Abraham Lincoln
Outside the Central Park West entrance of the New-York Historical Society, Abraham Lincoln stands on the museum’s stone steps. Wearing his familiar tall hat and long coat, with one hand raised to his lapel, the bronze figure brings a recognizable person from American history into the space where visitors arrive.
Created by the Brooklyn sculpture studio StudioEIS, the life-size statue was installed in 2011 as part of the museum’s renovation. Its placement makes Lincoln approachable: visitors can stand beside him and observe his face, clothing, and posture at close range. The sculpture brings history to the sidewalk before anyone enters the galleries.
StudioEIS founder Ivan Schwartz and his team researched Lincoln’s appearance carefully. Their work included measuring an original Lincoln stovepipe hat at the Smithsonian Institution. Details such as the hat’s proportions and the folds of his coat helped translate a figure familiar from photographs into a three-dimensional presence.
Lincoln has an important connection to New York City. His appearance at Cooper Union in 1860 helped introduce him to an influential eastern audience as he emerged as a presidential contender. The city provided a platform from which his political ideas reached people beyond the region where he was already known.
The Lincoln statue’s setting gives it a particular character. His feet rest on the same steps visitors climb, and the building rises directly behind him. There is no towering pedestal separating the figure from the people passing by. The encounter begins at human scale, offering a moment to consider the person behind the familiar historical image.
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