Design

The Public Art of Robert Moses’s New York

The master builder’s art patronage through the 1950s was representative of the city’s relative indifference to civic statuary and monuments. The 1964 World’s Fair revealed a transition in attitudes.

As President of the 1964 World's Fair, Moses prioritized saving money for the post-Fair transformation of Flushing Meadows into a park. Architectural sculpture was no longer crucial for articulating a larger meaning for the international event..Hans Von Nolde/AP

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By Michele Bogart

August 17, 2018 at 1:00 PM UTC

Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted from Michele Bogart’s Sculpture in Gotham: Art and Urban Renewal in New York City. The author will be discussing her book with CityLab Senior Associate Editor Mark Byrnes at the New York Public Library on 42nd Street on Monday, August 20 at 6:30 p.m.

Public sculpture in post-World War II New York City was rather fallow terrain.