History
The sculpture garden was created at the direction of Donald M. Kendall, who was chief executive officer of PepsiCo when the company moved in 1970 from Manhattan to the 168-acre (0.68 km2) site in suburban Purchase. Kendall "sought to create an atmosphere of stability, creativity and experimentation. He envisioned as essential to that ambience a museum without walls, where works of art could be enjoyed by the employees, the community and the public," according to an article in The New York Times. Kendall himself selected the sculptures. When the new site was officially dedicated on October 2, 1970, Kendall said he wanted to create "one of the greatest modern sculpture exhibits in the world". At the time, Kendall said he wanted the gardens to have works by "all of the major sculptors of the modern period."
The original landscape design was created in the late 1960s just before PepsiCo moved to the property, by E. D. Stone Jr., son of Edward Durell Stone, the architect of the headquarters. The younger Stone had about 6,000 trees from 38 species plus thousands of flowering bulbs planted. Originally, only eight pieces of artwork were in the sculpture garden. Employees liked the idea so much that Kendall decided to enlarge the collection. As late as 1991, after Kendall had stepped down as CEO, he was still overseeing the collection.
From 1981 to 1985, landscape designer Russell Page redesigned the gardens to harmonize them with the sculptures. He added intimate gardens and walks. Since 1985, a third landscape designer, Francois Goffinet, has been in charge of garden development.
Read more about this topic: Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens
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