French artist JR returns to the Boston skyline with a poetic revival of one of his most iconic installations. The new limited edition lithograph, Private Island, By Day, Boston, USA (2025), is now available through the artist’s website following its October 31st release. Ten years after his original public artwork transformed the city’s view, JR once again captures a fleeting moment suspended between architecture and sky.
A reflection on the Boston skyline
In 2015, JR’s intervention on the glass façade of the former John Hancock Tower — now 200 Clarendon Street — startled and mesmerized the city. More than 500 feet above ground, a lone man appeared to float on a raft, adrift among mirrored skyscrapers. The illusion blurred the line between city and sea, reality and imagination. For months, this “private island” hovered in the air, quietly disrupting the rhythm of urban life and inviting passersby to look up and reflect.
The piece became one of JR’s most poetic explorations of scale and perception — a dialogue between structure, reflection, and dream. The tower’s mirrored glass was not just a surface but a canvas, turning Boston’s skyline into both stage and subject.
A limited edition lithograph that captures stillness and wonder
Now reimagined a decade later, the limited edition lithograph brings this moment of wonder into collectors’ hands. Produced in an edition of just 180, the print revisits the original composition — a solitary figure poised between steel and clouds, embodying stillness within motion.
This new edition also pays homage to curator Pedro Alonzo, who helped realize the original 2015 installation and this year inaugurated Boston’s first Public Art Triennial. Through this release, JR bridges past and present, reaffirming his vision of art as something that transcends walls and speaks directly to its surroundings.
Suspended once again between sky and structure, Private Island, By Day, Boston, USA reminds us that even in the densest cities, there’s always room for awe — if we only take a moment to look up.
Images courtesy of JR
