The earliest allegorical figures in NYC

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Allegorical figures represent abstract concepts such as Justice, Liberty, Fortune, Time, or Melancholy. Typically they’re identified by their pose and attributes. For example, a blindfolded woman with a scale and sword stands for Justice.

Such figures have a long history in art, but in mid-nineteenth-century New York City, they were rare. The only one seems to have been Justice atop City Hall, placed there when the building housed courts as well as bureaucratic offices. The version currently there dates to 1887.

The next allegorical figure – very prominently placed – was Angel of the Waters, which surmounts Bethesda Fountain. Dedicated in 1873, it was a reminder of the healthful waters brought to New York City by the Croton Aqueduct. It was created byf Emma Stebbins, who lived and worked in Italy.

Even more prominently placed was the Statue of Liberty, designed by Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi and gifted to the American people from the people of France. It was dedicated in 1886.

The Academie des Beaux Arts

The period from the 1850s to the 1880s saw a multitude of other subjects: military memorials (here and here), heroes of immigrants, politicians, Founding Fathers, businessmen, and figures in the arts. In the early 1890s, the typical subjects shifted dramatically. The reason goes back to developments in France.

As the best architecture school in the world, France’s Académie des Beaux-Arts attracted students from the rest of Europe and America. From the 1830s until the 1890s, the favored style at the Beaux Arts was an eclectic combination of Roman, Renaissance, and Baroque. Columns, round arches, pediments, and domes proliferated. To go with the architecture, architects commissioned timeless figures with classical drapery, usually of allegorical subjects.

Beaux Arts architecture in the United States

The first American to attend the Academie des Beaux Arts was Richard Morris Hunt, in the 1840s. By the 1870s, Hunt was one of America’s most prominent architects. He was a leading figure in the design of the buildings for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Twenty million came to admire the “White City”. For the next twenty-five years (until the end of World War I), the City Beautiful movement took hold in America. Its historical styles nudged aside aside the work of more idiosyncratic architects such as Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Sculpture for the City Beautiful movement

The City Beautiful movement led to some stunning outdoor sculpture. Much of New York’s best outdoor sculpture dates to this period. Here’s a selection of a dozen of the best.

1900: Hunt Memorial, by Daniel Chester French

This memorial to Richard Morris Hunt, America’s first and most famous Beaux Arts-trained architect, includes allegorical representations of Painting and Sculpture.

1901: Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch, Frederick MacMonnies

At the top of the Arch, a woman drives a quadriga, a four-horse chariot. She represents either Victory or Columbia (the United States). This is one of New York City’s many Civil War memorials.

1903: Alma Mater, Daniel Chester French

Education personified. More here.

1903: General William Tecumseh Sherman, by Saint Gaudens

Sherman’s horse is led by an allegorical figure of Victory. More here.

1907 The Continents, by French

These four over-life-size figures stand in front of the Customs House. Daniel Chester French did a helluva job with the symbolism. The cornice has figures representing major trading nations through history. See here and here.

1913 Maine Monument, by Piccirilli

This one has a complex allegorical program (more here, with comments on allegorical figures in general). On the top is a gilded figure of Columbia Triumphant, driving a chariot with seahorses. The group in front represents Courage, Peace, and Fortitude. The group at the back represents War, Justice, and History. On either side are figures representing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

1913 Firemen’s Memorial, by Piccirilli

Attilio Piccirilli created the moving figures on this memorial to New York’s fallen firemen. One one side, a woman in timeless classical dress grieves over the body of a fallen fireman. On the other end, she prepares to tell her son that his father has died. The only modern elements in these two groups are the thigh-high boots worn by the fireman on the one end and the fireman’s helmet and fire hydrant on the other end.

1914: Glory of Commerce at Grand Central Terminal, by Coutan

Mercury or Hermes represents travel, commerce, business and wealth. On Grand Central Terminal, he’s flanked by Hercules and Athena, representing physical and intellectual endeavors. More here and here.

1915: Straus Memorial, by Lukeman

This monument to Isidor and Ida Straus, who were lost on the Titanic, represents Memory. It’s one of my personal favorites among outdoor sculpture in New York City.

1916: Manhattan and Brooklyn, by French

For the west end of the Manhattan Bridge, Daniel Chester French created elegant allegorical figures of Manhattan and Brooklyn. They now stand in front of the Brooklyn Museum. More here.

1916-1918: Washington Arch, by MacNeil and Calder

The Washington Arch, dedicated in 1895, finally got sculptures of Washington in 1916 and 1918. Washington as Commander in Chief, flanked by Fame and Valor, is by Hermon MacNeil. Washington as a civilian, flanked by Wisdom and Justice, is by Alexander Stirling Calder.

Other allegorical sculptures, through 1918

• 1894 Bowery Savings Bank, by Frederick MacMonnies
• 1895 100 Broadway, by J. Massey Rhind
• 1895 Bell Ringers, by Antonin Jean Paul Carles
• 1896 Sculptures on the Appellate Court (Madison at 25th St.), by various artists
• 1896 Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Queens, by Frederick Wellington Ruckstull
• 1899 Caryatids on Park Row Building, by J. Massey Rhind
• 1900 Brooklyn Museum façade sculptures, by various artists
• 1907 Four Periods of Publicity on the Garrison Building, 20 Vesey St., by John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum
• 1907 New York in Infancy and New York in Revolutionary Times, plus other allegorical figures on Surrogates Court, by Philip Martiny and Henry Kirke Bush-Brown
• 1909 Woman’s Health Protective Association Fountain, by Bruno Louis Zimm
• 1912 Flagpole bases at New York Public Library, designed by Thomas Hastings, sculpted by Raffaele Menconi
• 1913 Attic sculptures of the New York Public Library, by Paul Weyland Bartlett
• 1914 Civic Fame, by Adolph Weinman
• 1914 Pediments of Frick Collection, by Phillip Martiny
• 1915 Major Clarence T. Barrett Memorial, by Sherry Edmundson Fry
• 1915 and 1925 Letters and Science, Columbia University, by Charles Keck
• 1915 Spirit of Industry and Spirit of Commerce, at west end of Manhattan Bridge, by Carl A. Heber
• 1916 Pulitzer Fountain, by Karl Bitter
• 1917 Four Elements on AT&T Building, by Paul Manship
• 1918 Queensboro Bridge Fountain, by Eli Harvey; architect Charles Stoughton, painter Edwin Blashfield

More

• For a summary of art and culture in the United States ca. 1890-1910, see Artist-Entrepreneurs: Saint Gaudens, MacMonnies, and Parrish.
• Mythological figures can be used as allegorical figures, for example, Hermes standing in for business on Grand Central Terminal. There are relatively few examples of purely mythological figures in New York. Among them are the Neptune Fountain in Staten Island, 1892, and Great God Pan at Columbia University. And of course there’s one of the earliest sculptures was saw in this history of outdoor sculpture in New York City: the Atlas at Tiffany’s.