''Manhattan'' is a large scale mural by the German artist and colorist

Josef Albers Josef Albers (; ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born artist and educator. The first living artist to be given a solo show at MoMA and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he taught at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College ...

. The mural was first installed in New York City's

MetLife Building The MetLife Building (also 200 Park Avenue and formerly the Pan Am Building) is a skyscraper at Park Avenue and 45th Street, north of Grand Central Terminal, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed in the Internation ...

, originally the Pan Am Building. Removed in 2001 during renovations of the building's lobby, the mural was rebuilt in 2019 according to Albers' original specifications. It is now installed in the lobby of the MetLife Building, and placed backwards at the summit of the escalators of the modernist skyscraper and

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern termi ...

Main Concourse The Main Concourse is the primary concourse of Grand Central Terminal, a railway station in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The space is located at the center of the terminal's station building. The distinctive architecture and design of the ...

. The work, tall by wide, was created using formica in red, white, and black. The original work was laden with asbestos.

History

In 1929 Albers, then at

The Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2009 ...

in Germany, created a work called "City". Years later in the early 1960s after having emigrated to the United States and settling in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

the architect and founder of the Bauhaus

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...

commissioned him to do a mural for the then new

Pan Am Building The MetLife Building (also 200 Park Avenue and formerly the Pan Am Building) is a skyscraper at Park Avenue and 45th Street, north of Grand Central Terminal, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed in the Internationa ...

(now MetLife building) at 200 Park Avenue. Subsequently, he worked his original design into the formidably sized "Manhattan". As Nicholas Fox Weber, Executive Director of the Josef and

Anni Albers Anni Albers (born Annelise Elsa Frieda Fleischmann; June 12, 1899 – May 9, 1994) was a German textile artist and printmaker credited with blurring the lines between traditional craft and art. Early life and education Anni Albers was born Ann ...

Foundation, explained: "In making the mural, he took a concept he had developed at the Bauhaus in sandblasted glass, and gave it new life on a vastly large scale to serve the purposes of his friend and colleague, Walter Gropius, who designed the original building and asked him to make the mural." In 2001 the mural was taken down while the MetLife lobby was under renovation. Therein some years earlier ownership of the structure had changed hands and moniker to

MetLife MetLife, Inc. is the Holding company, holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, Annuity (US financial produc ...

and the new owner's citing repurposing of the lobby to allow for more light to enter doubled with the fact the mural had been found to be laden with asbestos took the work down without notice. This then led to somewhat of an uproar. In 2019 the new owners of the structure

Tishman Speyer Tishman Speyer Properties is an American company that invests in real estate. History The firm was founded in 1978 by Robert Tishman and Jerry Speyer. In March 1988, the company announced its first project in Europe, the construction of a 70 ...

decided to reinstall the work in its original position. However, as the murals was disassembled into panels which were laden with asbestos, the work had to be recreated. Albers had left behind precise specifications that allowed for the work to be recreated. The installation was completed in September 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manhattan Bauhaus Murals in New York City Public art in New York City Grand Central Terminal 1963 in art 2019 in art 1963 establishments in New York City 1963 in New York City 2019 establishments in New York City 2010s in Manhattan 1963 works