New York City Parks. Madison Square Park, to be specific, is one of my favorites. It’s close to my apartment, so I frequent it. I always walk past the statue pictured and never knew what it was. After doing some research, I found it to be of William Steward; and it was the first statue of a man ever in New York City. Who would have known?
Created and sculpted by the artist Randolph Rogers, this bronze statue was dedicated in the year 1876. Steward grew up a law student, and went on to become the Mayor of New York, dabbled in the “art of being a lawyer” (focusing on law suit and patent cases), followed by a four year term in Congress, serving as a Senator. Some of his most famous cases involved arguing for freedom of the press.
Now I’ve been doing a lot of reading into Clement Greenberg’s essay on the American Avant-Garde lately; and he has some interesting insight to the aesthetics that apply specifically to sculptures and statues. He says, “…by painting and sculpture…both [mediums] could attempt to reproduce the effects of literature.”
Now I’m no expert, but I think it is quite interesting that Steward was heavily involved in law that was centrally focused on defending literature; and its freedom. More ironic than anything, that an artist like Rogers could express that through the sculpture/statue itself. Something to think about.
urbanlenses 
Madison Square Park & Statue of William Steward
New York City Parks. Madison Square Park, to be specific, is one of my favorites. It’s close to my apartment, so I frequent it. I always walk past the statue pictured and never knew what it was. After doing some research, I found it to be of William Steward; and it was the first statue of a man ever in New York City. Who would have known?
Created and sculpted by the artist Randolph Rogers, this bronze statue was dedicated in the year 1876. Steward grew up a law student, and went on to become the Mayor of New York, dabbled in the “art of being a lawyer” (focusing on law suit and patent cases), followed by a four year term in Congress, serving as a Senator. Some of his most famous cases involved arguing for freedom of the press.
Now I’ve been doing a lot of reading into Clement Greenberg’s essay on the American Avant-Garde lately; and he has some interesting insight to the aesthetics that apply specifically to sculptures and statues. He says, “…by painting and sculpture…both [mediums] could attempt to reproduce the effects of literature.”
Now I’m no expert, but I think it is quite interesting that Steward was heavily involved in law that was centrally focused on defending literature; and its freedom. More ironic than anything, that an artist like Rogers could express that through the sculpture/statue itself. Something to think about.