Untitled [Maquette for Bridgeport Post Newspaper Building, Bridgeport, CT]

Nivola conceived a design loosely based on a newspaper spread for the façade of the Post Publishing Company in Bridgeport. The letters ‘T’, ‘B’, ‘P’ appear in the top right panel, the acronym for ‘The Bridgeport Post.’ The themes for the design were taken from the general categories of news—politics, family life, sports, the arts. For example, there are some playful details in the design including cutlery (two spoons and a fork) which are supplemented with other household objects in the full-scale version of the work and an image depicting the horizon of the sea, with sun above. Other elements in the design are visible in the panels including the American flag, stars, and a boat, and several faces, heads and figures framed by the newsprint. Nivola adopted a wide-ranging visual vocabulary to convey the richness of the themes from which he drew.

There is some variation between the design and the full-scale work, indicative of Nivola’s spontaneous way of working, in which he repeatedly revised his compositions. For example, three naked figures in different poses, a band of little horses, and the panel with various tools. The overall structure, however, remained the same: each of the four panels of the design (of which one is now missing) is divided into five vertical sections, a total of 20. Each of these divisions is equivalent to one of the 20 panels that comprises the full-scale work.

Nivola’s design was conceived for the upper façade of the parking garage, a new steel and concrete building that formed part of the redevelopment of downtown Bridgeport. The top of the wall slants down towards the rear of the building and this is echoed in the panels which differ slightly in height and slant upwards from left to right (that is, in reverse, as the relief is negatively cast). The large-scale sandcast formed part of the structure of the building and its position took advantage of the natural light that animated the sculpture over the course of the day.