Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times wrote on March 12, 2020 – J. Seward Johnson Jr., a sculptor who may be responsible for more double-takes than anyone in history thanks to his countless lifelike creations in public places — a businessman in downtown Manhattan, surfers at a Florida beach, a student eating a sandwich on a curb in Princeton, N.J. — died on Tuesday at his home in Key West, Fla. He was 89.
We have three double-take-worthy Seward Johnson sculptures in Ardmore.
They are located along Lancaster Avenue, in front of Ardmore Toyota.
That these three fine works of art all happen to make their homes at this location is by no means a coincidence. Max Paul, one of the “Paul Brothers” who own the car dealership, also owns the three sculptures.
Before Max Paul knew who Seward Johnson was, he knew that he loved The Umbrella Man sculpture (it’s actually called Allow Me).
According to a June 2019 Inquirer article – Allow Me had a long, rough run in Philadelphia. Its first sojourn here was in an exhibit of Johnson’s works in 1983-4, in front of the Four Seasons hotel on the Parkway. There it charmed lawyer and art collector Joseph D. Shein, who bought it from Johnson and had it set up in 1985 in front of the Shein-owned building where he ran his offices, at the corner of 17th and Locust Streets.
In 2005, Shein donated the statue to the Prince. Umbrella Man was plunked just to the right of the main entrance, where he remained into 2015 Read more about Umbrella man.
The same year that Shein donated Umbrella Man to the Prince Theater, Paul took the plunge and purchased his first Seward Johnson sculpture. It was the policeman who appears to be directing traffic, in and out of Ardmore Toyota’s service department (the piece is actually called Oh It’s You. Welcome)
About two years after motorists on Lancaster Avenue began to be confused by Paul’s Cop, motorists along that strip, Paul gave them something else to be confused about. It was a woman showing signs of frustration, as she sits on a bench and roots through her pocketbook, looking for something. The official name of this sculpture is The Search.
The “Ardmore Trio” was completed in 2009, when Paul arranged to have “The Photographer” (official name is Sightseeing) “planted” in front of the dealership (Paul says that the foundations for the cop and the photographer are nearly four feet deep.
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Thanks. Very cool.