Seward Johnson Statues in New Brunswick

I wouldn't describe myself as very knowledgeable about art, but there are a few artists I can identify their works from across the room, or in this case, across the square. Painters such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Norman Rockwell, and Edgar Degas come to mind.

Then there is J. Seward Johnson of the J&J family fortunes, whose statues of ordinary people appear all around the world. 

Don and I were not overly surprised when we stepped out of our car on a rainy night in New Brunswick to discover this statue in a park, after all Johnson and Johnson has a huge presence in the area. 

When we spotted a second statue of a man taking a picture in front of a camera shop, we started to detect a trend.

Across the street we found a third statue, one we had seen in different iterations of old friends laughing and chatting with each other on a park bench.

I started Googling "Seward Johnson New Brunswick" as we stumbled upon a fourth statue, that of a couple standing, appropriately enough given the weather that night, under an umbrella.

The search brought up a press release stating there are six statues in total, and giving their addresses. As we had already found four, and were heading out for some ice cream after seeing an invited dress rehearsal of Kathryn Grody's The Unexpected 3rd at the George Street Playhouse it was an easy decision to look for the last two.

The weather held and we walked a half-mile for ice cream at Thomas Sweets, a smile ice cream chain that originated in Princeton. We have been to all of their locations over the years, including one that used to be in Florida. Their current locations are three in New Jersey: Princeton, Montgomery, and New Brunswick, and one in Washington, DC.  It is surprising this was our first time to the location near Rutgers.

Other Seward Johnson sitings:

2011 Grounds for Sculpture

2014 Grounds for Sculpture Retrospective

2015 New York City

2019 Spring Lake, NJ

2023 Trenton

2023 Hopewell Township, NJ

2023 Lower Makefield Township, PA

2023 Tour of His Atelier

2026 Bordentown, NJ

I know we have spotted his work in other cities, but my quick blog search did not find them. I also know, we will find them again.