Citywide Monuments Conservation Program to Preserve George Segal GAY LIBERATION Sculpture
This Thursday, just in time for Pride Week, NYC Parks' Citywide Monuments Conservation Program will care for Gay Liberation, a bronze sculptural group depicting two women seated together and two men standing. Created by George Segal in 1980, it is placed across from the Stonewall Inn, where in 1969 a series of riots by members of the gay community took place, ushering in the modern Gay Rights Movement in the United States.
George Segal, a native New Yorker, worked as a sculptor from the 1940s until his death in 2000. Gay Liberation is exemplary of Segal's signature placement of anonymous monochromatic figures in public spaces. Segal was known for pioneering the use of plaster bandages to create uniquely textured casts for many of his sculptures. Other notable works include Street Crossing, (1992) in Montclair State University, The Commuters(1982) in New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal, and The Holocaust (1982) in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
Gay Liberation and many other monuments throughout New York City will receive care this summer through the Citywide Monuments Conservation Program (CMCP). CMCP has successfully worked since 1997 to preserve the City's cultural heritage, as well as provide professional training to graduate-level apprentices. CMCP is a public-private partnership.