Peter the Fisherman

Artist: Shrady, Frederick Charles

With: Fonderia Battaglia, founder

Status: In Situ

Title: Peter the Fisherman (sculpture)

Other Titles: St. Peter Casting a Net,

Peter, Fisher of Men

Dates: 1965; Installed 1970.

Medium: Bronze on metal base

Dimensions: Approx. 15 ft x 28 ft.; Base approx 24 in x 51 in x 90 in. 

Inscription: F. Shrady / 1965/ Fond Artist/ Battaglia e C signed Founder’s mark appears/

Description: An attenuated figure with proper left arm outstretched, casting an abstracted 14-foot net [over a fountain pool] (since, divorced from the pool).

Owner: Administered by Fordham University

                    Originally located at Fordham University, Lincoln Center campus (plaza level, near campus architecture and art studios), New York, New York

Remarks: Commissioned by the Board of Trustees of Fordham University. Given by Mr. & Mrs. William T. Brady. The piece is based on the biblical passage (Matthew 4:18-20) where Christ encounters Peter and his brother Andrew “casting a net into the sea” and beseeches them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” The sculpture was originally installed within a reflecting pool in a plaza on the Fordham University Lincoln Center campus, which was dedicated to Robert Moses in 1970. Removed in 2009 for restoration and then placed in storage, in 2014 the university reinstalled the work on a new greenspace plaza near the Fordham Law School and McKeon Hall, which were built on the original site.

References:

Gayle, Margot & Michele Cohen, Guide to Manhattan’s Outdoor Sculpture, New York: Prentice Hall, 1988, pg. 270.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, New York, New York survey, 1993.

Campbell, Barbara, “Fordham Acclaims Moses,” New York Times, June 3, 1970, p. 47.

“Statue of St. Peter Returns to Lincoln Center, Fordham News, October 22, 2014. https://news.fordham.edu/inside-fordham/statue-of-st-peter-returns-to-lincoln-center/