The central element of Marabar is a rectangular reflecting pool, 60 feet long by 6 feet wide, surrounded by five mahogany color granite boulders, each deliberately formed by fracturing the stone along natural cleft lines. Three of these stones have one sheared and highly polished face; these planes mirror one another across the pool. It appears as if these three huge rocks had been one monolithic form, dramatically separated, with the body of water as a consequence of this division. The recessed sides of the pool create the illusion that the water naturally springs from the ground below and is revealed by the cut in the overlying pavement. The rocks do not rest on the surface of the pavement but extend below it; paving was placed around them so that they would appear to be pre-existing elements on that site.

The work has been subtly integrated with the plaza; seven boulders are placed throughout the surrounding landscaped area. A visitor entering the complex sees the large rocks at seemingly random locations. The dispersed elements subliminally prepare the visitor for the focal point of the designs and one’s experience is heightened because of their presence.

The title was determined after the piece was completed. The infinitely reflecting mirror-like surfaces of granite facing each other reminded the artist of the imaginary cave whose interior walls of living rock were mysteriously polished, in E.M. Forster’s novel, A Passage to India.

Marabar is Zimmerman’s first large-scale stone project. It enabled the artist to realize fully her longstanding exploration of the various physical and emotive properties of granite, the polished and the rough, that she had been investigating in smaller works since the early 1970s.

The natural elements seem magical when set in this urban environment; they form a dramatic counterpoint to the contemporary architecture that surround them. The qualities of reflection, both spiritual and physical, that set it apart are reinforced on all levels of the piece. 


COMPLETED 1984
LOCATION
National Geographic Society, Washington, DC
PRIMARY MATERIALS
Granite paving; natural cleft and polished granite boulders; water; adjacent landscaping
COMMISSIONED BY
National Geographic Society, Washington, DC
CONSULTANTS
Architect: Skidmore, Owings and Merrill; Project architect, David Childs
Landscape architect: Urban and Graham;
Fountain engineer: Dr. Gerald Palevsky;
Stone supply & fabrication: Cold Spring  Granite Company