''Universal Man'' is a sculpture by Gerald Gladstone located outside the

Yorkdale Shopping Centre Yorkdale Shopping Centre, or simply Yorkdale, is a major retail shopping centre in the North York district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located at the intersection of Highway 401 and Allen Road, it opened in 1964 as the largest enclosed shopp ...

North York North York is one of the six administrative districts of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located directly north of York, Old Toronto and East York, between Etobicoke to the west and Scarborough to the east. As of the 2016 Census, it had a p ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada, since 1994. The bronze figure was originally located in a prominent location at the foot of the

CN Tower The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railwa ...

, there located to "emphasize the human aspects of the project". It was commissioned by

CN Rail The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

in 1972 at a cost of approximately $100,000 (approximately $ in dollars) and the statue was unveiled in 1976. At the time of unveiling, it was the largest statue cast by the

Morris Singer Morris Singer is a British art foundry, recognised as the oldest fine art foundry in the world. Its predecessor, Singer was established in 1848 in Frome, Somerset, by John Webb Singer, as the Frome Art Metal Works. The Singer Art Foundry was famo ...

foundry. According to Gladstone, the work was inspired by

da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested on hi ...

Vitruvian Man The ''Vitruvian Man'' ( it, L'uomo vitruviano; ) is a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to . Inspired by the writings by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, the drawing depicts a nude man in two s ...

. The giant arms and legs of the figure represent the range of motion possible to a human figure. Until 1987, the statue was the centrepiece of a plaza near the CN Tower that was popular with tourists. This plaza would be replaced with Bobbie Rosenfeld Park. In 1987, it was moved from its site during the construction of the

Rogers Centre Rogers Centre (originally SkyDome) is a multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the fo ...

(then known as SkyDome), and was not replaced reportedly due to lack of space in the area. This, and the damage inflicted on the statue during moving (right hand broken off), infuriated Gladstone. CN moved the statue to a piece of vacant railway land by the

Gardiner Expressway The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends ...

and

Spadina Avenue Spadina Avenue (, less commonly ) is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods. Spadina Avenue runs south ...

, and placed the statue face down in the dirt field where it remained for several years. In 1994, it was restored (with damaged hand repaired) to public view by the government of

who placed it by the Dufferin entrance to Yorkdale Mall. This was to Gladstone's satisfaction.Paul Moloney. "Statue finds a home at Yorkdale Universal Man was dumped when dome built." ''Toronto Star. ''Sep 27, 1994. Sec. C. pg. A.6 Since the municipalities that made up

Metropolitan Toronto The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto was an Regional municipality, upper-tier level of municipal government in Ontario, Canada, from 1953 to 1998. It was made up of the Old Toronto, old city of Toronto and numerous townships, towns and vill ...

were

amalgamated Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan ama ...

into the current city of Toronto in 1998, ownership of the sculpture was transferred to

Oxford Properties Oxford Properties is a Canadian multinational corporation, with operations in real estate investment, development and property management. Its portfolio includes office, retail, industrial, multi-residential, life sciences and hotel assets. Esta ...

, owner of Yorkdale Shopping Centre.

References

{{Portal bar, Canada, Visual arts Modernist sculpture Public art in Toronto North York Outdoor sculptures in Canada 1976 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Canada Statues in Canada Sculptures of men in Canada