From David Spadafora,
President
The sculpture "Umanitá," by Virginio Ferrari, was stolen sometime between late Saturday evening, February 16, and late Monday afternoon, February 18, from the front steps of the Newberry Library, located at 60 West Walton Street, Chicago. "Umanitá" (an Italian word meaning humanity or humankind) has been at the Newberry since 1987, and has been situated just west of the front entrance to the main building since early 2005. This sculpture has served as the model for the Newberry Library Award, given since 1987 for distinguished contributions to the humanities. The most recent recipients of the Newberry Library Award were Mayor of the City of Chicago Richard M. Daley (2007), and Hanna H. Gray, President Emerita of the University of Chicago (2006).
The theft appears to have been accomplished by rocking the sculpture back and forth until the large bolt attaching it to its marble base snapped. "Umanitá" weighs more than 150 pounds and is bulky. The marble base remains in place, although its connection to the granite steps has been loosened. The motives for this theft are unclear to us.
Mr. Ferrari is a noted Italian-American sculptor. Many other pieces by him are publicly viewable in Chicago. "Umanitá" was given to the Newberry by a friend of the Library in 1987 and is now one of the symbols of the institution. We very much hope that through the investigation being conducted by the Chicago Police we are able to recover this important work of art.
The Newberry Library, founded in 1887, is a research library specializing in the humanities. It is free and open to the public. The Newberry's holdings include 1.5 million volumes, 5 million pages of manuscript, and more than 500,000 maps. The Newberry operates many public programs, including seminars, lectures, and exhibitions. It offers fellowships for research scholars, programming for middle-school and high-school teachers in Chicago and the Chicago area, two semester-long undergraduate seminars, programming for those interested in genealogy, conferences for university and college faculty and graduate students, and many other activities.