Dictionary for Building: Fireplace Mantel,
1981-1982

Siah Armajani, American, born Iran 1939
Painted wood, mirror and Plexiglas
238.8 x 234.9 x 90.2 cm (94 x 92 1/2 x 35 1/2 in.)
Acquired 1982
In 1979, Armajani began a series of sculptures under the title, "Dictionary for Building." Each sculpture bears a quotation, many of which are drawn from the American poets Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Robert Frost. The Art Institute's sculpture draws on Frost's "The Hill Wife," written in 1916.