This is why I get up early…
To stand by something interesting, something liked, thought about, studied, drawn and photographed before. To get some time in the city essentially all alone, in a city where you are never alone. To capture something understood in a new way, a new take on the usual…
And this is why I love New York City. Moments like this.
The Fifth Avenue Building at 200 Fifth Avenue, or the Toy Center, built in 1909, presents on the street in front of itself this wonderful timepiece.
The building once held many toy manufacturers from the World War I era all the way into the 1980s. Recently the building went through a 21st Century renovation, even though the building has achieved landmark status which preserved the exterior, including the clock.
I imagine that the clock has seen many things. I took this photo around the height of rush hour. It stands at 5th Avenue, Broadway and 23rd Street, forming one of the busiest intersections in New York City… That’s many lives and many faces…
This time, something from an artist. Isamu Noguchi, one of my favorite, has five pieces in New York City, in addition to the Foundation and Museum that lives in Queens, NY. This one, the Red Cube is located on Broadway in the Financial District.
Noguchi was a sculptor, but also designed spaces, and worked with architects and their projects. This piece brings together both of those aspects. Noguchi contrasts the classic and modern architecture, their tones and detailing with his Red Cube, creating a spatial dynamic, challenging the straight lines of the sidewalk pavers, the window frames, the interior lighting grids, etc.
This is how I think that art and architecture can speak to people…
This is the left-most pedestal in front of the facade of the U.S Custom House. There are four in total, depicting the continents Africa, Europe and America. The famous American sculptor Daniel Chester French produced the pieces. And of course his most famous work is Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., so we are lucky to have these pieces in New York.
The building stands on the location of Fort Amsterdam, the original fort and center of the New Amsterdam settlement, the original settlement that became New York. I feel humbled to stand on that ground and think about the history and all that has passed.
The Custom House now has a few uses. It houses the National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center and the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
I love the contrast between the stone of the sculpture and the building itself, against the modern steel and glass behind in the shadows. And the facade is very dramatic at night, as streams of Wall Street bankers and lawyers pass through Bowling Green on their way home.