6. The Fountain was NYC’s First Monument Dedicated to a Woman
The granite fountain which stands at the west end of the park is the first major monument in New York City dedicated to a woman. That woman was social worker and reformer Josephine Shaw Lowell. She served as the first female member of the New York State Board of Charities from 1876 to 1889. The fountain was originally supposed to sit near Shaw’s former residence in the Lower East Side but ended up being installed on the east side of Bryant Park. Designed by architect Charles A. Platt, the granite fountain was relocated to the west side of the park in 1936.
There are only a few statues in New York City dedicated to real-life women, and one appears in Bryant Park. That statue is a likeness of Gertrude Stein. Stein posed for the sculpture in 1920 at the Paris studio of Jo Davidson and appears in a Buddha-like sitting position. Davidson studied at the Art Students League in New York and sculpted at the Bryant Park Studios at 80 West 40th Street.