The Arches of Old Penn Station; The Arc of Gradiva

34 St-Penn Station (1/2/3)

The Arches of Old Penn Station; The Arc of Gradiva

Diana Al-Hadid

Photograph of a section of the mosaic artwork at 34th Street-Penn station corridor right wall. The shimmering glass mosaics in pearls, aquas, greys and gold form white lines that abstractly depict a floor to ceiling ethereal female figure appearing in an atmosphere as a ghostly apparition, with the flowering fabric of her garment stretching the length of the wall.

"The Arches of Old Penn Station; The Arc of Gradiva" (2018) by Diana Al-Hadid at 34 St-Penn Station. Photo: Peter Kaiser

About the project

The glass mosaic artworks installed at 34 St-Penn Station on the Seventh Avenue line are Diana Al Hadid’s meditations on the unique history of Penn Station, and are a reflection of its transient atmosphere as one of New York City’s immense transportation hubs.

Resurrected by Mayer of Munich in a shimmering glass mosaic of pearls, aquas, and gold, the works are both historic and contemporary, static and fluid, figural and architectural. In "The Arc of Gradiva" on the 60-foot long south wall, an image of Gradiva — the mythological female character from Wilhelm Jensen’s novella who "walks through walls" and roams the ancient ruins of Pompeii — appears as a ghostly apparition, with the flowing fabric of her garment stretching the length of the wall. Her footsteps mirror those of the crowds in the station.

"The Arches of Old Penn Station" on the west wall holds a painterly image of the grand interior of the original 1910 Beaux-Arts Penn Station. The image, dripping and obscured, is suggestive of an image slipping off the surface, but also tied and held to the grid of the surrounding tilework. Both images originate from life-size line drawings on mylar. The gestural lines create ghosted images of the past, coming in and out of focus through the station’s walls.

When considered together, one might imagine that Gradiva has come to claim both the original Penn Station in its former glory, as well as stake her presence in the subway station.

Photograph of mosaic artwork at 34th Street-Penn station corridor left wall. The shimmering glass mosaics in pearls, aquas, greys and gold form white lines that abstractly depict a floor to ceiling ethereal female figure appearing in an atmosphere as a ghostly apparition, with the flowering fabric of her garment stretching the length of the wall. A blurry image of a man walking past the mosaic front is on the left of the photograph and gray floor space is on the right foreground.

About the artist

Diana Al-Hadid is a Syrian-American artist living in Brooklyn, New York, who creates sculptures, installations, panels, and drawings using various media such as polymer gypsum, plaster, fiberglass, wood, and steel. Al-Hadid creates structures that simultaneously soar and dissolve in space, blurring the boundaries between figuration and abstraction. She sources conceptual ideas and imagery from literature, history, anatomy, architecture, cosmology, and physics. Her rich, formal allusions cross cultures and disciplines, taking inspiration from her Syrian background, as well as ancient Rome, the Renaissance, or Mannerist painting.