Three Columns

Three Columns is an arrangement of sixteen monumental stained glass windows that embody Robert Mangold’s long-standing interest in the visual relationships among form, color, line and surface texture.  Although he has worked primarily as a painter and printmaker, Mangold’s conversations with architect William Pedersen led to an idea for tall, columnar windows that are integrated completely into the glass curtain-wall structure of the courthouse’s triangular entry pavilion.

Mangold inscribed a series of sinuous curves which transverse the horizontal and vertical mullions at many different points, and the overall composition appears to be both spontaneous and the inevitable result of a mathematical formula.  While the geometric imagery of Mangold’s windows is totally abstract, his forms relate well to the function and symbolism of the courthouse: formally, the windows are about equilibration and resolution, as is the administration of law.  The artwork’s title also recalls the stone columns that historically have been iconic elements of courthouse architecture.

The colors that Mangold chose for this artwork are very specific hues of blue, green and red.  Although these carefully harmonized colors are not symbolic, and do not refer to anything specific, they nonetheless echo the western New York landscape, including the abundant and ever-changing foliage and the vast waters of Lake Erie and the Niagara River.