Monument with Standing Beast

{{Short description|Sculpture by Jean Dubuffet}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2016}}

{{Infobox artwork

|image_file = 20070530 Dubeffet - Monument with Standing Beast (1).JPG

|image_size = 200px

|alt = View facing southeast: Daley Center in the background

|title = Monument With Standing Beast

|artist = Jean Dubuffet

|year = 1984

|type = Fiberglass

|height_imperial = 29

|metric_unit = m

|imperial_unit = ft

|museum = James R. Thompson Center (outdoor)

|city = Chicago

}}

Monument with Standing Beast is a sculpture by Jean Dubuffet previously located in front of the Helmut Jahn designed James R. Thompson Center in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. Its location was across the street from Chicago City Hall to the South and diagonal across the street from the Daley Center to the southeast. It is a {{convert|29|ft|m|adj=on}} white fiberglass work of art.{{cite web|url=http://www.merchandisemart.com/artropolis/citywide_events/public_art/index.html|accessdate=May 30, 2007|date=2007|publisher=Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc.|title=Artropolis|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080315160202/http://www.merchandisemart.com/artropolis/citywide_events/public_art/index.html|archive-date=March 15, 2008|url-status=dead}} The piece is a 10-ton or {{convert|20000|lb|kg}} work.{{cite web |date=August 1996 |title=Dubuffet: Monument with Standing Beast |url=http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/dubuffet.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070929094114/http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/dubuffet.html |archive-date=2007-09-29 |accessdate=June 6, 2007 |publisher=Chicago Public Library}} It was unveiled on November 28, 1984. It was dismantled in the spring of 2024 and was bound for a state warehouse.{{Cite web |date=2024-05-15 |title=Thompson Center artwork — Where did it all go? |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/art/2024/05/15/thompson-center-artwork-chicago-where-did-it-all-go |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=Chicago Sun-Times |language=en}}

File:20070530 Dubeffet - Monument with Standing Beast.JPG in the background]]

This is one of Dubuffet's three monumental sculpture commissions in the United States. It has been taken to represent a standing animal, a tree, a portal and an architectural form. The sculpture is based on Dubuffet's 1960 painting series Hourloupe.{{cite web |title=Monument with Standing Beast |url=http://www.state.il.us/cms/jrtc/beast.htm |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20060427144501/http://www.state.il.us:80/cms/jrtc/beast.htm |archive-date=2006-04-27 |accessdate=June 6, 2007}} The sculpture and the series of figural and landscape designs it is a part of reflects his thoughts of earliest monumental commission, for the One Chase Manhattan Plaza.

The sculpture is one of 19 commissioned artworks funded under the State of Illinois Art-in-Architecture Program throughout the building. This was commissioned by the Capital Development Board of Illinois.

The sculpture is affectionately known to many Chicagoans as "Snoopy in a blender".{{cite web |date=June 21, 2002 |title=Hey, homies, did you know . . . ? |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2002/06/21/hey-homies-did-you-know/ |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20130601215602/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-06-21/entertainment/0206210302_1_navy-pier-fire-station-eastland |archive-date=2013-06-01 |access-date=January 5, 2012 |work=Chicago Tribune}}