Let’s remember the fall of Hammering Man, on this day in 1991 (September 28)
Hammering Man, the giant sculpture of the man who, umm, hammers outside of Seattle Art Museum had a great fall 28 years ago today.
Per HistoryLink’s David Wilma:
On September 28, 1991, Hammering Man, a 48-foot-tall metal sculpture created by Jonathan Borofsky for the entrance to the new Seattle Art Museum, falls and is damaged. The 22,000-pound steel and aluminum figure is being hoisted into place by a crane when a lift-strap breaks. The sculpture falls just one foot, but has to be returned to its foundry in Connecticut for repair.
Photographer John Stamets (1949–2014) was standing on the roof of the Lusty Lady exotic dance parlor across 1st Avenue from the art museum with the aim of documenting the installation. Instead he captured dramatic images of the sculpture’s tumble. Stamets had previously recorded the collapse of the University of Washington Husky Stadium’s new bleachers in 1987, and for a time specialized in documenting doomed buildings and demolitions. In 1992 he joined the faculty at the University of Washington, serving for 22 years as a photographer and lecturer in the architecture department.
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