The three dancing maidens of the Untermyer Fountain

Sculptor: Walter Schott (1861-1938)
Date: before 1910; Placed in Park: 1947
Donor: The children of Samuel and Minnie Untermyer
Material: Bronze with a limestone base

Completed before 1910 in Germany, Walter Schott's Three Dancing Maidens depicts a circle of three young women whose dresses cling to their wet bodies as if they were perpetually in the fountain's spray. One larger jet of water is featured in the middle of their dance, while two smaller jets appear on either side of the oval pool. The circle of the sculpture and base and the ellipse of the pool complement the slightly oval-shaped garden itself.

The sculpture came to Central Park in 1947 after the death of Samuel Untermyer. It is a cast of the original. Just how Untermyer acquired the sculpture from the Berlin original or had the cast made remains a mystery.

Today the fountain is a joy to those who visit the Conservatory Garden, especially in spring amidst the tulip display, in early May, and in the fall when the Korean chrysanthemums bloom.

Location

• Conservatory Garden, North Garden entrance inside the Park at 106th Street and Fifth Avenue; main entrance at 105th Street and Fifth Avenue

Conservation Notes:
The sculpture was first restored in 1980, and again in 1993 ,when it was repatinated and hot-waxed by the Central Park Conservancy's bronze crew .