[PHOTO] Gertrude Stein in Bryant Park

[rfmcdonald]

On my first day in New York City, my cousin took me and a friend of his on a brief tour of New York City that included Bryant Park, located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and between 40th and 42nd Streets and hosting the impressive main building of the New York Public Library. This statue of American modernist writer Gertrude Stein stuck out: apparently one of five statues on the Bryant Park grounds, this struck us as particularly lifelike. The Bryant Park Blog notes the background to the statue's casting and location.

[This statue] is one of ten made from a cast by friend and sculptor Jo Davidson in Paris, in 1922, and possibly the only one displayed outdoors year-round. Davidson had a long list of commissioned busts, including Charlie Chaplin, Hellen Keller, and Frank Sinatra. [. . .]

Stein was connected to the ex-pat art and literary scene of the times, coining the term "lost generation," later used by Hemingway to refer to that generation of authors: "You are all a lost generation," epigraph [in] The Sun Also Rises. Though most well-known for her writing and personal relationships, Stein, along with several members of her family, amassed an impressive art collection, on display at the Grand Palais now until mid-January.Time to use up those miles!

The Bryant Park statue was donated by Dr. Maury Leibovitz, psychologist and art dealer, and unveiled in a small ceremony on November 5, 1992. In addition to the sculpture, Mr. Leibovitz owned an estate formerly belonging to Jo Davidson. Davidson has another Bryant Park connection -- for a time, he worked out of a studio at the Bryant Park Studios, on the corner of 40th Street and Sixth Avenue. So it's fitting that she found a home in the park.

From this angle, Davidson's bust looked particularly lifelike.