[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/chimeric-figure.jpg” caption=”The Chimeric Figure once stood in the arts quad. Photo courtesy of McMaster Museum of Art.”]This week's question was submitted by engineering student Daniel Borrelli, who wanted to know what happened to the statue that was once located in the arts quad.

The statue, known as the Chimeric Figure, was designed by John Ivor Smith in 1967. It was one of 11 sculptures commissioned by the House of Seagram for Expo '67 in Montreal.

Later that year, the statues were dispersed across Canada to public institutions that made submissions for them.

McMaster chose the Chimeric Figure. The statue stood in the arts quad for many years.

The location was chosen because the statue's “mythic content would make it a most appropriate centre of interest in that part of our campus devoted to humanistic studies,” wrote E. Togo Salmon, vice-president, arts, to D.C. Carlisle, The House of Seagram, in a letter dated Oct. 19, 1967.

After enduring the ravages of time and the elements, the fibreglass and metal statue began to rust and was removed in the mid 1980s for restoration.

Although the restoration was completed in 2003, there are no plans to reinstall it on campus.

“The original plinth and the site are no longer suitable,” explained Gerrie Loveys, manager of the McMaster Museum of Art.

The statue is currently in storage.

Thanks to RoseAnne Prevec and Gerrie Loveys of the McMaster Museum of Art, Ismael Viegas, manager of Quarters, the Archives and Research Collections staff at Mills Memorial Library and Physical Plant for helping to answer the Question of the Week.

To submit your Question of the Week, please e-mail daily@mcmaster.ca.