It’s been quite some time since I last featured some of New York City’s wonderful subway art, so I thought I thought I would show you the mosaics at the Christopher Street station today. These twelve mosaics, collectively known as “The Greenwich Village Murals,” show some of the interesting and diverse history of the Greenwich Village neighborhood surrounding this station. They were created by ceramic artist Lee Grozwol, in collaboration with fifth and six grade students from a local school (Public School 41).
The murals are divided into four sets of three murals each, with the following subtitles: Bohemians, Founders, Providers, and Rebels. There is a key for each set of murals on the wall nearby, helping visitors to identify each person featured in the murals.
For example, here are the Founders:
And here is the key for that set of murals:
Here are the Providers:
Here are the Bohemians:
And finally, here are the Rebels.
Want to see these wonderful mosaic murals in person? Take the 1 train to the Christopher Street station. There are different panels on each platform, so you will have to switch sides to see them all.
Finding NYC 
What a diverse lot each group is! Startled to see Henry James there, but I didn’t know where Washington Square is! You are filling many abysses of ignorance for me. The images are in an interesting style – do they owe something to Native American art? Or am I just being ignorant again???
They really are an interesting style, but I didn’t find anything about the artist’s inspiration except for an interest in showing diverse people. There was a group of about 9 or 10 children who worked on the project with the artist – it’s possible that the style was influenced by them as well.
Beautiful as usual , Susan . Have you been away? Haven’t seen a blog from you in weeks. Welcome back .
Thanks! I haven’t been away, but work has kept me very busy. I’m an assistant dean at a law school, and I taught a class that started the last week of July and went through August. That, in combination with the start of the Fall semester, meant I had little extra time for a couple of months. I’ve still been exploring though, so there are a lot of posts coming soon!
Wicked awesome , can’t wait to read them
They’re really distinctive and stylised, aren’t they? 🙂 🙂
They are! I think the children who participated in the project really added something to the style.
Fantastic! I think the Bohemians look like the most fun.
They are all unique and interesting pieces of art. I love that they were done in collaboration with fifth and six grade students.
Me too. These student artists are now adults. I wonder how contributing to this project affected them. I wonder what they think of it now, looking back at the experience.
Love he categories–wonder if the kids helped in the selection. It is great how the artist was guided so much by the student artists. Is that Elvis in the American flag coat?
I think that one’s supposed to be Thomas Paine, although it certainly doesn’t look like 18th-century clothing he’s wearing.
The kids might not know that or think it is important?
Looking at all of the murals, I think they took quite a bit of creative license so that they could incorporate the symbolism they wanted and break down time barriers between the people they chose to feature. (But that’s just my guess.)
How wonderful, especially that children were involved and presumably some of the people featured were still alive when this was created?
I thunk a few people would have been still alive, but many came from much earlier in the city’s history.
This is great! Love the history and art lesson right at our fingertips. This would make a great outing for homeschoolers (or for any young students).
NYC is a treasure trove of resources for home schooling! There’s so much in plain sight, and I’m always amazed at how fee people pay attention.
So interesting – a great historical resource too!