Among the many statues of stodgy statesman, ancient warriors, poets and even a man talking to a duck (yes, we know it’s Hans Christian Anderson) that live among the trees in Central Park, there is one statue that stands out as the most whimsical and engaging in the park. It is the one that every New Yorker and tourist knows and loves. More monument than statue, it is sculptor Jose de Creeft’s masterpiece, Alice in Wonderland.

Based on the illustrations of Sir John Tenniel in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, this oversized sculpture conveys all of the imagery in the book. Alice sits atop a giant mushroom with sweet Dinah on her lap, clearly the guest of honor at the party. With her is the Mad Hatter, complete with top hat and manic expression and the White Rabbit who checks his watch as if ready to jump from the statue. The Dormouse sits drunkenly atop a small mushroom eating a cake as the Cheshire Cat grins from behind.

Located on the north side of Central Park’s Conservatory Water, the sculpture was commissioned by publisher and philanthropist George Delacorte in memory of his late wife Margarita and as a gift to the children of New York. Its size is impressive; the children who happily climb the statue each day fit easily in Alice’s lap (as does Robert Pattinson in a movie shoot – photo above). Carved into the base of the statue, the de Creeft included lines from The Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem made famous in Through the Looking Glass:

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe

This Alice is a true New Yorker, living as she does in Central Park. She was born here too; the Modern Art Foundry in Long Island City, Queens, cast this impressive work. Once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker.