Design: Garden-Variety Archetypes

A millionaire's sculptures bring a human touch to cityscapes

Manhattan cabbies sometimes stop for the hailing figure on Park Avenue, but he never gets in. Patrons new to Kathy Gallagher's, a chic Los Angeles eatery, request tables far from the cigar chomper who seems to be a fixture in the place. In Boca Raton, Fla., vacationers have called police because a youth has loitered too long staring at the sea.

The causes of these mistakes and double takes are not people but the uncannily realistic bronze figures of Sculptor J. Seward Johnson Jr....

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