The famous Astor Place Cube, officially titled Alamo, was relocated to Manhattan’s East Village today after two months of repairs.

The eight-foot-tall Cor-Ten steel sculpture by Bernard “Tony” Rosenthalwhich weighs 1,800 pounds, has been an integral part of Astor Place since 1967. But in May it left its normal East Village perch to allow the late artist’s estate to perform essential repairs.

“THE Alamo cube is a true icon… not only of East Village and Astor Place, but also of New York and the United States. Millions of visitors want to come here to spin or take a photo of this great sculpture,” said Ydanis Rodriguez, commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, which oversees the sculpture, at today’s unveiling. ceremony.

Prior to its reinstallation today, the sculpture made an unexpected stint in the east, where it appeared in the Hamptons Fine Arts Fair last weekend. The visit, first reported by Dan’s paperswas organized to celebrate Rosenthal’s posthumous induction into the Hamptons Artists Hall of Fame.

“It’s one of New York’s great landmarks. A lot of people were taking selfies,” Rick Friedman, executive director of the fair, told Artnet News.

At the fair, Alamo was part of an outdoor sculpture park of 17 works erected for the occasion. The Tony Rosenthal Estate sold a seven and a half foot replica of the cube sculpture at the fair for $250,000. The buyer, the Pauline and Austin Neuhoff Foundation in Dallas, snagged the work within 10 minutes of the opening of the fair’s opening Thursday.

A record 12,000 guests visited this year’s show, which closed three hours earlier on Sunday due to flooding due to torrential rains. DOT supervised Alamo‘s removed by crane on Monday morning, returning it to Manhattan by truck, the New York Times reported.

Bernard “Tony” Rosenthal Alamo (1967). The artwork known as the Astor Place Cube is removed for restoration. Photo courtesy of the New York City Department of Transportation.

Originally conceived as a six-month installation as part of New York’s first major public art exhibition in 1967, Alamo was an immediate success and has become a permanent feature of the downtown landscape. Much of its appeal was actually a happy accident: Rosenthal had intended the work to be locked in place, but audiences soon realized that the cube could be pushed to make it spin on its axis. .

Spinning the cube has become something of a rite of passage among New Yorkers, especially for students at nearby New York University. But the rotation mechanism broke in 2021 and the sculpture started to tip over. The city installed metal reinforcement as a temporary measure to hold it in place, then sent Alamo to a foundry for a $100,000 restoration that included mechanical repairs and painting.

Now that Alamo has been restored to its full glory, the village alliance is committed to managing the day-to-day upkeep of the sculpture and surrounding plaza, ensuring its continued presence at Astor Place.

At Bernard “Tony” Rosenthal’s Alamo, better known as the Astor Place Cube, on loan to the Hamptons Fine Art Fair in Southampton. Photo by Patrick McMullan/PMC.

“I’m very often asked what makes a great piece of public art,” said Kendal Henry, assistant commissioner for public art at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, at the unveiling. “You know when a work of art was supposed to stay for six months, but [after] over 50 years old, it’s still there; you know when a part is damaged not by vandalism, but by love of use; you know when it becomes an urban legend – is there a man living in the cube? – and you know when other artists use the image in their own works.… This, I dare say, is one of the most successful works of art in New York.

The Alamo is on display at Astor Place, 149-179 East 8th Street, New York, New York.The Village Alliance and Joe’s Pub launch For the people: live music, dance and liberationa public party presented by the Community Cookout and the Soapbox to celebrate the return of the work on July 23, 2023, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

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