City Beautiful movement
Adam's sculpture of Bryant is of an authoritative, elderly man in a conventional business suit with a throw on Bryant’s lap suggesting he is a sedentary man, likely to retreat to his books and papers. He sits on an ancient Greek styled chair that recalls his love of the classics. The Bryant Memorial is an example of the legacy of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago which spurred the City Beautiful movement in New York. The City Beautiful Movement, includes many of New York’s grandest public buildings: the New York Public Library, the Customs House at Bowling Green, Pennsylvania Station and Grand Central Station.