Double Check

  • Date: 1982
  • Sculptor: J. Seward Johnson
  • Medium & size: Bronze (life-size), on metal bench (20 x 2.5 feet)
  • Location: Zuccotti Park (formerly called Liberty Plaza), on Liberty Street between Broadway and Church Street
J. Seward Johnson, Double Check, 1982. Zucotti Park, New York. Sculpture
copyright © 1982 J. Seward Johnson, used with permission. Photo copyright © 2019 Dianne L. Durante

As businessman

Double Check is by J. Seward Johnson, who’s famous for his extremely realistic sculptures of normal people living normal lives. Here a businessman checks his notes (on Merrill Lynch letterhead) before heading off to a meeting. In his dress and grooming he’s perfectly modern: it’s only the clunky calculator and tape recorder in the briefcase that date him.

This piece was loaned by Seward to Merrill Lynch and set up in 1982 in Liberty Park, just east of the World Trade Center.

As memorial

After September 11, 2001, Double Check became a makeshift memorial to the 3,000 who died when the Twin Towers fell. Seward made a cast of Double Check, welded to it casts of the tokens that had been left there (flowers, candles, notes), and used a gray patina to suggest the gray ash of 9/11. That piece (titled Makeshift Memorial) sits in Jersey City, facing the Financial District.


Above: Makeshift memorial, in Jersey City near the Exchange Place PATH station.
J. Seward Johnson, Double Check, 1982, copyright © 1982 J. Seward Johnson, used with permission. Photo copyright © 2019 Dianne L. Durante

The original Double Check was refurbished and now sits facing the site of the World Trade Center.

The Daytonian in Manhattan blog has an excellent article on Double Check, with a heartbreaking, eerie photo of it on 9/12/2001.

Other Seward sculptures in New York

  • The Right Light: an artist at work, 34th Street between Lexington and 3rd Avenue, in front of the Dumont Plaza Hotel.
  • Taxi! (1983), a businessman in a hurry, northwest corner of Park Avenue and East 47th St.
  • Out to Lunch (1977): originally on the west side of the former Exxon Building (Sixth Ave. between 49th and 50th Streets). I was told years ago that it would be back soon, but the boy reading the book seems to be on permanent leave.

More

  • Forgotten Delights: The Producers includes a discussion of how Seward’s work differs from that of George Segal, who also “sculpted” ordinary people. (You may be familiar with Segal’s Commuters in Port Authority.)
  • In Getting More Enjoyment from Sculpture You Love, I demonstrate a method for looking at sculptures in detail, in depth, and on your own. Learn to enjoy your favorite sculptures more, and find new favorites. Available on Amazon in print and Kindle formats. More here.
  • Want wonderful art delivered weekly to your inbox? Check out my free Sunday Recommendations list and rewards for recurring support: details here.