Meet Me at the Plaza

Here again are photographs I took, this time of the Plaza Hotel, at the foot of Central Park, in New York.


Grand Army Plaza, Fifth Avenue between 58th and 60th Streets "gateway to Central Park"
In front of the Plaza Hotel

The "clouds" behind the monument are some kind of "contemporary installation." I tried to avoid them, but they're cleverly positioned so that all photographs have a view of them.

This piece of "art," competing for space and view with the grand sculpture, is by:

Olaf Breuning

[who's] photographs, videos, performances and installations play with codes of mass production with references to publicity, fashion and cinema and “high” and “low” art. Between fiction and reality, fairytales and triviality, nightmare and bad jokes, the artist immerses his viewers decidedly into a pop and kitsch culture which is constantly being revisited. His works, made up by quotations, collages, and sampling are highly built. Often hyper-aestheticized, they work as "script-machines" reminiscent of special effects from the film industry. The artist frequently holds up a distorting mirror to his viewer, posing several questions of critique and play.
Olaf Breuning was born in 1970 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. He lives and works in New York and Zurich. [Source]

My, my: codes, "high" and "low" art, from fiction to reality...Such grand ambitions for cardboard cut-outs of cloud shapes!

And about Kadist Art Foundation, which represents Breuning:

Kadist Art Foundation encourages the contribution of the arts to society, conducting programs primarily with artists represented in its collection to promote their role as cultural agents.

Artists as cultural agents!

Such is the fate of cities these days. Look at these "installations" on Park Avenue, recently subjected to a documentary film: Paley on Park Avenue: New York City, and funded by important cultural institutions:

In October 2013, the Peabody Award-winning series Craft in America, airing nationally on PBS, will feature Paley as their final Forge artist in Season 5. In the series, Forge artists reveal in their own words what makes their work – and the lives they lead – unique. [Source]

I feel sorry for New Yorkers.

Back to the Grand Army Plaza, and the beautiful Plaza Hotel (photos are below).

The bronze statue, regilded by the Conservancy in 2013,
depicts Union General William Tecumseh Sherman by American artist
Augustus Saint Gaudens. When the Civil War ended, Sherman moved to
New York City and rode his horse and carriage through Central Park daily. [Source]

The female statue is:

"Victory", her one hand holding a palm frond and the
other pointing the way forward. [Source]

Pomona, Roman goddess of orchards

The fountain is topped by the bronze allegorical figure Pomona,
the goddess of abundance, who is seen holding a basket of fruit.
Sculptor Bitter died in a car accident while working on the figure
and it was completed by his assistant, future Parks monuments
conservator Karl Gruppe and also Isidore Konti.
The fountain was dedicated in 1916. [Source]

Entrance to the Plaza Hotel, on 5th Avenue and 59th Street

The French Renaissance château-style building was
designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh and opened
to the public October 1, 1907. [Source]

Portrait of Eloise, painted by Hilary Knight, ca. 1956

Ever since the original Eloise book,
“Eloise: A Book for Precocious Grownups,”
was published in 1955 by Simon and Schuster,
Eloise’s spirit has imbued the halls of the Plaza,
the hotel where the fictional character roamed and
the real author, Kay Thompson, lived.
(In 1998, the Plaza was deemed a literary landmark
for its role in the series.) [Source]

Mosaic floor tiles in the lobby


Mosaic floor tiles in the lobby


Floral carpet in the Palm Court


Gold chairs in the Palm Court


Palm leaves and marble


Marble caryatids representing the Four Season

Most guide books describe these figures as "caryatids." [Source]
But that is technically incorrect, since
Caryatid is the name given to an architectural column
which takes the form of a standing female figure.

At least two of these figures are clearly male
(one old and one young)

Stained glass ceiling in the Palm Court

More on the architectural and cultural history of the Plaza here.

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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