Asset

Date of ingest: 8 May 2026

Description: "Shortly after midnight on March 24, 1970, August Rodin’s Thinker sculpture was knocked from its pedestal outside the Cleveland Museum of Art by a bomb. To date, the bomber remains unidentified although many have attributed the action to the Weathermen. The museum chose not to repair the sculpture as the damage was so extensive it was thought repairs would transform the artwork from an original cast into a reproduction. The damaged Thinker is a reminder of a tumultuous period of American History, which was often characterized by protest and violence. In a July 16, 1970, article the Cleveland Press reflected “But is it not even a more significant work, damaged as it is? No one can pass the shattered green man without asking himself what it tells us about the violent climate of the U.S.A. in the year 1970. It is more than just a work of art now.”