Out of the Debris, a Stone Goddess
By EVE M. KAHNPublished: February 28, 2013
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Cece Saunders, Historical Perspectives
A 400-pound stone sculpture that
surfaced during archaeological digs in Brooklyn last summer will be analyzed to determine its age and maker. |
An armless nude about three feet tall, the sculpture has thick, curly hair. It was found along Dock Street, near Front Street, once a hub for spice warehouses, so it has been named Ginger. Two Trees Management Company is building a mixed-use tower at the site.
“Ginger is a total surprise,” said Cece Saunders, an archaeologist who is the president of Historical Perspectives Inc., a cultural-resources consulting company that uncovered the 400-pound carving.
It was trapped in mid-20th-century demolition debris, leftovers from previous waves of construction there. Excavating equipment accidentally damaged the face and body before anyone noticed the statue. The digs also turned up more expected artifacts, like 18th-century foundation stones and pottery shards.
Those who have seen Ginger have suggested that she may have originally served as a garden ornament, ship ballast or brothel advertisement. Perhaps a subsequent owner dumped her after a significant other took offense at her buxom nakedness.
The sculptor probably had no formal training, but was definitely skilled.
“The chisel marks seem quite refined,” Carl F. Hammer, a Chicago dealer in outsider art, said in an e-mail after analyzing photos of Ginger.
The neighborhood, after all, has long attracted creative types. “There’s been an artistic presence on that street going back to Francis Guy,” a landscape painter who settled nearby in the 1810s, said Nicholas Evans-Cato, an artist who often depicts Brooklyn scenery.
This spring scientists will analyze flecks of blue-green paint in Ginger’s hair, to see if the ingredients reveal anything about the artwork’s age and maker. While the mysteries linger, Two Trees keeps it on view in an office hallway.
“Everybody kind of lights up when they see her,” said Hale Everets, a development manager at the company.
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| Katy Perry, 2013 Grammys |
Darlings! Come on, surely you recognize "Ginger." She's Katy Perry's grandmother, minus the Gucci -- coochi coochi cooo -- dress by the unfortunate designer who ran out of material... Katy was simply honoring her "Grammy" at the "Grammys" by showing us more than we'd ever want to see of her "Mammys." And not wearing underwear, tsk tsk.
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