Marking Women’s History Month

March is Women’s History Month, and there’s no more appropriate place to mark these occasions than Bryant Park. In a city known for its dearth of monuments dedicated to women, Bryant Park stands out by having two such pieces of public art.

The Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain at the western end of the park was, indeed, the first monument in NYC to be dedicated to a woman when it was installed in 1912. Designed by Charles Adam Platt, the fountain honors Ms. Lowell for her work as a social worker and founder of the Charity Works Organization.

Over on the Upper Terrace is a bust of legendary writer Gertrude Stein, created from a bust sculpted by Jo Davidson in 1923. The original is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, and ours was placed in the park in 1992.