Pulitzer Fountain
| Pulitzer Fountain | |
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The fountain and sculpture in 2014
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 Pulitzer Fountain
Location in New York City
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| Artist |
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| Year | 1916 |
| Type |
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| Medium |
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| Subject | Pomona |
| Dimensions | 6.7 m (22 ft) |
| Location | New York City, New York, United States |
| 40°45′51″N 73°58′25″W / 40.76403°N 73.97361°WCoordinates: 40°45′51″N 73°58′25″W / 40.76403°N 73.97361°W | |
Pulitzer Fountain is an outdoor fountain located in Manhattan's Grand Army Plaza in New York. The fountain is named after newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer who died in 1911 having bequeathed $50,000 for the creation of the fountain. Pulitzer intended his fountain to be "like those in the Place de la Concorde, Paris, France." The fountain was designed by the architect Thomas Hastings, and crowned by a statue conceived by the sculptor Karl Bitter. The fountain was dedicated in May 1916.
In December 1912, the executors of the estate of Joseph Pulitzer announced that New York City had approved the fountain's proposed location, in the plaza between 58th Street and 60th Street, just east of Fifth Avenue, the same plaza where the equestrian Sherman Monument stood since 1903. The executors invited five architecture firms to participate in a competition to determine the fountain's design, and to provide designs for a "good architectural treatment of the whole plaza." In January 1913, the five schemes were exhibited at the New York Public Library, including the winning scheme, designed by Carrère and Hastings. Architect Thomas Hasting's design placed the fountain in the southern half of the plaza, whereas the Sherman Monument remained in the northern half (but moved fifteen feet west to be symmetrically opposite the fountain). Hasting's design for the fountain included a "symbolical figure-the exact symbolism not yet having been decided upon." Construction began in 1915, and by November one newspaper reported: "The Pulitzer Fountain...is now finished and bubbling with the purest Croton water," noting that work on the northern portion of the plaza was delayed by subway construction.
In the executed design, Karl Bitter's allegorical bronze statue Pomona depicts the goddess of abundance holding a basket of fruit. The model was Doris Doscher. Because Bitter died on April 9, 1915, having just completed the plaster cast of the figure, Hastings and Bitter's widow selected Isidore Konti to complete the statue. Konti began work in the fall of 1915, and the statue was cast in April 1916.The statue was installed on (or about) May 1, 1916, "with little or no ceremony."
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Wikipedia