Public Art at Dartmouth

Charles O. Perry, American, 1929–2011

D₂D
1973–75
Bronze
Collection of the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College: Purchased through the Fairchild Foundation; S.975.74

Charles O. Perry was a sculptor, designer, puzzle maker, architect, and scholar who served as artist-in-residence at Dartmouth in 1973. A lecturer in mathematics and art, Perry was fascinated with the natural environment, and many of his sculptural concepts originated from his inquiries into "nature's variables." Perry's work has a beauty and elegance of form that often masks the mathematical and scientific complexity of its genesis and meaning.

The curving shapes and elemental metals of D₂D reinforce the work's connection to its natural and scientific roots, contained within the simplicity of form. The sculpture is positioned in front of the Sherman Fairchild Physical Sciences Center. It was, in fact, a class of Dartmouth chemistry students who, in attempting to describe the sculpture's physical symmetry for their weekend exam, came up with the formula (and eventual title) of D₂D.