Lober was appointed to the New York City Municipal Art Commission in 1942; it was responsible for supervising the artistic quality of all city matters. He served as its executive secretary from 1943 to 1960.
In 1946 he and the Commission were tasked by Mayor of New York CityWilliam O'Dwyer to restore portraits in New York City Hall that had deteriorated severely. A June 1950 editorial in The New York Times thanked Lober and the Art Commission, saying that they "deserve a pat on the back for their careful and painstaking work" in preserving the city's heritage for future generations.[2]
Lober created an 8 feet (2.4m) seated figure of Hans Christian Andersen on a granite bench for New York City's Central Park, which was installed in 1956. It was cast in bronze at Long Island City's Modern Art Foundry. The statue was designed to accompany an outdoor center for story-telling, and was placed on a 40-foot square stone platform surrounded by benches, trees and shrubs.[3] The $75,000 cost of the monument was covered in part by contributions from Danish and American schoolchildren.[4] Lober returned to the theme with his 1955 medal commemorating the 150th anniversary of Anderson's birth, created for the Society of Medalists.
Composer Oscar Hammerstein II was the chairman of a committee that selected Lober and architect Otto F. Langmann to develop a statue of composer, playwright, and actor George M. Cohan. It was installed in Father Duffy Square on Broadway at the northern end of Times Square in Midtown Manhattan. The statue was formally unveiled and dedicated on September 11, 1959, by Mayor Robert F. Wagner.[5]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Georg_J._Lober, and is written by contributors.
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