was in perfect condition. The Roosevelt Island installation is the first casting made of solid bronze and is a stunning setting for her, adjacent to the river and The Octagon.

-Bruce”

If I was an Amherst student or alumni I’d ask Mr. Becker to provide pictures of these other Sabrina’s as a web page collage would be pretty cool. For us Roosevelt Island residents we thank Bruce for our Sabrina as it really is a stunning piece.

The Octagon Sabrina & Amherst College

A few months ago I was up at Lighthouse Park and upon my return to Northtown via the Western Promenade I encountered the sculpture of Sabrina. She sits just West of the Northern Wing of the Octagon. No plaque explained her presence, who she is, or who the sculptor is.

A cursory search of the name Sabrina mixed with sculpture leads the inquisitive to Amherst College and the deep history of Sabrina on that campus. A off hand conversation with an Octagon resident at the playground yielded the fact that Octagon developer Bruce Becker is an alumnus of Amherst College providing the connection to why this statue is here.

The early history of the statue at Amherst is quite amusing written by an alumnus of the Class of 1910. It appears that the statute is now kept hidden to protect her from the constant class rivalries that resulted with her being kidnapped, displayed in precarious locations and re-hidden. She was rolled out in 2005 after the Class of 1980 pledged, in honor of their 25 anniversary, to donate a huge sum of money to the college and be named the official Sabrina class.

Amherst Alumni website pages confirm that Bruce Becker is a member of that Class of 1980. So this Sabrina is apparently Mr. Becker's homage to his alma matter and its traditions. A post script is that Amherst had its own Octagon building so perhaps Mr. Becker was destined to rebuild Roosevelt Island's Octagon.