Audrey Munson: The Most Visible New York Woman You Don't Know - Untapped New York

Audrey Munson, described as America’s first supermodel, was used by Gilded Age sculptors as a personification of national ideals and dreams. Her likeness appears in bronze, gold, and stone across New York City. A 25-foot statue labeled Civic Fame stands atop the Manhattan Municipal Building, holding a crown with five towers representing the five boroughs. She is also carved in granite as the personification of Beauty in a fountain on the New York Public Library facade. At Columbus Circle, she is depicted as a stern, heavily garbed figure serving as the model for a gilded centerpiece for the USS Maine Monument. Additional locations include the Alexander Hamilton Custom House, with some debate about her posing.

"Audrey Munson was America's first supermodel; the personification of the nation's ideals and dreams. Gilded Age sculptors carved her form into statues for the city's institutions and monuments. Here, discover 8 places you can see Audrey today:"

"Downtown, Audrey Munson stands 25 feet tall on top of the Manhattan Municipal Building, constructed as an administrative site for New York's consolidated boroughs. As Civic Fame, a splendidly gilded figure in Classical dress by Adolph Weinman, Audrey holds aloft a crown with five towers, representing the five boroughs. Here, she is Manhattan's tallest statue, second in New York only to her sister, the Statue of Liberty, offshore."

"Audrey is depicted in the buff and in granite as the personification of Beauty in a fountain by Brooklyn sculptor Frederick MacMonnies on the facade of the New York Public Library."

"At Columbus Circle, Audrey is a stern and heavily garbed figure. Here, she serves as the model for Attilio Piccirilli's gilded centerpiece for the USS Maine Monument atop the pylon of Merchants' Gate at the southwest entrance to Central Park."

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