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sculpture

Dutch-American Stories: The “Patron Saint of New York”

May 3, 2022 by Jaap Jacobs Leave a Comment

treaty of friendship and trade between the United States and the Dutch RepublicThe bonds that connect the American and Dutch peoples have been commemorated in various ways and at various levels. Dutch-American Friendship Day is a well-established annual event at the governmental level. In New York City, the historical memory of Petrus Stuyvesant has recently become controversial, but in the twentieth century his image was iconic.

On April 19th, 1782, the Dutch States General decided to recognize John Adams as the envoy of the United States of America. It was the culmination of a contentious political process in which the Dutch Republic’s constituent provinces (Friesland being the first) instructed their delegates to vote in favor of accepting Adams’s nomination. With Adams in place as America’s minister plenipotentiary, the Dutch Republic reciprocated by naming Pieter Johan van Berckel as its first ambassador. [Read more…] about Dutch-American Stories: The “Patron Saint of New York”

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Dutch History, Dutch-American History Series, Manhattan, New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York City, Peter Stuyvesant, sculpture

Life and Artistic Legacy of Sidney Simon

April 22, 2022 by Clare Sheridan Leave a Comment

crossroads of rockland historyOn the April episode of Crossroads of Rockland History we explored the life and artistic legacy of Sidney A. Simon (1917–1997). On the occasion of an exhibition of his works at the Blue Hill Art and Cultural Center (Pearl River, NY), two of Simon’s children, Teru Simon and Mark Simon, joined Clare Sheridan to share memories of their father and their own recollections of growing up on South Mountain Road in Rockland County. [Read more…] about Life and Artistic Legacy of Sidney Simon

Filed Under: Arts, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Art History, Education, painting, Podcasts, Rockland County, sculpture

Sculptor Edmonia Lewis Honored With Black Heritage Postal Stamp

January 29, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Lewis StampThe United States Postal Service will issued the 45th Black Heritage stamp on January 26th, 2022 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. in honor of Edmonia Lewis, a Black and Native American sculptor who gained international recognition.

Edmonia Lewis was born in 1844 to an Ojibwa/Chippewa woman from Albany and a former enslaved man from Haiti. Both parents died when Wildfire, as she was called, was young. She went to live with her mother’s sisters. In later years her brother Samuel supported her and in 1856 she entered New York Central College. She then went to Oberlin College in Ohio from 1859 to 1863. [Read more…] about Sculptor Edmonia Lewis Honored With Black Heritage Postal Stamp

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, Western NY Tagged With: Abolition, Albany, Art History, Black History, Cortland County, Cultural History, Edmonia Lewis, Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, Haiti, Indigenous History, Madison County Historical Society, McGraw Historical Society, sculpture, womens history

List of America’s Public Monuments Reveals One-Sided History Obsessions

October 11, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Top Ten Subjects of Monuments in the United StatesWho are the 50 individuals most frequently represented by a public monument in the US? What percentage of those 50 are white and male? How many are women? And what are the dynamics that helped shape who is — and who is not — on that list?

Answers to those questions are among the findings of the National Monument Audit, a first-of-its-kind report issued by Monument Lab, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit art and history studio. [Read more…] about List of America’s Public Monuments Reveals One-Sided History Obsessions

Filed Under: Arts, History Tagged With: Abe Lincoln, Abolition, American Revolution, Civil War, George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr, Military History, Monuments, Religious History, sculpture, womens history

Nancy Cunard, Modernism and the Private Press Movement

September 29, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

The Kelmscott ChaucerThe history of the modern private press can be said to have started in early 1891 with William Morris’s foundation of the Kelmscott Press at 16 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, and the publication of his own work The Story of the Glittering Plain.

There had been forerunners of course. Horace Walpole’s Strawberry Hill Press, established in June 1757, set a precedent by producing splendid books, pamphlets, and ephemera, but it was Morris who succeeded in establishing a cost-effective press for high quality publications. His initiative gave birth to a host of similar undertakings. He initiated the Private Press Movement which was closely associated with the rise of modernist ideas. Morris also had a remarkable following in New York. [Read more…] about Nancy Cunard, Modernism and the Private Press Movement

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Art History, Black History, Cultural History, Folk Art, French History, Literature, modernism, Photography, Publishing, sculpture, womens history

St. Johnsville’s Lion in Love Sculpture: A Piece of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel Upstate

August 18, 2021 by Bill Orzell Leave a Comment

George C. Boldt courtesy Library of CongressThe Margaret Reaney Memorial Library is a fixture in the Erie Canal-side community of St. Johnsville, Montgomery County, NY. The Library contains a museum which features a wide array of art in a very fine collection.

An outdoor sculpture display in the north garden is listed in the Library’s catalog as “Nude Female and Lion” by Roland Hinton Perry. The bronze was cast in 1898 by Jno. Williams, Inc. foundry which was located on West 26th Street in Manhattan. [Read more…] about St. Johnsville’s Lion in Love Sculpture: A Piece of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel Upstate

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: art, Art History, Libraries, Montgomery County, New York City, sculpture, St. Johnsville, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel

Ars gratia Artis: The Fraser Collection at Syracuse University

August 11, 2021 by Bill Orzell Leave a Comment

James Fraser's sculpture of Abe Lincoln at the Maxwell School of Citizenship on the Syracuse University CampusThe study of art may be perceived as trivial, yet for many it can be a cathartic pastime, and still others are clever enough to earn a living from it. An investigation under this topic which can be greatly refined is sculpture.  The three dimensional medium is so broad that it allows many areas of awareness, and also permits the student multiple personal preferences.

The Empire State is a great repository of sculpture, and our colleges and universities hold much of this collection and provide instruction as well. One fine example would be Syracuse University, which holds a vast assemblage of art through several centuries. The collection at Syracuse University includes the papers of Laura Gardin Fraser and her husband James Earle Fraser. This couple produced some very notable art work; however, their names are not widely recognized. [Read more…] about Ars gratia Artis: The Fraser Collection at Syracuse University

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: art, Art History, Horses, sculpture, Syracuse University

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth’s ‘Humoresque’ Cavorting at Canajoharie

July 29, 2021 by Bill Orzell Leave a Comment

Humoresque FountainThe Arkell Museum and the Canajoharie Library were created by Bartlett Arkell, the founder and president of the Beech-Nut Packing Company as a gift to that community in 1927.

Arkell collected art work for the facility, much of it having a Mohawk Valley theme, with a zeal which can only be admired. His generous gift remains a very accessible collection to be appreciated by a grateful posterity. [Read more…] about Harriet Whitney Frishmuth’s ‘Humoresque’ Cavorting at Canajoharie

Filed Under: Arts, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Arkell Museum, art, Canajoharie, Manhattan, Putnam County, sculpture

Saratoga’s Spencer Trask Memorial Being Restored After Vandalism

July 14, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Saratoga Springs City Council has accepted a donation by the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation to make a repair to the architectural surround of the Spirit of Life and Spencer Trask Memorial in Congress Park, a National Historic Landmark. In 2019 a baluster of the surround was stolen. [Read more…] about Saratoga’s Spencer Trask Memorial Being Restored After Vandalism

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Historic Preservation, Saratoga Springs, Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation, sculpture

Sampson State Park’s Remarkable Military, Education & Public Health History

July 11, 2021 by Bill Orzell 1 Comment

Sampson Boot sculpture by Felix W. de WeldonThe site of the present Sampson State Park in Romulus, Seneca County, NY was formerly the site of the Sampson Navy Base. As the United States found itself at war following the attack on Pearl Harbor in late 1941, the U.S. Navy had an immediate need for sailors. Basic training bases, or boot camps, were constructed across the country to meet this emergency requirement. [Read more…] about Sampson State Park’s Remarkable Military, Education & Public Health History

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Air Force History, Aviation History, Finger Lakes, Korean War, Maritime History, Military History, Naval History, Navy, Nelson Rockefeller, Sampson State Park, sculpture, Seneca County, State Parks, tuberculosis, World War Two

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