Bolivar (d. 1830) is often called "the Washington of South America. "About the Subject" compares Bolivar's milieu and career to Washington's.I was surprised to learn that this was the third Bolivar sculpture designed for New York. See the Bolivar essay on the Forgotten Delights site for the story of what happened after the first one was removed from its pedestal. In "About the Sculpture" I compare this Bolivar to nearby Marti (Essay 33) and San Martin, and to the Washington at Union Square (Essay 13).
It's virtually impossible to see or photograph Bolivar. As you can see in the otherwise useless photo above, it sits on a towering pedestal and for much of the year is heavily shaded by Central Park's trees. My best photo appears on the Forgotten Delights site, but its resolution wasn't high enough to use in Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan. I had to resign myself to paying for the right to reproduce a Parks Department photo taken decades ago, when the statue was on a lower pedestal.
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