A New Adventure in Ancient Playground

The Conservancy Modernizes an Iconic Play Space and Installs
the Magnificent Osborn Gates

They were tucked away in storage for more than 30 years, a set of ornate cast bronze gates created by renowned sculptor Paul Manship, so striking they were declared the year’s “most outstanding work of art erected in New York City in 1953” by the Municipal Art Society after their original installation.

Now, the sculptural masterpiece is back and ready to be discovered by a new generation of admirers. Thanks to generous support from the Daniel P. and Nancy C. Paduano Family Foundation, the Central Park Conservancy has restored the gates as part of the recent reconstruction of Ancient Playground. The pieces were installed at the playground’s entrance on Fifth Avenue and 85th Street during a dedication ceremony on Monday, Sept. 14.

Named in honor of William Church Osborn, philanthropist and former president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the gates originally stood at the entrance of the Osborn Memorial Playground on what is now the museum’s Egyptian wing. Manship created one of the most whimsical and elegant sculptures in Central Park. The gates depict several characters from Aesop’s Fables, such as The Peacock and the Crane, The Tortoise and the Hare, and The City Mouse and the Country Mouse. Weaving together Art Deco stylization, fanciful calligraphy, and an elegant sense of design, Manship brilliantly captured the playfulness of childhood.  (Manship’s other works in Central Park include the bronze statue, Group of Bears, and the Lehman Gates at the Tisch Children’s Zoo).

Ancient Playground was built in 1972 to compensate for the displacement of the Osborn Playground by the new Egyptian wing of the museum, and, the gates moved to the newly built nearby Ancient Playground. Within two years of their reinstallation, the gates were vandalized and placed in storage.

With the reconstruction of Ancient Playground, which was completed in August with support from Carol and David Feinberg and the City of New York, the Conservancy saw a fitting opportunity to restore the gates and return them to the playground.  The Conservancy’s conservation staff worked on the restoration in consultation with Roussel Studios, a firm specializing in monumental sculpture. To re-create the sculpture Group of Deer, which originally sat atop one of the piers but was lost after the vandalism, the Conservancy tracked down one of only two casts that had been produced from the original. Using that piece, housed at the Smithsonian Institution, a new sculpture has been molded and is scheduled to be installed in November.