Exhibition dates: May 15 – September 28, 2003
Exhibition location: The Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of
This summer, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the legislation (July 21, 1853) that designated as "a public place" the lands that were to become New York's Central Park, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present an exhibition about the design and construction of the park. The Metropolitan Museum has been located in Central Park since 1880.
Central Park: A Sesquicentennial Celebration will feature the original presentation plans and drawings by Calvert Vaux (1824-1895) and Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) for their "Greensward" plan, which won the 1858 competition to design the park. A selection of working drawings and contemporary photographs will illustrate the actual construction of the park according to Vaux and Olmsted's design. In addition to works in the Museum's collection, there will be numerous loans, most notably from the New York City Municipal Archives, the City of New York/Parks and Recreation, and The New-York Historical Society.
The exhibition is made possible by Alamo Rent A Car, Inc.
The exhibition has been organized in conjunction with the Central Park Conservancy.
The exhibition—which includes maps, drawings, watercolors, historical photographs, and
books—will be arranged thematically. The introductory section will feature a number of
early topographical maps that show the area in which the park would one day be built. Among the highlights are the 1836 Topographical Map of the City and County of New York and the Adjacent Country, published by J.H. Colton (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) and the magnificent, but little-known 1855 drainage plan for the Park by Egbert Ludovicus Viele (New York City Municipal Archives).
From historical records, it is known that thirty-three designs for what was to become Central Park were submitted to the competition of 1858. Barely a handful of the entries are extant today, and most of the known examples have been gathered for this showing. Among them are two works that have not been on public display since the competition—a submission by Samuel J. Gustin (Central Park Conservancy) and the recently discovered, beautifully executed design by John Rink (Private Collection).
A monumental 1858 pen-and-ink drawing of Vaux and Olmsted's winning design—the "Greensward Plan" (City of New York/Parks and Recreation)—will be shown along with ten presentation boards (New York City Municipal Archives). Each board juxtaposes "before" and "after" views of various sites, presenting an image of the actual topography side by side with a delicately rendered vision of its future.
Central Park took shape quickly and—at the peak of activity—nearly 4000 people were employed in the project. The rapid progression from design to reality will be shown in a series of plans and sections from selected issues of the Annual Reports of the Board of Commissioners of the Central Park (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Presentation and working drawings by Calvert Vaux and by the brilliant ornamentalist Jacob Wrey Mould (1825-1886) for some of Central Park's bridges and buildings also will be shown, with special emphasis on drawings for Bethesda Terrace and Belvedere Castle (New York City Municipal Archives). The exhibition will also include several
books, such as Fred Perkins's 1864 The Central Park and a volume from 1866, titled Designs for the Gateways of the Southern Entrances to the Central Park, that shows proposals by Richard Morris Hunt (1827-1895) for formal entrances that were never built (The New-York Historical Society).
The earliest era of photography will be represented by selections from a photograph album of the work of the pioneering French photographer Victor Prevost (1820-1881), active in the United States in the 1850s and 1860s (The New York Public Library). In addition, a number of rare stereograph views—some of which will be mounted in stereo viewers—will allow visitors to see Central Park through 19th-century eyes (Collection of Herbert Mitchell).
A subscription lecture by Morrison Heckscher has been organized for Wednesday, May 14, at 6:00 p.m. in the Museum's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium.
The Web site of the Metropolitan Museum (www.metmuseum.org) will feature the exhibition.
The exhibition was organized by Morrison H. Heckscher, the Lawrence A. Fleischman Chairman of The American Wing. Conservation work was carried out by Margaret Lawson, Associate Conservator in the Department of Paper Conservation. Exhibition design is by Jeremiah Gallay, Design Assistant; graphics are by Constance Norkin, Graphic Designer; and lighting is by Zack Zanolli, Lighting Designer, all of the Museum's Design Department.
The Metropolitan Museum's presentation of Central Park: A Sesquicentennial Celebration coincides with the 150th Anniversary of Central Park, a yearlong, citywide observance that is being organized by the Central Park Conservancy.
To mark the anniversary, Central Park, An American Masterpiece, by Sara Cedar Miller has been published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in conjunction with the Central Park Conservancy. The book will be available in the Museum's Book Shops for $45.
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