I walked by the Municipal Building in lower Manhattan last Friday.

Ever walk by something a million times & never know the amazing story that goes with it?

I'd always wondered what statue was up there.

I finally looked it up & came away with a interesting story.



The statue of Civic Fame on top of the Municipal Building was installed in 1913 & is a gilded figure designed by Adolph Weinman. Standing barefoot on a sphere, she wears a flowing dress & a crown of laurels to signify glory.

Audrey Munson(1891-1996) was an American model & actress, she was the model or inspiration for more than 15 statues in New York City including this one.



The model for "Civic Fame", Audrey Munson, had an even harder & more intense life. At the turn of the century she was a supermodel for sculptors and painters. In some sense that yielded a much more permanent record of her than most of today's supermodels will enjoy as there are literally dozens of important sculptures of her in New York City & around the world bearing her likeness. When the movies came about, she became an actress & entered history books as the first known woman to star in a movie fully naked.

Here's
the Wikipedia article (if you want to know more...like geekhead me).
This woman had the most unusual & tragic life. From the height of fame...through a court case involving a doctor who killed his wife to be with her...to entering a mental asylum at the age of 39 where she died at the age of 104.

Labels: Art, Beauty, NYC, Photos