Washington at Valley Forge Memorial Restoration – Brooklyn NY

City:
Brooklyn, New York City, NY

Site Type:
Civic Facilities, Art Works, Archaeology and History, Monuments and Memorials, Sculptures, Historical Restoration

New Deal Agencies:
Works Progress Administration (WPA), Arts Programs, Work Relief Programs, Public Works of Art Project (PWAP)

Artist:
Henry Merwin Shrady

Quality of Information:
Very Good

Marked:
No

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

The Washington at Valley Forge memorial is an equestrian statue of George Washington   (1732–1799), Commander in Chief and first President of the United States (1789–97), sculpted by Henry Merwin Shrady in 1901.  It is the centerpiece of Brooklyn’s Continental Army Plaza.

In the 1930s, the memorial was restored with New Deal funding, initially from the Public Works of Art Project and later by the WPA.  The work was overseen by Karl Gruppe, chief sculptor of the Monument Restoration Project of the New York City Parks Department from 1934 to 1937.  The restoration work was filmed and can be found here.

The sculpture and pedestal underwent cleaning and conservation during a 1997 City renovation of the park.

Source notes

Wikipedia - Henry Shrady

NYC Parks - Continental Army Plaza

Parks Monuments Conservation Crew Vintage Film, NYC Parks Site

Lowrey, Carol. 2008. A Legacy of Art: Paintings and Sculptures by Artist Life Members of the National Arts Club.

NYC Parks - Cooper Triangle

Site originally submitted by Frank da Cruz on March 13, 2016.

Location Info


Continental Army Plaza
Brooklyn, NY 11211
New York County

Coordinates: 40.710553, -73.960455

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