Dimitri Hadzi

Dimitri Hadzi was an American abstract sculptor who lived and worked in Rome, Italy for 25 years and later resided in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he also taught at Harvard University for over a decade.

WWW Official Site

Life

Hadzi was born to Greek-American immigrant parents in Greenwich Village, New York City on March 21, 1921. As a child, he attended a Greek after-school program, where he learned language, mythology, history, and theater. He also won a prize for drawing. After graduating from Brooklyn Technical High School, he worked as a chemist, while continuing his studies in chemistry by night.
In 1942, he signed up for the Army Air Force, serving in the South Pacific region while continuing to draw in his spare time. After his service, he returned to New York to study painting and sculpture at Cooper Union.
Hadzi taught studio arts at Harvard University, from 1975 to 1989.

Personal life

Hadzi married Martha Leeb, but later divorced. In June 1985, he married Cynthia von Thuna. He died in 2006.

Works

Centaur, in the garden of Prospect House in Princeton, New JerseyElmo-MIT, 1960sOnfalo III, 1300 E Lafayette, Detroit, MI
K. 458 The Hunt, Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, refers to Mozart's String Quartet in B flat, K. 458
River Legend, Edith Green – Wendell Wyatt Federal Building, Portland, Oregon
Thermopylae, John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Boston
Propylaea, a sculptural fountain in Toledo, Ohio
Omphalos, formerly at Harvard Square MBTA station through the Arts on the Line program, but was to be repaired and relocated to Rockport, Massachusetts
Helmet V, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC
Red Mountains, Hugo L. Black United States Courthouse, Birmingham, Alabama. The sculpture, installed in 1991, was removed in 2012 for renovations to the building. A provision of the 2014 Financial Appropriations Act barred the General Services Administration from replacing it for fear that it could be used to shield an attacker.Elmo V, The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection, Albany, NY

Awards

1957 Guggenheim Fellow
1962 Venice Biennale
1974 Rome Prize
1990 National Academy of Design, Associate member
1994 National Academy of Design, full Academician

Removal of artworks

Some of Hadzi's public artworks have been removed since his death, as noted above. In addition to the named works, a high sculptural fountain designed by him was completely demolished and removed circa 2014, despite protests by his widow and other commentators. The artwork was the centerpiece of Boston's Copley Place indoor shopping mall, and was composed of multiple abstract granite and travertine marble shapes, with a waterfall cascading down it into a shallow pool at the bottom, surrounded by marble benches., there was scant remaining evidence the fountain had ever existed, and the ownership, location, and status of its components were unknown to the general public.