[Virtual tour] From 1921 to 1973 this East River Island was actually called Welfare Island, since it was home to many of NYC’s hospitals, trying to keep especially infectious diseases at a safe distance. Several art projects, old and new, related to this most interesting chapter in our history. WPA murals had been commissioned from the abstract artists Ilya Bolotowsky, Albert Swinden and Joseph Rugolo for the Hospital of Chronic Diseases; they are now beautifully restored (thanks to the MAS Adopt-A-Mural Progam!) and displayed at the new Cornell Tech campus. As a meaningful addition to the FDR Four Freedoms Memorial, Meredith Bergmann created the figural sculptures for the FDR Hope Memorial, now located in Southpoint Park. The latest inspirational addition to Roosevelt Island’s Public sculpture is a work entitled Girl Puzzle, by Amanda Matthews, dedicated to the brave journalist Nellie Bly as well as the patients of the so called ‘Insane Asylum’, which Bly was able to investigate and report on. With art historian Sylvia Laudien-Meo, we will explore the artworks as well as the stories behind them.
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