Hammering Man

Seattle, Washington, United States

Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

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Hammering Man is Jonathan Borofsky's 48-foot-high steel silhouette of a working man, whose arm the City of Seattle said in 2012 hammers four times a minute, outside the Seattle Art Museum at 1st Avenue and University Street. It was commissioned for the 1991 In Public programme and permanently installed in 1992.

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Hammering Man

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47.60703° N, 122.33812° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Since 1992 a steel arm has risen and fallen outside the Seattle Art Museum, hammering four times a minute according to the City of Seattle. Hammering Man, by the artist Jonathan Borofsky, stands at 1st Avenue and University Street. HistoryLink describes it as a 48-foot-high steel silhouette of a working man, and records Borofsky saying it symbolised "the worker in all of us".

HistoryLink calls it one of the most iconic works of In Public: Seattle 1991, the project that marked the opening of the museum's new building. HistoryLink says the Arts Commission commissioned it and that Borofsky received $400,000. Installation did not go smoothly. On 28 September 1991 a lift strap broke as a crane hoisted the figure into place; it fell about a foot, went back to a foundry in Connecticut for repair, and was reinstalled in September 1992.

The City of Seattle says the arm moves silently and smoothly, driven by a 3-hp electric motor on an automatic timer. In 2010 the city said it rests its arm each evening and every Labor Day. In 2009 the city switched it off after a bulge was found in the shoulder while the figure was being repainted. Contractors rebuilt the drive, motor and counterweight system and resurfaced the 18-foot, 1,900-pound arm, and the sculpture returned to work in April 2010. The city's Summer 2025 public art report lists annual maintenance of the mechanical elements and cleaning of the exterior.

Published figures differ slightly: the city gave the weight as 26,000 pounds in 2012, while HistoryLink gives 22,000 pounds. According to the city, Borofsky has made numerous Hammering Man sculptures of different sizes elsewhere, including in New York, Los Angeles, Germany and Japan.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Hammering Man stands outside the Seattle Art Museum at 1st Avenue and University Street. The City of Seattle said in 2012 that the arm hammers four times a minute and rests on Labor Day, and in 2010 that it also rests each evening. City maintenance was completed in spring 2025.

ACCESS

A city-maintained public artwork at Seattle Art Museum Plaza, at 1st Avenue and University Street in downtown Seattle, at the museum's entrance.

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