Karl Bitter was one of 16 artists selected to create sculpture for the exterior of the Manhattan Appellate Courthouse. The figures consist of allegorical personifications such as Wisdom, Justice and figures in legal history, such as Moses, Confucius, and Justinian. Bitter's sculpture of Peace is one of these.

Located outside the Manhattan Appellate Courthouse

Peace

 Symbols of Government at the top of the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House  

Symbols of Government

 On July 19, 2011 the Citywide Monuments Conservation Program wrapped up its 44th sculpture conservation&mdash;a head-to-hoof treatment of the bronze equestrian statue of Civil War General Franz Sigel (1824-1902) that stands proudly above the 106th Street entrance to Riverside Park. Sigel was born in Germany in 1824. After leading the unsuccessful revolution of 1848, he fled and settled in 1852 in New York City. Here, he focused his energy on education and journalism, teaching in New York City public schools and writing for the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung and The New York Times. Later, in the Civil War, he attained the rank of major general in the Union Army and inspired throngs of German Americans to fight for the Union Army. Just after Sigel`s death, the eminent Austrian-born sculptor Karl Bitter was commissioned to create a commemorative sculpture. Besides the Sigel portait, Bitter crafted monuments of other foreign-born American military heroes, including statues of the Marquis de Lafayette and Baron Von Steuben, as well as the much-loved Pomona sculpture in front of the Plaza Hotel. Sigel`s bronze effigy was unveiled in 1907 and stands at the apex of a monumental granite pedestal. 

Riverside Park

General Franz Sigel

 This fountain was commissioned by Joseph Pulitzer in 1911; the ideas was to create fountains similar to those in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The artist Karl Bitter, and the architect Thomas Hastings were chosen for the commission. He created a sculpture of Pomona, the Roman goddess of plenty. Water cascades from the fountain emphasizing the abundance of goodness. 

Grand Army Plaza

Pulitzer Fountain / Abundance

These works were executed by 8 different sculptors. Johannes Gelert: Denmark; Albert Jaegers: Belgium; Augustus Henry Lukeman: Genoa; Frederick Wellington Ruckstuhl: Phoenicia; Francois Elwell: Greece; Francis Michel Louis Tonett: Venice; Louis Saint-Gaudens: Holland and Portugal; Charles Garfly: France and England; and Karl Theodore Francis Bitter. Each sculpture depicts a different symbol of Government.Above the main cornice are a group of standing sculptures of personifications of seafaring nations. There are twelve such statues, which depict commercial hubs through both ancient and modern history. Each sculpture is 11 feet (3.4 m) tall and weighs 20 short tons (18 long tons; 18 metric tons). These sculptures were arranged in chronological sequence from east to west, so that the easternmost sculptures were of ancient Greece and Rome, while the westernmost sculptures were of the more recent French and British empires.One of these sculptures, Germania by Albert Jaegers, was modified in 1918 to display Belgian insignia rather than German insignia.

Seafaring Nations

 Anne Lewison, architect and board member of cultureNOW, reads a selection from the book, Manhattan Outdoor Sculpture, by Margot Gayle and Michele Cohen, about Seafaring Nations, a group of sculptures at the US Custom House. 

Located at the Manhattan City Criminal Court

Downtown & Wholesale
square block bounded by Vermont (N), New York (S),  

 Karl Bitter (1867-1915) was an Austrian sculptor known for his architectural sculptures and monuments. 

Karl Bitter

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