bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

Gutzon Borglum John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Mountain in Georg ...

New Jersey Performing Arts Center The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Home to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), more than nine million visitors ...

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area. It was listed on the

New Jersey Register of Historic Places The New Jersey Register of Historic Places is the official list of historic resources of local, state, and national interest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The program is administered by the New Jersey's state historic preservation office within ...

in 1990 and the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1994 as part of the Public Sculpture in Newark, New Jersey Multiple Property Submission.

Description and original location

First Landing Party of the Founders of Newark, inscription

This piece is one of several erected across the United States by

Mount Rushmore Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a national memorial centered on a colossal sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore ( Lakota: ''Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe'', or Six Grandfathers) in the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dako ...

sculptor Gutzon Borglum in his quest to institute "art that is real and American". The work commemorates the Connecticut Puritans who established the city in 1666. It is marble

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

with a relief of two male Pilgrims in conversation overlooking a well or spring; above that is a narrow frieze that is a series of images representing Pilgrims in daily life. The stele rests in the center of a flat rectangular stone base, at the foot of which is a fountain basin. The back of the stele is engraved with the names of Newark's founders. The sculpture is tall and weighs . The monument is alternatively known as the ''Pilgrim Drinking Fountain'' and the ''Bridge Memorial''. It marks the spot where the

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...

and an early road converged, which became the site of the original colonial market. The ''First Landing Party of the Founders of Newark'' was originally located in Landing Place Park, at the foot of Saybrook Place near the Park Place station of the

Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owned sub ...

.

Newark works by Borglum and historic designation

''First Landing Party of the Founders of Newark'' is one of four

public art Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically acces ...

works created by Mt.Rushmore sculptor

Gutzon Borglum John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (March 25, 1867 – March 6, 1941) was an American sculptor best known for his work on Mount Rushmore. He is also associated with various other public works of art across the U.S., including Stone Mountain in Georg ...

that are located in Newark, the others being '' Seated Lincoln'' (1911), '' Indian and the Puritan'' (1916), and '' Wars of America'' (1926). The three other pieces were added to the

New Jersey Register of Historic Places The New Jersey Register of Historic Places is the official list of historic resources of local, state, and national interest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The program is administered by the New Jersey's state historic preservation office within ...

on September 13, 1994, and the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on October 28, 1994, as part of a

Multiple Property Submission The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

, "The Public Sculpture of John de la Mothe Gutzon Borglum, 1911–1926".

Misplacement and restoration

The sculpture went missing for more than a decade. When the

New Jersey Performing Arts Center The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Home to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), more than nine million visitors ...

(NJPAC) was being built in the 1990s Saybrook Place was eliminated and the statue was moved two blocks north to Lombardy Park. When the

Newark Light Rail The Newark Light Rail (NLR) is a light rail system serving Newark, New Jersey and surrounding areas, operated by New Jersey Transit Bus Operations. The service consists of two segments, the original Newark City Subway (NCS), and the extension t ...

was constructed in 2002 it was moved again. The circumstances are unclear, but it was brought to a lot at the city's Division of Traffic and Signals, where it was all but forgotten. Interest was aroused in anticipation of Newark's 350th anniversary of its founding. Restoration was funded by the Essex County Board of Freeholders, the Open Space Trust Fund, the Hyde & Watson Foundation, and individual donors. It was rededicated in 2016 on a grassy knoll near the NJPAC/Center Street station of the Newark Light Rail.

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Public art in Newark, New Jersey Monuments and memorials in New Jersey Stone sculptures in New Jersey 1916 sculptures Tourist attractions in Newark, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Newark, New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places Sculptures by Gutzon Borglum Culture of Newark, New Jersey

Description and original location

Newark works by Borglum and historic designation

Misplacement and restoration

See also

References

External links