Library underfoot

Art can be found anywhere  -     at home, in museums and galleries. We walk through New York City   looking at the buildings and monuments. We rarely look down. But in New York almost always a new discovery is waiting around a corner if  you only take the time to notice it.

 In New York, the wittiest, wisest ideas lie underfoot -- literally. All you have to do is look down. Twelve  years ago  in 2004,  96 plaques were installed in the pavement  of the  promenade along East 41st between Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue leading to the Central Library.


These plaques quote 45 writers  from 11 countries spanning 20 centuries. And each  quote is  illustrated with images inspired by the text.
When the Library Way project was first initiated, 41st Street from Fifth Avenue to the Park Avenue was a shadowy street that served as a delivery-entrance “backstage” to nearby 42nd Street. In the mid-1980s Midtown Manhattan property owners  created the Grand Central Partnership (GCP) . The organization works to ensure that the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood remains the world's most desirable business address and a vibrant destination for shopping, dining, nightlife and tourism.



In 1996, GCP, along with the New York Public Library and The New Yorker, convened a distinguished panel of literary experts and librarians to select quotations regarding the importance and impact of literature from some of literature’s most prominent works.
These quotes have been brought to life by urban sculptural artist Gregg LeFevre in beautiful bronze plaques.     Gregg LeFevre graduated cum laude from Boston University in 1969 with a B.A. in Philosophy.  He  completed his first public work in 1974.  



 He   creates sculpture in both New York and Massachusetts.  LeFevre with Jennifer Andrews   owns the New York-based Andrews/LeFevre Studios.
Similar Literary Walk that features a series of 49 bronze pieces  done by  Gregg LeFevre was set into the  sidewalk in Iowa in 2001.  The  works of  Jennifer Andrews and Gregg LeFevre can be found throughout the NYC including installations at Union Square, Foley Square, Herald and Greeley Squares, Brooklyn Bridge Park and Flushing Bay.















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