Friday, July 21, 2006

WHERE WAS I? Leave your guesses in the comments section!
























VISUAL CLUE ADDED JULY 22
























VISUAL CLUE ADDED JULY 23

























VISUAL CLUE ADDED JULY 24

























BONUS VIEW ADDED JULY 24




























Photos: David Marc Fischer

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alice in wonderland in central park?

David Marc Fischer said...

No...sorry!

Anonymous said...

Manhattan?

David Marc Fischer said...

Yes!

Anonymous said...

Central Park?

David Marc Fischer said...

Nope!

Anonymous said...

Are you are the Children's Scupture Garden in that park next to St. John the Divine? The "Peace Fountain" perhaps?

Anonymous said...

Is there a reason I'm thinking of Diana, goddess of the hunt?

David Marc Fischer said...

Getting colder, Gary.

Dolph, there's probably a good reason (but not necessarily a great one).

Anonymous said...

are you above 42nd St?

David Marc Fischer said...

I wasn't.

Anonymous said...

WERE you in Riverside park?

Anonymous said...

never mind. what was I thinking? How about this guess, are you below Houston?

David Marc Fischer said...

No, I wasn't below Houston.

Anonymous said...

Let's see if I can use the right verb tense this time. Were you in Madison Sq. Park?

Anonymous said...

Were you a guest in this place? Did someone have to let you in?

David Marc Fischer said...

No, I wasn't in Madison Square Park.

And no, I didn't have be allowed or escorted into the place.

I didn't have to be escorted out, either!

Anonymous said...

Were you East of 5th Ave?

David Marc Fischer said...

Nope!

Anonymous said...

Were you in Bryant park?

David Marc Fischer said...

Nope!

Anonymous said...

Were you in a city park?

David Marc Fischer said...

Yes.

Anonymous said...

Washington Sq Park (at least the portion west of 5th)?

Anonymous said...

We're running out of real estate. How about Chelsea Park?

David Marc Fischer said...

Warmish.

David Marc Fischer said...

That "warmish" was for Gary.

Chelsea Park? Not so warmish.

Anonymous said...

jackson square park at greenwich and horatio?

David Marc Fischer said...

Cooler.

Anonymous said...

JJ Walker Park?

David Marc Fischer said...

You're warmish again--dy-no-mite!

Anonymous said...

Minetta Triangle? BTW, where is everyone?

David Marc Fischer said...

Minetta Triangle is very warm. As for the question of where everyone is...that's another game entirely!

Anonymous said...

LOL. Father Demo Square?

David Marc Fischer said...

No, but your guesswork is definitely in good shape.

Anonymous said...

Little Red Square?

David Marc Fischer said...

No, but you're still in good shape!

Anonymous said...

Sir Winston Churchil Square? Does the sculpture help name the park?

David said...

Sutton Place Park, East River btw. 56th and 57th.

Anonymous said...

I've been away all weekend, but now that Gary has done all the ground work, I'll guess the Downing Street Playground on the corner of Downing St. and Sixth Avenue.

Anonymous said...

Does Downing St. Playgound encompasses Sir Winston Churchill square? I was unable to tell.
Am I correct that the sculpture is of a gyrocompass? I think of these compasses being used in nautical times of old, but can't come up with a compass- or nautical-themed park.

David Marc Fischer said...

Jolly good show, Gary! By never, never, never giving up...you correctly identified the location as Sir Winston Churchill Square!

I would have posted this sooner, but I ran into technical difficulties posed by Blogger.

Anyway, Gary asked if the sculpture helps name the park, which is, of course, named after the man who "occupied" 10 Downing Street in London as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II.

The name of the sculpture and its sculptor remain unknown to me, but some research reveals the following.

The location of Sir Winston Churchill Square at the junction of the Avenue of the Americas and Manhattan's Downing Street (very close, in fact, to Manhattan's 10 Downing Street) reflects a conscious decision.

The sculpture, set in the garden portion of the small city park (there's also a modest playground), is actually an armillary that incorporates archery as well as zodiac imagery and also suggests a globe and (to me, at least) a gyroscope. That is not uncommon for armillaries, many of which also incorporate bow-and-arrow elements.

In the first and third pictures you can see the fletching and the arrowhead, respectively--their rounded, "soft" modeling might help them blend in with the garden plants.

The fourth picture is shot "in line" with the arrow, revealing how the rings or bands of the armillary form a target-like pattern of concentric circles. You can also see that one of the bands contains Roman numerals from I to XII. On the other side of that band are astrological symbols.

I've added a fifth picture to give you a full view of the armillary in its garden habitat. You can see a clearer shot here.

Though archery and zodiac allusions are common to armillaries, the combination of archery and astrology in this particular example might be a reference to Sagittarius, which is Winston Churchill's sign. Winston was born--to a mother who was a New Yorker--on November 30, 1874. I imagine that no baby has ever looked more like him.