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OUR PHILOSOPHER
Artists: Yin Peet
Size: 9’Hx5’Wx4’D
Weighs: 9 tons
Material: granite
Year completed: 1999
The Eastern side combines the images of Confucius and a Buddhist monk, representing two major streams of Eastern thought and spiritual tradition. The Western side combines Plato and Aristotle from Raphael’s painting The School of Athens, where the two philosophers stand at the center.
Plato points upward, suggesting his belief that truth lies beyond the physical world, in the realm of ideal forms. Aristotle extends his hand outward toward the earth with a book, emphasizing observation, experience, and knowledge of the physical world. Their contrasting gestures express two different ways of understanding existence—one looking toward an ideal realm, the other toward the world we actually live in.
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Our Philosopher was Yin’s first major undertaking in large-scale granite carving. Yin began in November 1998 with a thirteen-ton block of granite and completed the sculpture in May 1999, at a final weight of nine and a half tons.
Yin carved it outdoors through a Boston winter—in snow, freezing weather, and sleeting rain. The persistence required to complete this sculpture established Yin’s passion for granite carving for years to come. It also earned the respect of the quarry owners, which eventually led to Yin’s purchase of this granite quarry and the creation of the art grounds that became the YV Art Museum.
Looking back, Our Philosopher was not only a sculpture. It became a turning point in Yin’s life.