Art of the NYC Subway Tour with Adrian Brune

Tour Highlights:

• Explore the diverse works of art underground as features in Adrian Brune's new book, Art of the New York Subway
• See original subway art designed by Heins & LaFarge and Squire Vickers inside the city's earliest stations
• Admire the Fulton Street Cartouches which were almost demolished
• See monumental mosaics by Fred Tomaselli at 14th Street
• Uncover the often overlooked art pieces at Canal Street
• End at the 42nd Street Grand Central concourse where we will view massive mosaic murals by the Yayoi Kusama and Kiki Smith

About this Tour:

It has been said that out of all the art museums in New York, the one built slowly and gradually over time is the most diverse (and possibly most valuable) in the United States: the subway system.

Join author Adrian Brune to explore the first half of the original 28 Stations dating back to 1904, in addition to some of the first art installed by the MTA's Percent for Arts program, now called MTA Arts & Design. Along the way, you will hear the history of how the subway was built, how the subway's first patrons tried and failed and tried again to make the stations appealing, and lastly, how the MTA fought graffiti (or tried to) with legitimate art.

About the Book, Art of the New York Subway:

Fascinated by Roy Lichtenstein’s Times Square Mural, a swooshing dot matrix landscape enamel bolted to the center ceiling of the 42nd Street Station, in addition to all the brightly costumed Revelers (2008) of Jane Dickson as Adrian Brune used to cross from Grand Central Terminal to the 42nd Street station, she started photographing the murals and mosaics in 2019.

When the Coronavirus hit the City in winter 2020, Brune continued photographing — the art was now easier to access with subways emptied — and Art of the New York Subway became Brune's pandemic project. During that year, she took a daily run — and occasionally a train — to photograph more than 400 MTA stations across four of the five boroughs, first for Instagram, then for Substack and finally for a book and app that helps people realize that public art is everywhere, sometimes in the last place they might expect it.

About Your Guide, Adrian Brune:

Since 2001, A.M. Brune has reported and written hundreds of freelance newspaper, magazine and website articles — from pitch to print — for magazines, such as the New Yorker, The Spectator, The Guardian, the New York Times, Air Mail and other international publications on a variety of topics, including world affairs, social justice, human rights and culture. She previously worked as the U.S. correspondent for several international news outlets and as a press officer at the United Nations. Brune holds a BS in Journalism from Northwestern University and an MS in Journalism from Columbia University in the City of New York, as well as a MA in Global Diplomacy from SOAS, at the University of London. Her book Art of the New York City Subway and app, Tunnel Vision, will be released in October 2026.