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| In 1928, the great New York artist Charles Demuth painted "The Figure 5 in Gold". You can see it today at the Met. |
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"Bill" is written at the top of the painting, and "W.C.W." at the bottom- this refers to the poet William Carlos Williams- he wrote a poem called "The Great Figure", which this painting is an homage to. |
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Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
fire truck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling
through the dark city
-- William Carlos Williams
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In 1963 , the pop artist Robert Indiana painted his own version. |
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All of this was originally inspired by the sight of an FDNY fire truck from Hook and Ladder Company No. 5, in Greenwich Village. They're still around- their trucks moving "tense unheeded... through the dark city". Their house is on Sixth Avenue, just below Houston. Friendly guys. They've retained the old 1920's font for the figure 5, as an homage to the paintings that were made in homage to them. |
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