This fascinating documentary records a remarkable artistic process — the creation of the largest sculpture ever carved from a single block of travertine. The work was commissioned by Donald Kendall for the PepsiCo Sculpture Gardens in Purchase, New York. Thirty-one year old Vermont sculptor Richard Erdman needed two years to complete the immense task.

PASSAGE follows the evolution of his work, beginning with the quarrying of the 750-ton block of marble in Tivoli, Italy. Then, the rough-cut block was transported 330 miles along small Italian roads to Carrara, where it was carved by a team of Italian stonecutters whose traditions stretch back centuries. PASSAGE culminates with the sculputure’s arrival in New York harbor and its installation at Purchase.

For Erdman, the process of pulling this sculpture out of the mountainside is itself a part of the meaning of the work. “It’s my expression of the grandeur of life,” he says. In experiencing PASSAGE, one knows it will last forever.

The 28 minute long PASSAGE DVD is available for purchase. Please contact us to order.

• Director/Cinematographer Albert van der Wildt
• Editor Bert Haanstra
• Music Loek Dikker
• Narration written by D. B. Jones
• Narrator David Brierley
• Executive Producer Anthony Sheldon-Moir
• Produced in the Netherlands by Nico Crama (1985)