The hundreds of brilliant facets of Romare Bearden's glass triptych pulsate with energy, connected by the black thread of a subway train wending past tenements and skyscrapers. The work began as a collage maquette; this was then transformed into a glowing artwork in jewel-like colored glass. The three-paneled work is installed on the wall at the stairway landing. 

Bearden was an accomplished artist and “City of Glass” skillfully weaves together the spirit found in his beloved music, social concerns, and interest in trains. The work was the result of a collaboration between Bearden and the fabricators, Benoit Gilsoul and Helmut Schardt. Bearden created the proposal in 1982 and following his death in 1988, the fabricators were able to complete the work from the preparatory studies and instructions he had left behind.

Romare Bearden (1911-1988) was an artist and author remembered for his creative and thought-provoking portrayal of African American culture and experience through paintings, collages and photomontages. Born in 1911 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden moved with his family to Harlem in 1914. His parents’ household became a social and intellectual hub for luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance, visited by the likes of Duke Ellington and Langston Hughes.

Starting out as a cartoonist, he switched to expressionistic and semi-abstract paintings of scenes from the American south drawn from his personal experiences. He focused more deeply on expressing humanity through his works following his experiences during World War II and visited Europe later to further study art and philosophy. He developed an interest in collages while experimenting with new art forms using clippings from magazines during the civil rights movement.

A founding member of the Harlem Cultural Council and Black Academy of Arts, Bearden was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1972. He received the Mayor's Award of Honor for Art and Culture in New York in 1984 and the National Medal of Arts in 1987. His works are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, among others.