Michele H. Bogart is professor of art history and criticism at Stony Brook University. She served on the Art Commission from 1998 to 2003. Her previous books include Public Sculpture and the Civic Ideal in New York City, 1890–1930 (2nd edn 1997), Artists, Advertising, and the Borders of Art (1995) and The Politics of Urban Beauty: New York and Its Art Commission (2006).