Though few in number, historical art pieces at the high school are full of character. From the frieze tiles in the atrium to the putti carvings on the front of the unified arts building, each has a unique story to tell.

Unified Arts Putti
The Unified Arts (UA) building, originally a manual arts school, is the high school’s oldest building. Putti, Renaissance and Baroque-era carvings of cherubs, hang above the entrance to the UA building and were crafted in 1923 by Canadian sculptor John A. Wilson. According to Visual Arts Interim Department Chair Donna Sartanowicz, these putti represent the UA building’s purpose.

“Right now we’re in this phase of architecture where buildings are generic and uniform, and it’s all about controlling building costs,” Sartanowicz said. “If you look at more historic buildings, you will often find that parts of the design, which are decorative, are technically not structural. They signal what that building is about.”

Each putto in the carving wields a different tool or work instrument to represent different skills.

“I just love to think that from 1903, there have been students coming through this building, learning about how to make things with their hands,” Brennan said.

Atrium Frieze
If you look towards the ceiling in the atrium of 115 Greenough, you’ll spot 32 tablets that hang from the walls. These are replicas of a section of the Parthenon Frieze, a marble carving that decorated the facade of the Parthenon in Greece.

The copies at the high school are said to have been cast on site at the Parthenon in Athens, Greece. The casts were purchased by William H. Lincoln, who donated them to the Lincoln school, where they were on display for many years. They were rediscovered and moved to the high school in 2002, when Lincoln and the high school were undergoing renovations.

Brennan, who was a teacher at the Lincoln school while the frieze was still on display there, said that Lincoln wanted to expose Brookline students to classical art.

“We study artists because it is a really powerful way of communicating our understanding of who we are, our understanding of the world around us. I don’t necessarily feel that it has to be classical art. I think it’s really powerful to have contemporary art [too],” Brennan said.

According to Sartanowicz, the Parthenon Frieze, just like the carvings on the UA building, tell their own story. She said their placement is meaningful because they make viewers look up.

“In big churches, they have huge doors, and the spaces inside are enormous and they make you look up. That’s carried through in a lot of other religious structures, where they try to elevate the mind by [using] the height of the interior space,” Sartanowicz said.

Oil painting
Another piece of historical art lives feet away from the atrium, in Assistant Head of School Hal Mason’s office. Directly behind his desk hangs a large oil portrait of the principal of the high school from 1854 to 1888, painted by Frederic Porter Vinton.

“Any time someone comes into my office, they’re taken by the painting and they want to know the story behind the painting,” Mason said.

Mason said art at the high school isn’t just for decoration, and that it acts as a window for students into the world of art.

“Art or beautiful objects anywhere serve a much more important purpose,” Mason said. “I don’t think it’s possible or practical for the school to say, we’re going to teach everybody about every piece of art in the building. I think we expose people. You show people things.”