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{{Short description|Sculpture in Manhattan, New York, U.S.}}
[[File:Eleanor Roosevelt Monument - 2017-12-02 - Statue view from North.jpg|thumb|The bronze statue, granite boulder and footstone, sculpted by [[Penelope Jencks]]]]
The '''Eleanor Roosevelt Monument''' is a memorial located in [[New York City]]'s [[Riverside Park (Manhattan)|Riverside Park]], whose centerpiece is a statue of [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], said to be the first monument dedicated to an American president's wife.<ref name="nyt-1996-10-05"/> [[Hillary Clinton]] (First Lady at the time) gave the keynote address at the monument's October 1996 dedication.<ref name="nyt-1996-10-05">{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=October 5, 1996 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/05/nyregion/eleanor-roosevelt-honored-in-hometown-today.html |title=Eleanor Roosevelt Honored in Hometown Today |work=The New York Times |access-date=2019-03-13}}</ref>▼
The '''Eleanor Roosevelt Monument''' is located at the southeast corner of [[New York City]]'s [[Riverside Park (Manhattan)|Riverside Park]]. It was the first work of public art in New York City to be dedicated to an American woman and, according to the Eleanor Roosevelt Monument Fund, which provided much of the funding for the project, it was the first work of public art to be dedicated to an American president's wife. The
▲Thecenterpiece '''Eleanorof Rooseveltthe Monument'''monument is a memorial located in [[New York City]]'s [[Riverside Park (Manhattan)|Riverside Park]], whose centerpiece is abronze statue of [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], said to be the first monument dedicated to an American president's wife.<ref name="nyt-1996-10-05"/> [[Hillary Clinton]] (Firstthe Lady[[first lady]] at the time) gave the keynote address at the monument's dedication on October 19965, dedication1996.<ref name="nyt-1996-10-05">{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=October 5, 1996 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/05/nyregion/eleanor-roosevelt-honored-in-hometown-today.html |title=Eleanor Roosevelt Honored in Hometown Today |work=The New York Times |access-date=2019-03-13}}</ref>
 
==Design==
The landscape architects [[Bruce Kelly (landscape architect)|Bruce Kelly and David Varnell]] designed thea circular, treeelevated bed planted with oak trees as a setting for a bronze statue of Roosevelt leaning against a granite boulder, andboth sculpted by [[Penelope Jencks]]. sculptedThe thearchitect statue,[[Michael boulder,Middleton andDwyer|Michael footDwyer]] stone.designed Jenckstwo granite medallions, Whoset wasinto chosenthe bysurrounding bluestone paving (one inscribed with a nationwidequotation competition,from tooka four1958 yearsspeech toof completeRoosevelt's; the workother with a quotation from [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]]'s 1962 eulogy for her), accordingand toa Douglasbronze Martinplaque, writinglocated in the tree bed, summarizing her many achievements.<ref>Jean Parker Phifer, ''ThePublic Art New York Times'', because(New sheYork, "wasNY: determinedW.W. toNorton do& everything just soCo." Martin continued, 2009).</ref>
 
Jencks, who was chosen by a nationwide competition, took four years to complete the work. Douglas Martin, reporting for ''The New York Times'' in 1995, wrote that she took so long because she "was determined to do everything just so." According to Martin,
<blockquote>
The first step was finding the rock for Mrs. Roosevelt to lean on, a key feature of Ms. Jencks's award-winning design. That took months before she realized she would have to create the shape of the rock herself. Then, she fought to get the proportions of the body right, doing copious geometrical calculations. Solutions came more easily when she found the perfect model, at least for the upper body. (Other models were used for other parts.) It was Phoebe Roosevelt, Mrs. Roosevelt's great-granddaughter, who is 5 feet 11 inches tall, an inch shorter than Mrs. Roosevelt.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Douglas |title=Eleanor Roosevelt Honored in Hometown Today |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/05/nyregion/eleanor-roosevelt-honored-in-hometown-today.html |access-date=September 22, 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=October 5, 1996}}</ref>
</blockquote>
 
The architect [[Michael Middleton Dwyer|Michael Dwyer]] designed two inscribed granite medallions set into the surrounding bluestone paving (one with a quotation from a 1958 speech of Roosevelt's, and another with a quotation from [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]]'s 1962 eulogy for her), and a bronze tablet located in the planting bed summarizing her many achievements.<ref>Jean Parker Phifer, ''Public Art New York'' (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 2009).</ref>
 
==Gallery==
<gallery widths="175px" heights="175px">
File:Eleanor Roosevelt Monument.JPG|The Eleanor Roosevelt Monument designed by landscape architects [[Bruce Kelly (Landscape Architect)|Bruce Kelly & David Varnell]].
File:Riverside Drive at 72nd Street.jpg|The bronze statue of Eleanor Roosevelt seen from the south.
File:Elroos72st.JPG|The statue of Eleanor Roosevelt seen from the northeast.
File:Eleanor Roosevelt Statue.jpg|The statue of Eleanor Roosevelt seen from the northwest.
File:Eleanor Roosevelt Monument - 2017-12-02 - StatueAdlai viewStevenson from NorthQuote.jpg|TheGranite statue,medallion boulder,inscribed andwith footstone[[Adlai Stevenson II|Adali Stevenson]]'s quote, sculpteddesigned by [[PenelopeMichael JencksMiddleton Dwyer|Michael Dwyer]].
File:Eleanor Roosevelt MonumentMMDA-Photos - 2017-1208-0213 - AdlaiBiographical StevensonPlaque, Eleanor Roosevelt Memorial, Riverside Park, New York QuoteCity.jpg|InscriptionEleanor of AdlaiRoosevelt StevensonBiographical QuotePlaque, designed by [[Michael Middleton Dwyer|Michael Dwyer]].
File:Eleanor Roosevelt Monument Biographical Plaque.jpg|Eleanor Roosevelt Biographical Plaque, designed by [[Michael Middleton Dwyer|Michael Dwyer]].
</gallery>
 
==References==
{{Commons category|Eleanor Roosevelt Monument (Riverside Park, Manhattan)}}
{{reflist}}
 
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[[Category:Upper West Side]]
[[Category:Riverside Park (Manhattan)]]
[[Category:Statues Michaelof Middletonwomen Dwyerin the United States]]
 
 
{{NewYork-sculpture-stub}}
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