Grand Central Terminal art

Grand Central Terminal, one of the main railroad stations in New York City, features public art by a variety of artists. Through its status as a transportation and architectural icon, the terminal has also been depicted in many works of art.
Grand Central features permanent works of art, including the celestial ceiling in the Main Concourse, the Glory of Commerce work and the statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt in front of the building's south facade, and the two cast-iron eagle statues adorning the terminal's facades. As well, Vanderbilt Hall is regularly used for temporary art exhibitions and events. The Dining Concourse has a series of lightboxes also used to display temporary art exhibits. The terminal is also known for its performance and installation art, including flash mobs and other spontaneous events.
The Glory of Commerce sculptural group rests atop the terminal's facade, directly above a broken pediment featuring a large clock. The work is also known as Progress with Mental and Physical Force or Transportation. It is about 48 feet (15 m) tall, 66 feet (20 m) wide, and weighs about 1,500 short tons (1,400 t). At its unveiling in 1914, the work was considered the largest sculptural group in the world.
The work includes representations of Minerva, Hercules, and Mercury. The sculptures were designed by French sculptor Jules-Félix Coutan and carved by the John Donnelly Company. Coutan created the model in his Paris studio and shipped it to New York City later.
Mercury is standing at the top center of the work, depicted traditionally with a caduceus and wearing a winged helmet, with loose drapery concealing otherwise complete nudity. He is standing in a contrapposto pose in front of an eagle, wings outstretched, peering around his right leg. Two other gods are depicted to Mercury's left and right: the male figure to his right is typically and officially deemed to be Hercules, though he lacks the god's characteristic club and lionskin. Instead, the god is depicted among an anchor, cogwheel, anvil and hammer, a beehive, grapes, wheat ears and a sickle. Many of these are symbols of Vulcan, who is depicted with Minerva and Mercury in other works. He is also nearly naked, staring at Mercury above him. The female figure, Minerva, is resting her head on her left arm, looking down at a roll of parchment on her lap. She is depicted among a globe, a measuring compass, volumes of books and thick wreaths of laurel.
The work is seen as attempting to fulfill several goals: portraying the terminal itself as a new technology, representing the Vanderbilt family, and serving as an artistic piece to parallel European art and architecture of the time.
There is a 13-foot-wide (4.0 m) clock on top of the south facade. It was installed in 1914 by the Self Winding Clock Company. The clock face has decorative stained glass framed in bronze, with cast-iron clock hands, the latter weighing 340 lbs. The center of the clock features a circular panel with a sunburst design. The glass work also features twelve Roman numerals to designate the time; its numeral "IIII" is traditional for clock faces displaying the number four, instead of the more common "IV". The numeral "VI", on the bottom of the clock, hides a flap that is used for maintenance. The clock mechanics are accessed via several ladders, reached from a door in the Operations Control Center. Access requires security clearance, limiting the number of visitors; these select few traditionally write their names on the clock room walls in permanent markers.
The clock has a "Tiffany-style" design. Despite modern sources describing the clock as a work of Tiffany Studios or Tiffany & Co., the work is unsigned, and the latter company could not confirm the claim. Most sources that describe the clock in detail do not label it a Tiffany piece, and books published by the Tiffany companies make no mention of the clock. Tiffany Studios was employed to create metalwork for the terminal in the 1900s, though clockwork and glass were attributed to numerous other contractors.
A statue of Cornelius Vanderbilt, longtime owner of the New York Central, stands at the center of the terminal's south facade, directly below its clock and facing the Park Avenue Viaduct. The work was sculpted by Ernst Plassmann, and is of bronze, 8.5 feet (2.6 m) tall and weighing 4 tons, with a 9-foot-tall granite pedestal. It depicts Vanderbilt bareheaded and in his commonly-seen winter clothes, including a heavy double-breasted and fur-trimmed overcoat. He is posed in a noble way, described as Jeffersonian, with one hand on his chest and another outstretched. It was the largest bronze statue cast in the United States at the time.
The statue was created as part of a bronze bas-relief on the facade of the Hudson River Railroad depot at St. John's Park in the present-day neighborhood of Tribeca. The bas-relief was 150-foot (46 m) long and depicted various components of Vanderbilt's life, including his steamships and trains. The relief and statue were generally designed by Albert De Groot, a steamship captain under Vanderbilt, though they were sculpted by Plassmann.
Unveiled and dedicated in November 1869, the works received much criticism from newspapers and other writers; the New York Times said such a tribute ought to include "the dismembered bodies of men, women and children" killed in the New York Central's open railyards to the north.
This criticism may have convinced Vanderbilt to abandon his plans for another statue of himself, to have been installed at Grand Central Depot, which was built in 1871. The planned statue was to have been part of a grouping designed by De Groot with a sailor at one side and Native American at the other.
In 1929, Plassmann's statue was moved to Grand Central Terminal. Once again, it received criticism in the press.
Grand Central Terminal has two cast-iron eagle statues on display. The eagles weigh about 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) each, have a wingspan of about 13 feet (4.0 m), and are perched on stone spheres.
They are two of the 11 or 12 eagle statues that ornamented the terminal's predecessor, Grand Central Station. In 1910, when the station was demolished to build Grand Central Terminal, the eagles were dispersed throughout the city and New York state. By 1913, two were at the Philipse Manor station in Sleepy Hollow, New York, one was on the lawn of a wealthy resident of Mount Vernon, and the rest were on other estates, purchased from wreckers or taken from those with influence over the railroads.
The two eagles that sit atop the terminal were donated to the MTA around the turn of the 21st century. One had stood for years in a backyard in Bronxville, New York; in 1999, it was placed atop the Lexington Avenue entrance to Grand Central Market. The other was at a monastery in Garrison, New York (the present-day Garrison Institute), and was installed in 2004 at the terminal's southwest entrance by Vanderbilt Avenue and 42nd Street.
Eight identical eagle statues are elsewhere, including one at a private home in Kings Point, New York; one at the Space Farms Zoo and Museum in Beemerville, New Jersey; two at the Vanderbilt Museum in Long Island; one, known as the "Shandaken Eagle", in Phoenicia, New York; two at Saint Basil Academy in Garrison; and one at the Philipse Manor station in Sleepy Hollow. One or two of Grand Central Station's eagles remain lost.
New York City's former Penn Station was adorned with 22 eagle sculptures, many of which were similarly dispersed across the United States after the building's demolition.
The Main Concourse's ceiling is an elliptical barrel vault. A false ceiling of square boards, installed in 1944, bears an elaborate celestial mural painted with more than 2,500 stars and several bands in gold set against a turquoise backdrop. This ceiling covers the original 1913 version, which had degraded because of water damage.
Original plans called for the ceiling to contain a skylight, but money and time ran out. Instead, a mural was painted directly on the ceiling. It was conceived in 1912 by architect Warren and painter Paul César Helleu. The latter, who had come to the United States for a three-month stay to create portraits of eight women for a Parisian magazine, sketched a conceptual design for Warren. Helleu worked from a chart given by Columbia University astronomy professor Harold Jacoby, who had derived it from the Uranometria, a scientifically accurate star atlas published in 1603. The mural was painted in 1913 by James Monroe Hewlett and Charles Basing of Hewlett-Basing Studio. They were assisted in the design by Helleu and multiple astronomers, and in the painting by more than 50 painting assistants. Around 63 electric bulbs were installed to amplify the visual impact of the stars. The depicted constellations include those of the winter zodiac viewable from January to June, from Aquarius to Cancer. Also depicted are Pegasus, Triangulum Majus and Minus, Musca Borealis, and Orion, as well as two broad gold bands spanning the ceiling, representing the ecliptic and the equator. Triangulum Minus (not present on the original mural, but added in 1944) and Musca Borealis are the only constellations not taken from the Uranometria.
By the 1920s, the roof began to leak, damaging the mural with water and mold. Over the next two decades, the mural "faded to a hue something like that of a khaki shirt overdosed with Navy blue". In August 1944, New York Central covered the original ceiling with 4-by-8-foot cement-and-asbestos boards and painted them in a facsimile of the original mural. Unveiled in June 1945, the new mural contained less astronomical detail; it also lacked light bulbs to mimic stars. The boards' outlines remain visible today.
By the 1980s, the new ceiling was obscured by decades of grime. The dirt buildup was sometimes reported to be tar and nicotine from tobacco smoke, or diesel or coal soot from the trains in the terminal's train shed (though trains have utilized electric power in Manhattan since 1908). Spectroscopic examination revealed that it was made up of air pollutants from trucks and cars as well as soot and contaminants from incinerators and factories. As a general renovation of the terminal got underway, historians and preservationists called for the 1944 boards to be removed and the original ceiling mural restored. But Beyer Blinder Belle, the architecture firm that led the renovation, deemed the original mural irreversibly damaged and noted that the asbestos-laden boards would be hazardous to remove. So, starting in September 1996, the ceiling boards were cleaned and repainted. Lights were installed into the ceiling boards to imitate the stars, restoring a feature previously only seen from 1913 to 1944. A single dark patch near the crab constellation (representing Cancer) was left untouched by renovators to remind visitors of the grime that once covered the ceiling.
The ceiling bears a small dark circle amid the stars above the image of Pisces. In a 1957 attempt to improve public morale after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, an American Redstone missile was set up in the Main Concourse. With no other way to erect the missile, a hole was cut into the 1944 false ceiling to allow a cable to be lowered to lift the rocket into place. Historical preservation dictated that this hole remain as a reminder of the many uses of the Terminal over the years.
The starry ceiling contains several astronomical inaccuracies. The entire artwork is reversed left-to-right from the Uranometria and the night sky, except for the Orion constellation. There are various explanations that are often given for this error. One possible explanation is that the overall ceiling design might have been based on the medieval custom of depicting the sky as it would appear to God looking in at the celestial sphere from outside, but that would have reversed Orion as well. A more likely explanation is partially mistaken transcription of the sketch supplied by Harold Jacoby, the explanation Jacoby gave when the issue was brought to him. Jacoby surmised that Basing had placed the sketch at his feet, rather than holding it up toward the ceiling, when copying its details. Though the astronomical inconsistencies were noticed promptly by a commuter within a month of the station's opening, they have not been corrected in any of the subsequent renovations of the ceiling. Postcards printed before the terminal's opening show the ceiling artwork correctly.
The Graybar Passage extends from the northeast corner of the Main Concourse, underneath the Graybar Building, directly east to Lexington Avenue. The ceiling is composed of seven groin vaults, each of which has an ornamental bronze chandelier. One of the vaults features a mural depicting American transportation. The work was painted in 1927 by muralist Edward Trumbull. The first two vaults viewed from leaving Grand Central featured cumulus clouds, while the third remains, featuring technologies that had significantly affected the world. These include a train pulled by an electric locomotive, a bridge resembling the original design of the city's High Bridge, the construction of a skyscraper, the manufacturing of steel, and several airplanes (including the Spirit of St. Louis) along with a searchlight and radio tower. The mural has a caramel color; the once-bright colors present have faded over time. Originally, every vault in the passage ceiling was to be painted similarly to the existing work, though project funding fell short during the Great Depression.
Sirshasana, an aluminum and polyester resin sculpture with crystals, was created by Donald Lipski in 1998. The sculpture hangs from the ceiling of Grand Central Market just inside its 43rd Street entrance. The chandelier has the shape of an olive tree, with branches spanning 25 feet and featuring 5,000 crystal pendants. The base of the tree is finished in gold and crystals, in place of olives. The sculpture is named after a headstand posture in yoga: the inverted tree. The work alludes to Grand Central's decorative chandeliers, and is a "comment on the allure of the exotic and tempting wares sold in the marketplace".
As Above, So Below, a work of glass, bronze, and mosaic in several Grand Central North passageways, was made by Brooklyn-based artist Ellen Driscoll in 1998. The mosaic's five scenes, each stemming from a different continent, depict myths and legends about the heavens that reflect life on Earth. The work reminds passengers of humanity's spiritual and worldly past. Like the terminal's astronomical ceiling, it symbolizes the connection to the wider world and heavens.
A Field of Wild Flowers, a mural on the walls of the Station Master's Office, was made by Roberto Juarez in 1997. The work uses many materials to give texture, strength, and beauty. Layers include gesso, under-painting, urethane, and varnish, along with rice paper and a dusting of peat moss. It depicts a bountiful garden landscape as viewed though windows of a slow-moving train. It repeats some of Grand Central's architectural details, including fruit, acorns, and garlands.
In the Grand Central Theatre or Terminal Newsreel Theatre, now one of the retail areas of the Graybar Passage and currently the alcohol vendor Central Cellars, the movie theater lobby had walls covered with large world maps and an astronomical mural painted by Tony Sarg. The theater opened in 1937 and operated for about 30 years before being gutted for retail space. A renovation in the early 2000s removed a false ceiling, revealing the theater's astronomical mural (similar in colors and style to the Main Concourse ceiling) and projection window.
The Dining Concourse has 16 lightboxes that form a quadriptych. MTA Arts & Design maintains a rotating art exhibition in the space. The first non-photographic exhibit in the space was On Paper/ Grand Central at 100, which was created for the terminal's centennial and was displayed from September 2013 to September 2014. It featured four works by contemporary and international paper cut artists: Thomas Witte's Cutting Shadows, Xin Song's Time · Light · Gate · Clock, Laura Cooperman's Overhead, and Rob Ryans' There Is Only Time. The works use themes from Grand Central's architecture and grandeur, and family memories.
As of 2019, the space features "Landmark City", a photographic exhibit by Marc Yankus. The exhibit shows New York City landmarks, altered to appear on empty streets.
Grand Central Terminal has held a number of special exhibits, including:
The Main Concourse and Vanderbilt Hall frequently host special exhibits and events. These include:
The terminal hosts numerous performances. It is also a host site for Music Under New York, where musicians can perform within various transit hubs controlled by the MTA. In Grand Central, artists can perform in the Graybar Passage as well as in the Dining Concourse, opposite Tracks 105 and 106. Auditions for the program take place each spring in the terminal's Vanderbilt Hall.
Beginning during the Christmas season of 1928 and continuing on certain holidays until 1958, an organist performed in Grand Central's North Gallery. The organist was Mary Lee Read, who initially performed on a borrowed Hammond organ. Grand Central management eventually bought an organ and a set of chimes for the station and began paying Read an annual retainer. In addition to the weeks before Christmas, Read played during the weeks before Thanksgiving and Easter and on Mother's Day. On one Easter, a choir composed of Works Progress Administration employees performed with her. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, she attempted to lift spirits by playing "The Star-Spangled Banner", which brought the main concourse to a standstill. The stationmaster subsequently asked her to avoid selections that would cause passengers to miss their trains, and Read became known as the only organist in New York who was forbidden to play the United States' national anthem.
In 2018, Paul McCartney gave a private concert in the terminal on the premiere date of his new album Egypt Station, with guests including Jon Bon Jovi, Meryl Streep, Amy Schumer, Kate Moss and Steve Buscemi. In February 2020, South Korean pop group BTS staged a live performance of their song, "ON", at the Main Concourse.
Grand Central is one of the most-photographed places in New York City and the United States. A 2009 Cornell University study mapping out geotagged photos worldwide indicated the building was the fourth most photographed in New York City.
One of the most famous photographs of the terminal shows light streaming from Main Concourse windows down to the floor. The work is reproduced online through hundreds of different images, with variations in angles, cropping, flipping, filters, and watermarks, as well as the author and date attributed to the works. Photographer Penelope Umbrico collected a sample of such images in Four Photographs of Rays of Sunlight in Grand Central, on display in the terminal's Dining Concourse.
Paintings depicting Grand Central include: