Public Sculpture in New Jersey: Monuments to Collective Identity [Paperback]

Meredith Arms Bzdak (Author), Douglas Petersen (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

New Jersey boasts more than 700 public sculptures. By surveying these works as a group, we learn who helped to shape New Jersey, what events we considered significant, and how we hope we will be remembered. Public Sculpture in New Jersey examines 150 years of past and current patterns in the commissioning and placement of outdoor art in the Garden State.

The book contains essays that profile 100 of the state's most significant works as well as the artists who created them, and features 84 magnificent photographs that document these works, capturing the effects of time and the environment on each sculpture. Bzdak and Petersen selected these works for the variety of stories they tell and for their range of artistic expression, from traditional to contemporary, rather than focusing only on the best-known or most visible works of public sculpture. By telling the stories behind the sculptures, the book captures New Jersey's history, especially history that may not be well known but that conveys significant information about how our predecessors lived and the official images they sought to leave behind.

About the Author

Meredith Arms Bzdak is the director of corporate communications and principal architectural historian for The RBA Group in Morristown, New Jersey. Since 1990, Douglas Petersen has been documenting the American historical landscape. He is the photographer of The Last Light of Day.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813527007
• ISBN-13: 978-0813527000
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,339,253 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book that highlights diversity of New Jersey's art, June 26, 2011

By 

Susan Solomon - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Public Sculpture in New Jersey: Monuments to Collective Identiy (Paperback)

Meredith Bzdak's Public Sculpture in New Jersey is a meticulously researched and engagingly written

overview of New Jersey's outdoor monuments. Bzdak weaves social, economic, and political history into her text so that the reader gains great knowledge about the multi-layered significance of each art work. This book is a wonderful model for how to unite true scholarship and clear insights with lively presentation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting look at public sculpture, May 30, 2011

By 

S. Smith-Peter (Staten Island, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Public Sculpture in New Jersey: Monuments to Collective Identity (Paperback)

This is a book that came out of a state-wide project to catalog the public sculpture of New Jersey. The introduction provides a useful brief overview of the topic, then there are a listing of the sculptures, from 1827 to 1995. I found it interesting to see the overlap in subjects at particular times. My favorite sculpture here is the War of the Worlds Memorial in Grovers Mill Park, West Windsor Township.

My only complaint is that some of the photographs are from such a distance as to make it difficult to see the details, while others are backlit. However, this is the case in only a few of the photos and most are admirably clear.

The book is an easy and fun way to learn about New Jersey and American history via the sculptures. The descriptions of the sculptures themselves seem well researched and are fully documented.