List of sculptures in Central Park
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Sculptures in New York City's Central Park.
A total of 29 sculptures have appeared over decades in New York City's 843-acre Central Park, most of which have been donated by individuals or organizations (and not the city itself). While many early statues are of authors and poets along "Literary Walk", other notable statues include sled dog Balto, the so-called "Cleopatra's Needle" Egyptian obelisk, Alice of Wonderland, and most recently Duke Ellington.
[edit] 107th Infantry Memorial
The 107th Infantry memorial is dedicated to the men who served in the 107th New York Infantry Regiment during World War I. The regiment was, as its name implies, stationed in New York, and consisted of males mainly from this region. In 1917, the National Guard's 7th New York Infantry Regiment reformed into 107th New York Infantry Regiment by merging the 7th, with parts of 1st and 12th IR, and smaller detachments from the 10th IR. The regiment was stationed at Camp Wadsworth until May 1918, when they were ordered to deploy to France, as part of the 27th (New York) Infantry Division. While in France, they saw heavy action, and at the end of the war in November 1918, of the 3700 men that originally was a part of the regiment, 580 men were killed and 1487 wounded, with four of the regiment's soldiers being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The memorial depicts 7 men; the one to the far right carrying two Mill bombs, while supporting the wounded soldier next to him. To his right another infantryman rushes towards the enemy positions, while the helmetless squad leader and another soldier are approaching the enemy with bayonets fixed. To the far left, one soldier is holding a mortally wounded soldier, keeping him on his feet. The bronze memorial was donated by 7th-107th Memorial Committee, and was designed by Karl Illava, who served in the 107th IR as a sergeant in WWI. The monument was first conceived during around 1920, was made in 1926-1927 and was placed in the park and unveiled in 1927. Can be found by the perimeter wall, at Fifth Avenue and 67th Street.
[edit] Alice in Wonderland
This sculpture depicts Alice, from Lewis Carroll's 1865 classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The statue is located on East 74th street on the north side of Central Park's Conservatory Water. Alice is pictured sitting on a giant mushroom, reaching toward a pocket watch held by the March Hare, host of the book's tea party. Peering over her shoulder, is the Cheshire cat, flanked by the dormouse; and on the other side by Mad Hatter, who in contrast to the calm Alice looks ready to laugh out loud at any moment.
Publisher and philanthropist George T. Delacorte Jr. ordered the sculpture from José de Creeft, in honor of Delacorte's late wife, Margarita, and to the enjoyment of the children of New York. Unveiled in 1959, de Creeft's sculpture tries to follow John Tenniel's whimsical Victorian illustrations from the first edition of the book. According to various sources, Alice is said to look like de Creeft's daughter Donna. The Alice in Wonderland project's architects and designers were Hideo Sasaki and Fernando Texidor, who inserted some plaques with inscriptions from the book in the terrace around the sculpture. Margarita's favorite poem, "The Jabberwocky" is also included; chiseled in a granite circle surrounding the sculpture:
The design of the sculpture attracts many children who want to climb its many levels, resulting in the bronze's glowing patina, polished by thousands of tiny hands over the years since the sculpture was unveiled.
[edit] Angel of the Waters Fountain at Bethesda Terrace
- Further information: Bethesda Fountain
In the original "Greensward Plan", developed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the architectural middle of the park was called "The Water Terrace," for its placement beside The Lake, but the area became known as Bethesda Terrace after the fountain was unveiled in 1873. At the unveiling ceremony, the artist's brochure quoted a Biblical verse from the Gospel of St. John: Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called… Bethesda…whoever then first after the troubling of the waters stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
The fountain was designed and created by Emma Stebbins, who became the first woman to receive a sculptural commission in New York City when she was commissioned to create this fountain. It was designed and created in 1868, but wasn't unveiled until 1873, when the park was officially completed. In 1988 the Central Park Conservancy cleaned, repatinated, and sealed the fountain with a protective coating, and it's washed and waxed annually in order to preserve it. The fountain can be found in the middle of the park, on the north side of 72nd Street.
[edit] Balto
This sculpture was dedicated to the sled dogs that led several dogsled teams through a snow-storm in the winter of 1925 in order to deliver medicines that would stop a diphtheria epidemic in Nome, Alaska. The sculpture is slightly larger than the real-life dog, and is placed on a rock outcropping on the main path leading north from the Tisch Children's Zoo. The sculpture was created by Frederick George Richard Roth, and placed in the park in 1925. Like so many other monuments in the park, it's made of bronze, and it was donated to the park by the Balto Monument Committee to the City of New York.
Under the sculpture, a small plaque can be found, containing the following inscription:
[edit] Burnett Memorial Fountain
This fountain, dedicated to the author Frances Hodgson Burnett, was placed in the park in 1936 after being donated by The Children's Garden Building Committee. It was designed and created by Bessie Potter Vonnoh between 1926 and 1936, and was placed in The Conservatory Garden when it reopened in 1936.
When Frances Hodgson Burnett died in 1924, some of her friends wanted to honor her memory, by creating a storytelling area in Central Park. They chose the Conservatory Garden as the site for the memorial, and it is believed that the two figures, a reclining boy playing the flute and the young girl holding the bowl represent Mary and Dickon, the main characters from The Secret Garden. The precise location of the memorial, is in the Conservatory Garden, south garden, 104th Street and Fifth Avenue.
[edit] Christopher Columbus
In 1892, a sculpture of Christopher Columbus was donated to Central Park by the New York Genealogical Society in comemmoration of the 400th anniversary since his arrival in the Americas. The statue was made by Jeronimo Sunol in 1892; was placed in the park in 1894, and is today one of two monuments of Columbus found in the park, the other being the statue at the Columbus Circle.
The sculpture depicts the explorer standing with outstretched arms, looking towards the heaven in gratitude for his successful voyage, and is based on another Columbus monument created by Sunol located at the Plaza de Colon, in Madrid, Spain.
[edit] Eagles and Prey
This sculpture, designed and created by Christopher Fratin, is the oldest known sculpture in any New York City park. It is made of bronze, and was cast in Paris, France in 1850 and was placed in the park in 1863. The sculpture was donated by Gordon Webster Burnham, who also donated the statue of Daniel Webster, as well as other statues in other cities.
The monument depicts a goat, wedged accidentally between two rocks, which is about to be devoured by two Eagles. Their talons are sunk into the back of the goat as they flap their wings in victory.
[edit] Fitz-Greene Halleck
Halleck has been described as the least known literary figure today on Literary Walk, despite being the only person to have a memorial unveiled by the then-president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877, ten years after his death in November 1867. The monument was funded by the use of public subscription, and had a long list of prominent guests and speakers at the dedication and unveiling of the monument, amongst them the president's cabinet, General of the Army William T.Sherman, the poets Bayard Taylor, George Henry Boker and William Cullen Bryant, as well as other notable citizens.
The monument is made in bronze by James Wilson Alexander MacDonald, and is placed near the Literary Walk and The Mall. The monument has been thoroughly refurbished by The Central Park Conservancy, first by hot waxing it in 1983, and then again in 1992, as well as in 1999, when it was dewaxed, pressurewashed and repatinated, and then protected by a coating of a corrosion inhibiting lacquer.
[edit] Hans Christian Andersen
He is an famous Danish book writter. His most known work is the little murmade or den lille havfrue as its said in Danish.
[edit] Indian Hunter
[edit] Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller
[edit] José Martí
[edit] King Jagiello
[edit] Lehman Gates
[edit] Ludwig van Beethoven
[edit] Maine Monument
[edit] Mother Goose
[edit] Obelisk/Cleoopatra's Needle
Cleopatra's Needle in Central Park is one a trio of obelisks, the other two found in London and in the Place de la Concorde of Paris. Each is made of red granite, stands about 21 metres (68 feet) high, weighs about 180 tons and is inscribed with hieroglyphs. The New York needle was presented to the city by Ismail Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt and was erected in Central Park on 22 February 1881.
[edit] Pulitzer Fountain
[edit] Sherman Monument
[edit] Sir Walter Scott and Robert Burns
A bronze statue of Robert Burns by Sir John Robert Steell, the eminent Victorian sculptor, was unveiled in Central Park, New York in 1880. It was intended to be a companion statue to one of Sir Walter Scott by the same sculptor, erected some eight years previously. It was the first statue of Robert Burns to be erected outside Scotland and was a gift to the City of New York from Saint Andrew’s Society of the State of New York and the Scottish-American community.
For this sculpture Steell closely followed the portrait of Robert Burns painted by Alexander Nasmyth in 1787. Seated on a tree stump with a quill pen in one hand, Burns looks up to heaven. He is thinking of his true love Mary Campbell, who died at an early age. It was to her that he had written the poem “Highland Mary” inscribed on the scroll at his feet.
It therefore conformed closely to the popularly held image of the poet's likeness and was greatly admired, with casts being commissioned for statues in Dundee, London and Dunedin, New Zealand. The Dundee statue was unveiled only two weeks after the one in New York in 1880 and the third cast was erected in the Thames Embankment Gardens in London in 1884. The Dunedin statue was unveiled in 1887.
[edit] Sophie Irene Loeb Drinking Fountain
[edit] Still Hunt
Sculptor: Edward Kemeys (1843-1907)
Date: 1881-1883; Placed in Park: 1883
Material: Bronze
Still Hunt, a crouching panther waiting to pounce, was created by Edward Kemeys, the famous American sculptor who also created the famous Hudson Bay wolves at the Philadephia Zoo, and lions at the entrance to the Art Institute of Chicago.
Situated on a rock outcrop on the west side of the East Drive at the edge of the Ramble, the crouching animal has scared many joggers as they approach this life-size and realistic representation. Unlike the traditional sculptures of other animals in the Park that sit on a base or pedestal, Kemeys situated his animal directly atop the ledge of the rock. Kemeys was so interested in depicting his animals in a realistic mode that he traveled to the western states to see them in their native habitat.
[edit] The Falconer
[edit] Tigress and Cubs
