More on the Photographic Adventures of Katherine Joseph

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) president David Dubinsky with cast members of the ILGWU revue "Pins and Needles." Left to right: Ruth Rubenstein, Rose Newmark, Lynn Jaffe, Millie Weitz, Ann Brown, and Nettie Harari at the White House, March 3, 1938. Photograph by Katherine Joseph, © Richard Hertzberg and Suzanne Hertzberg. Katherine Joseph Papers, Archives Center, NMAH.

This is an update to the September blog by Richard Hertzberg and myself, “Every Minute Counts,” about documentary photographer Katherine Joseph. The biographical information in that blog, as well as in the Archives Center’s finding aid and catalog entry, was derived from Katherine Joseph’s daughter Suzanne Hertzberg's 2002 master’s thesis for the University of Southern California, “Photo by Katherine Joseph.”

Ms. Hertzberg then transformed her thesis into a book for publication--a handsome biography of this little-known, talented photographer, entitled Katherine Joseph: Photographing an Era of Social Significance (Bergamot Books, 2016). Illustrated with many of her mother’s photographs, it places Katherine Joseph’s career firmly in the tradition of 1930s-1940s documentary photography, as well as in the context of American women’s history. As such, it is far more than an affectionate memoir. Since Katherine Joseph told her children so little about her photographic career, Suzanne Hertzberg had few specific personal memories to relate, and had to pursue extensive research on her elusive subject.

The collection was donated to the Archives Center in 2007 by Suzanne and Richard Hertzberg.

David Haberstich,
Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Congratulations Hirshhorn!

Unique in style and substance on the Mall, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s opening night, October 4, 1974, was a glamorous affair that showed off the circular building, the sculpture garden grounds, and the collections they housed at their best. This was the first modern art collection on the National Mall, and the museum's design reflected its collection.

On opening night of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, October 4, 1974, a crowd has gathered in the interior court. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Neg. #92-1647. 

Those collections numbered over six thousand items on opening day, their transfer from Joe and Olga Hirshhorn completed just a month before the museum opened.  The couple was avid collectors of modern art, and wanted to see their collection kept together in a museum so that others could enjoy the art as much as they had.  With the help of Lady Bird and Lyndon B. Johnson, Secretary S. Dillion Ripley convinced them to donate their collection to the Smithsonian.

Arriving on the Mall from the Hirshhorn home in Greenwich, Connecticut, Henry Moore's "King and Queen" is gently lowered into place on its pedestal in the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Neg. #SIA2011-2398.

As a uniquely modern building on the National Mall, the circular building features curved galleries that float above the grounds that hold the Hirshhorn’s large sculpture collection. On opening night, both the garden and the museum glittered with bright lights. In his opening night remarks Secretary Ripley set the museum a lofty goal saying, “the purpose of the Hirshhorn is to remind us all that life is more than the usual, that the human mind is capable of seeing life subjectively, and being stirred into new and positive ways of thought…. Let its assemblage of shapes and objects continue to stir our slothful minds and jog our minds our sensibilities as they are designed to do.” William Schuman composed a special piece of music for the occasion, “Prelude for a Great Occasion” played by the National Symphony Orchestra during opening ceremonies.

Secretary S. Dillon Ripley (1964-1984) greets Mr. Joseph H. Hirshhorn, founding donor, on opening day of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, October 4, 1974. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Neg. #SIA74-9851-04.

The Hirshhorn opened to high hopes and lots of enthusiasm.  In its first six months over one million visitors saw the opening exhibit of items from the permanent collection.  The Washington Post claimed that the collection “will enable to the Hirshhorn, better perhaps than any other museum, to present a comprehensive account of the development of modern art from the mid-19th century to the present.” And the Washington Star-News exclaimed “Well, we’ve seen it now. And we’re in love with it. It’s exciting, it’s full of old friends and many new ones that we hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting before, and it’s, above all, great fun.”

Above all, I think that would have most pleased Mr. Hirshhorn and Secretary Ripley that this gift of art was bringing as much joy to its visitors as it brought to them.  This sense of joy and celebration ran throughout its opening days as Mr. Hirshhorn surprised the Museum with ‘birthday’ gift of four additional sculptures for the inaugural exhibition.

Lisa Fthenakis, Program Assistant

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Sioux City: How the story of one bridge led me to a corn palace

Blogs across the Smithsonian will give an inside look at the Institution’s archival collections and practices during a month long blog-a-thon in celebration of October’s American Archives Month. See additional posts from our other participating blogs, as well as related events and resources, on the Smithsonian’s Archives Month website.

I recently found this silver gelatin acetate film negative of the Corn Palace, Sioux City, Iowa (1890), in the George S. Morison Collection.  Morison (1842-1903) was a “rock star” civil engineer who built twenty-three railroad bridges throughout the United States, many of them in the Midwest.
His contributions to bridge building were significant. He enhanced the profession by introducing certain design specifications, published reports on his construction projects, testing and inspection practices, and he transitioned to newer materials, steel and concrete.  When he wasn’t building bridges and traveling, Morison was a member of the Panama Canal Commission (1899-1901), where his highly influential voice was a major reason the canal was built in Panama rather than Nicaragua.

What was this film negative doing among a box of glass plates documenting bridges? It seemed oddly out of place, yet was a pleasant discovery. I knew Morison didn’t design the Corn Palace; that honor belongs to architect E.W. Loft, who designed the first palace in 1887.  After all, Morison was a man who worked with iron, steel, and concrete, not corn.

Sioux City Bridge, Sioux City, Iowa, south and west portal to bridge, ca. 1889.  Silver albumen print by unidentified photographer.   George S. Morison Collection, 1846-1903, Archives Center, NMAH.

Morison spent considerable time in Sioux City building the Sioux City Bridge over the Missouri River from 1885-1888. The mighty Missouri River was no stranger to him either. He designed a total of seven bridges over the Missouri which posed many engineering challenges, the greatest of which were severe flooding and silt bottoms that made foundation construction difficult. Made of steel, wrought and cast iron, the single track Sioux City Bridge was 1200 feet long and weighed 4,485,807 pounds. The first train crossed on November 26, 1888.  The bridge was replaced in 1982.

The corn palaces of Sioux City are excellent examples of cereal/agri-architecture or crop art. The first Sioux City corn palace was built in 1887 and four more followed from 1887-1891.  The Corn Palace pictured here (the fourth palace) was an architectural gem, constructed and clad with corn, sorghum, cattails, grains and other vegetables. The materials were woven together to create elaborate designs (arches, minarets, buttresses, pinnacles, and domes) that evoked Eastern Roman Empire and
Byzantine-like architecture, styles not commonly found in the Midwest.

Corn Palace, Sioux City, Iowa, ca. 1890.  Silver gelatin acetate negative by unidentified photographer.
George S. Morison Collection, 1846-1903, Archives Center, NMAH.

The palaces rose from the landscape as an expression of gratitude by the citizens of Sioux City for the plentiful crops found in the region and as a symbol of Iowa’s agricultural pride. They were also intended to lure tourists, but especially to promote the region’s agricultural specialty, corn.  The growing railroad network (aided no doubt by Morison’s bridges throughout the Midwest) and the population of the area, coupled with a strong agriculture enterprise, brought visitors from around the United States, including civil engineer George S. Morison.

Most likely Morison toured the Corn Palace on one of his many visits to Sioux City to monitor bridge construction progress. His bridge at Sioux City made possible the movement of more goods and people, some of whom came to see the corn palace. The last corn palace in Sioux City was built in 1891. A flood prevented its construction and in 1892 the Mitchell Corn Palace of South Dakota was built and still stands today.

To learn more about George S. Morison, bridge building, and other civil engineering collections, visit the Archives Center.

Alison Oswald, Archivist
Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Sources

Marianos, W.N. “George Shattuck Morison and the Development of Bridge Engineering,” Journal of Bridge Engineering, May-June 2008, pages 291-298.

Schwieder, Dorothy and Patricia Swanson. “The Sioux City Corn Palaces,” The Annals of Iowa. Vol. 41, No. 8 (Spring 1973), pp. 1209-1227.

Simpson, Pamela. “Cereal Architecture: Late-Nineteenth-Century Grain Palaces and Crop Art, Perspectives in Vernacular Architecture, Vol. 10, Building Environments, pp. 269-282.

Exploring a Renaissance Rarity in the Dibner Library

In the auspicious year of 1543, a book in German, Evangelien vnd Epistlen des Neϋwen Testaments (The Gospels and Letters of the New Testament; qBS239 1543 SCDIRB) was printed in the ancient Alsatian town of Colmar. Compiled by one Ambrosius Kempff, the work contains almost all of the New Testament and some of the Old Testament arranged in the order of the days of the Church calendar. As in a typical Roman Catholic lectionary, each selection was to be read on a certain day of the year. While the Dibner Library is primarily known for its history of science collections, it also contains several Bibles and other religious works, and we were pleased to be given this example on several accounts.

It is indeed a rare volume, with no other recorded copies in the United States and only a handful in European collections. Evangelien vnd Epistlen des Neϋwen Testaments appears in none of the standard reference works. It does get a mention in John M. Frymire’s The Primacy of the Postils (2010) which states it is written “Catholic” in the tradition of Erasmian humanism.

The Bewitched Groom

Interspersed among the 269 leaves of Fraktur letterpress are over a hundred woodcut illustrations by various artists, some of intriguing quality. This work could prove to be a rich source of analysis by an art historian as some of the woodcuts are by that most gifted and strange student of Albrecht Dürer’s, Hans Baldung, called Grien (d. 1545). Known as a painter—one familiar work is Three Ages of Woman and Death (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1510)—he was also a printmaker with a preoccupation with mortality and sorcery. One of Grien’s best known prints is the erotically charged The Bewitched Groom (1544).

The 1540s were a dynamic period for publishing: not only were significant works related to the Protestant Reformation printed but also announcements of new strides in the field of science. The year 1543 in particular is a major milestone in history of science literature, marked with exceptionally significant publications. In the field of astronomy, Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) produced De revolutionibusorbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) in Nuremberg, providing arguments, based entirely on mathematical calculations, for the heliocentric universe. In mathematics, the first modern European language edition of Euclid's Elements appeared in Venice, translated into Italian by Niccolò Fontana Tartaglia (d. 1557). And in medicine, Andreas Vesalius's Dehumani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) was edited and printed in Basel by Johannes Oporinus (1507-1568). The profusely illustrated volume transformed the science of human anatomy by promoting direct observation in addition to (or many times countering) classical medical knowledge. These books of 1543 foreshadowed a new scientific era, the Scientific Revolution in the same year when Evangelien vnd Epistlen manifested the rich new religious literature.

This donation contained a pleasant surprise: it has a 19^th-century armorial bookplate although without an accompanying name. However, thanks to online resources, notably the Ex Libris Chronicle of the American Society of Bookplate Collectors (formed in Washington, D.C. in 1922), the previous owner could be quickly identified by the motto and coat-of-arms. Evangelien vnd Epistlen des Neϋwen Testaments once belonged to a great bibliophile, Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843). He was the sixth son (of fifteen children) of King George III. His vast library of some 50,000 volumes was housed in Kensington Palace, where some members of the Royal family still live. The Duke’s librarian happened to also be his surgeon, Thomas Joseph Pettigrew, who produced catalogues of the collection as well as books on other topics. Pettigrew’s Medical Portrait Gallery (London, [1838?-1840]; R134 .P52 1838 SCDIRB) is on the Dibner shelves. Alas, the Duke had amassed huge debts (in no small part because of his collecting habits) so soon after his death the books and manuscripts were sold at auction and the library’s contents scattered. This volume is the only one in the Smithsonian Libraries identified with this provenance.

The manuscript inscription and armorial bookplate

But there was more interesting history to uncover in this one book. A handwritten inscription above the Duke’s bookplate seemed matter-of-fact at first glance: Jacob A. Westervelt to his daughter Eliza M. Westervelt / 1864. The names did not appear in either the Smithsonian Libraries online catalog nor in the Library of Congress or the Virtual International Authority File. However, one very good Wikipedia entry pinpointed the identities of these two:  Jacob Westervelt (1800-1879) was a famous shipbuilder whose long career included constructing 247 vessels, and who also served as mayor of New York City, from 1853 to 1855. One of his accomplishments was placing the police force, against great resistance, in uniforms for the first time. An 1885 portrait of Westervelt by Edward Ludlow Mooney is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Eliza Mariette (1841-1891) was the youngest of his eight children. 

The donor of the Evangelien vnd Epistlen is Mr. Theron Patrick, Commander United States Coast Guard (Retired) who recently visited the Dibner Library and the Book Conservation Laboratory of the Smithsonian Libraries. We very much appreciate his interest in our collections and we thank him for donating such a fascinating volume.

Julia Blakely and Lilla Vekerdy,

with the help of Diane Shaw, Special Collections Librarians, Smithsonian Libraries

The illustration of The Bewitched Groom is from Wikimedia Commons, all others are from the Lectionary, Evangelien vnd Epistlen.

Have You Seen Me? (Part Two!)

Romany Marie, Robert Winthrop Chanler

Romany Marie's, Stuart Davis, 1912

Part two in an irregular series featuring lost or misplaced art work. This time we look at “Romany Marie’s" by Stuart Davis (above right). The painting depicts one of the many cafes owned by Marie Marchand, known as Romany Marie to her friends and patrons. Marie was an immigrant from Romania, arriving in the United States in the early 1900s. She ran several restaurants in Greenwich Village, catering to artists, writers, and other intellectuals of the time. She prided herself in bringing together the "thinking minds" of the city to her cafes and restaurants (referred by many as being more like salons). On any given night, one could hear an informal lecture, or chat with a noted playwright, museum curator, or sculptor.

You can also see a portrait of Marie Marchand from the Juley collection, done by Robert Winthrop Chanler. Chanler was a well regarded muralist who moved to working in portraiture towards the end of his career. As you can see from his many portraits, his style seemed to be more focused on capturing the spirit of the sitter, rather than sticking to a realistic depiction. His work also sometimes included mini-biographies.

Rachel Brooks
Photograph Archives, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Voting Power: Woman Suffrage

We’ve got a lot to celebrate this last week of August. Along with commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, this week also marks the 93rd anniversary of the certification of the Nineteenth Amendment. Known as the Woman Suffrage Amendment, it was first introduced to Congress in 1878, but took over 50 years to finally make it into the Constitution. Granting women the right to vote, the amendment was passed by Congress on June 4, 1919 and then ratified by the states on August 18, 1920. The amendment was finally certified on August 26th of that same year. 

Almost a century later, August 26th is recognized as Women’s Equality Day, designated as such by Congress in 1971. In the decades that followed the amendment's certification, victory was still fresh in the minds of American women. The date was a reminder of how far women’s equality had come, and how much more was possible. For the 1933-1934 Century of Progress Exposition hosted by the City of Chicago, the National Council of Women commissioned the artist Hildreth Meiere to paint a mural depicting woman’s progress and place in history in the United States. Below is a sketch for that mural, "Onward March of American Woman." Included in the sketch are themes related to women’s contribution to education, Emancipation, the Red Cross, and social justice. 

Onward March of American Women, 1933

The Peter A. Juley & Son Collection contains more views of Hildreth Meiere’s mural which can be found in the Collections Search Center. You can find more information about Women’s Equality Day and the Nineteenth Amendment on the website for the National Women’s History Museum.

Rachel Brooks
Photograph Archives, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Have You Seen Me?

Portrait of America (detail), 1933

We’ve mentioned on this blog before how valuable the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection is to scholars and historians in their research. The Juley firm worked with artists and galleries throughout New York City and beyond, spanning several important decades in art history. Their tireless work has resulted in an archives collection rich in subject matter, and often times the images in the collection are the only documentation we may have of an artwork that has been lost, altered or destroyed.

While cataloging the collection, I’ve come across artworks that are easily confirmed destroyed, such as Diego Rivera’s mural, “Portrait of America." Originally installed in 1933 at the New Workers School in New York, in 1942 it was moved to Unity House in Forest Park, Pennsylvania. A fire broke out in the building in 1969, destroying all of the mural panels.

Unlike the Rivera mural, other artworks documented in the Juley Collection are not so easy to find. Information may not be readily available about where they may have ended up, or if they even still exist. Aside from those that are destroyed, works can disappear by becoming part of an unknown private collection, or simply by being forgotten about or packed away a la the recent story about several Arthur Pinajian paintings found in a Long Island garage.

So, in my research, I’ve certainly hit a few walls in trying to locate a painting or sculpture. Perhaps I can turn to our blog readers for help?

John Sloan, Movies, Five Cents, 1907

As an inaugural post for a semi-regular feature searching for unlocated artworks, and inspired by the life of great film critic Roger Ebert, I thought I’d post this John Sloan painting that depicts the popularity and fascination with the cinema and nickelodeons in the beginning of the 20th century (noted in Katherine Manthorne's, "John Sloan's Moving Picture Eye"). Entitled “Movies, Five Cents,” its last known location was in a private collection.

Any leads out there on the whereabouts of this painting? Let us know in the comments!

 
Rachel Brooks
Photograph Archives, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Sneak Peek from the Stacks: Outdoor Sculpture in DC

You don’t have to wait for the American Art Museum’s visitor hours to see some of the artwork in our permanent collection. Keeping watch outside the Reynolds Center are Roy Lichtenstein’s “Modern Head” and Luis Jimenez’s “Vaquero,” on the South and North sides, respectively. Further afield, near DC’s Embassy Row, you’ll find Jerome Connor’s sculpture of Robert Emmet.

Jerome Connor, "Robert Emmet", 1916

Emmet was an Irish revolutionist and a member of the United Irishmen’s Party. From our Art Inventories:

This sculpture was commissioned by American citizens of Irish ancestry in commemoration of the struggle for independence of Ireland. It was presented to the Smithsonian Institution in 1917 and originally stood in the main rotunda of the National Museum of Natural History until it was replaced with the elephant. The sculpture was then placed in storage until 1966. On April 22, 1966, it was dedicated at its present site on Massachusetts Avenue in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rebellion uprising for Irish independence.

There are tons of ‘hidden’ sculptures in and around DC -- just keyword search ‘outdoor sculpture’ in the Art Inventories.

-- Rachel Brooks, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Photograph Archives

Sneak Peek from the Stacks: Decorative Dispatch

Carole D. Yawney Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Image has been altered to remove the sender's address.

February not only marks African American History Month but includes the 68th anniversary of Bob Marley's birth (February 6).  In the spirit of both, the National Anthropological Archives (NAA) presents this artful envelope from the Carole D. Yawney Papers featuring a Nyahbinghi drum and Ras Mortimo Planno, the Rasta elder widely regarded as Marley’s spiritual mentor. The artist, Nicolas Derouet, eventually changed his last name to "Planno" to honor the elder. These kinds of artistically aestheticized envelopes/letters are not uncommon in Rastafari culture and employ iconic imagery related to Ethiopian royalty, Africa, the Bible, nature, and dreadlocks as part of how Rastafari culture travels and reproduces itself. The NAA holds extensive Rastafari materials including photographs, posters, ephemerals, sound recordings of music and spoken word, and videotape created or collected by Carole D. Yawney and George E. Simpson—the first scholar to publish about the Rastafari movement in Jamaica.

— Adam Minakowski, Reference Archivist, National Anthropological Archives and Jake Homiak, Department of Anthropology Collections and Archives Program Director

Sneak Peek into the Stacks: A Civil War Chromolithograph

The colorful image shown below and the musical score it illustrates were created to celebrate a Union victory in the American Civil war--the Battle of Fort Donelson, Tennessee, February 11-16, 1862.  Henry Tolman & Co. was the publisher, but the mark of L. Prang & Co. at the lower right indicates that the print is a chromolithograph by Louis Prang, who developed this method for mass-production color printing and established his company in 1860.  He wanted to challenge elitism by making comparatively inexpensive copies of paintings for mass consumption, which proved lucrative for him.  His attempt to democratize art paralleled the proliferation of photographic imagery which swept the latter half of the nineteenth century.  Despite its potential for mass distribution, chromolithography was a complicated, time-consumimg technique.  In view of the instantaneous communication that we expect technology to provide in the 21st century, it amazes me that a musical composition could be written, illustrated, printed, and distributed to commemorate a contemporary historical event in the same year.

David Haberstich, Curator of Photography
Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Cover for sheet music, "The Battle of Fort Donelson / A Musical Description" by Charles Grobe, 1862, with chromolithograph by L. Prang & Co.  From the Sam DeVincent Collection of  Illustrated American Sheet Music,
Archives Center, National Museum of American History

  

Artists and Models

Francis Vandeveer Kughler in his studio with a model standing beside "Charles II and the Lord Proprieters", 1960, J0001771

I recently came across the above Peter A. Juley & Son photograph which made me do a double take. At first glance I thought the photo depicted artist Francis Vandeveer Kughler in his studio standing next to one of his paintings. After looking over the photograph and catalog record more closely, I realized that there is also a model (dressed as a Lord Proprietor) standing between Kughler and the painting. Something about the lighting of the photograph (and my vivid imagination) reminds me of what might have been (or should have been) a Twilight Zone episode where a painting comes to life.

Fun to imagine for a moment... okay, back to reality.

Since I love these types of behind the scenes photographs, I did a keyword search in SIRIS for similar Juley images and came up with these other wonderful photos of artists and their models or sitters.

Molly Guion in her studio at work on "Pearly Queen"

Paul Trebilcock with sitter Oscar Tschirky

Selma Burke at work in her studio with sitter

 

 

 

Sergei Konenkov in his studio with sitter



Want to see more?  Check out more artist and model/sitter photos here.

Emily Moazami, Photograph Archives, Research & Scholars Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Painting the World by Hand



Daniel Putnam Brinley (standing below) and assistant Hugh Troy at work on globe for the "Daily News" Building

Daniel Putnam Brinley (standing below) and assistant Hugh Troy at work on globe for the "Daily News" Building

Daniel Putnam Brinley (standing below) and assistant Hugh Troy at work on globe for the "Daily News" Building


What type of medium do you use to paint the world? American artist Daniel Putnam Brinley (1879-1963) used oil.  This 1930 Peter A. Juley & Son photo depicts Brinley (standing below) and his assistant Hugh Troy painting the globe for the Daily News Building in New York City. Located in the building’s lobby, the 12 foot in diameter globe is made from aluminum and rotates on its axis. It took the artists six months to complete the map, however in the 1960s the map was repainted to reflect changes to names and territories. Check out other images of Brinley and Troy at work here.  


Emily Moazami, Photo Archivist, Research & Scholars Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Television Art

Next week is Thanksgiving, but on Monday, November 21 we give thanks to the TV! The United Nations declared World Television Day back in 1996. Since I’m at work and I don’t have a TV on hand to celebrate, I thought I’d share some artwork symbolizing this communication technology. 



Sculptor Friedlander standing on the unfinished RCA building marquee under his Television relief sculptures, ca. 1934



In this Peter A. Juley & Son photo, sculptor Leo Friedlander (1890-1966) stands with a boy on the unfinished iconic marquee of the RCA Building (now GE Building) at Rockefeller Center in New York City. Above them at 15 ft. tall and 10 ft. wide are Friedlander’s Television sculpture reliefs. The group on the left, called Production, depict a female figure dancing while another figure films her movement. On the right side of the marquee, Reception receives this transmission of the dancing girl and displays it in her hands for the audience (or viewers) represented by mother and child figures.

Leo Friedlander standing in front of a scale model of Television

Commissioned to design the sculpture relief (and its sister relief Radio) in 1933, Friedlander created these stone carvings when television itself was still in its infancy. This was long before TV was broadcast 24 hours a day and there were thousands of channels and shows to choose from to get information or entertainment. Friedlander’s reliefs remind me of that simple concept of transmitting images in order to bring people and ideas together.

Check out other television related items through the Smithsonian Collections Search.  Have a good World Television Day! 

Emily Moazami, Photograph Archivist, Research & Scholars Center, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Manship and the Moods of Time

Part two in our series on the recently cataloged and digitized photographs of Paul Manship sculptures in the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection. Last month we heard from our intern Chris about his favorite Manship sculptures. Now I’ll tell you about mine.

Day

We are well into spring and each day that brings a minute more of sunlight also brings a minute less of darkness.  Because they capture this ebb and flow of time, I’m drawn to Paul Manship’s sculptures The Moods of Time.  The four allegorical figures represent morning, day, evening, and night, and were created for the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair as hour markers in a large sundial.

Night

The sculptures embody the mood associated with each phase of the daily cycle. Manship used fluid, aerodynamic lines to create a sense of motion and to reflect the celestial passage. Morning sleepily yawns and stretches as he is roused by a rooster, trumpeter, and a small figure pulling the cloth of night from his body.  Day carries the hot sun in his outstretched hands. Wind rushes through his hair as he races the two horses at his feet. His energy is juxtaposed with Evening who is lulled into drowsiness by owls as darkness sets in.   Finally, Night soars above a cloud in a deep slumber.  She is accompanied by the moon and two male figures while she takes her flight through dreams.

Morning

Paul Juley’s photos of The Moods of Time make the passage of time almost palpable. His camera’s slow shutter speed turned the World’s Fair visitors into a blur behind the sculptures, serving as a reminder that time is indeed moody and fleeting.

Evening in Manship's garden

“[The sculptures at the fair] summed up [Manship’s] obsession with time,” recalls the artist’s son John Manship. “He believed that a major purpose of art, especially art in the classical tradition, was to reconcile the passage of time with permanence.” Despite this vision, the sculptures were cast in staff (a plaster compound) and were discarded after the fair. Manship loved The Moods of Time so much that he eventually cast smaller bronze versions of the sculptures and even displayed the entire sundial in his personal garden. The originals, however, are gone forever, preserved only in the Juley photographs and in the snapshots taken by fair visitors.

The Moods of Time reminds me both of the permanence of time and the impermanence of the things around us.  Morning flies into day, day into evening, evening into night. Things come and go in a blur.

Emily Moazami, Photograph Archivist, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Proud as a Peacock

Here is a classic, and personal favorite of mine from the Charles Lang Freer papers.  Freer was meticulous in all things including his newspaper clippings; which are a treasure trove documenting current events,  providing us cultural context, and most notably, insight into Freer's character divined but what news clippings he chose to collect.  (See our youtube video on highlights of the Freer collection for more information).

We have an entire clipping book with dozens of news articles pasted to the pages documenting the sale and purchase of the Peacock Room.  At this time there were so many rumors as to who would purchase this already legendary and world renowned art work; this article provides a brief glimpse into the fervent speculation of its possible acquirement by an American corporate tycoon. However you will notice that it is not Charles Lang Freer's name on the article but instead a fellow peer in industry - J.P. Morgan who had also made himself famous with his transition from a corporate king to a fanatic art collector. There are several theories as to why Freer chose to keep secret his acquiring of the Peacock Room, but all agree he did seem to enjoy the frantic reporting and incorrect attributions.

Rachael Cristine Woody
Archivist
Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives
woodyr@si.edu

Happy Valentine's Day!

"Do you make money honey? Ah, I hope you darling.”
-Devi Dja to Acee Blue Eagle, 1948

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, we want to highlight a lipstick kiss-covered letter from Balinese dancer and movie star, Devi Dja to Pawnee-Creek artist, Acee Blue Eagle. A prolific painter, Blue Eagle became recognized as one of the outstanding American Indian artists of the 1930s-1950s. During the 1930s and 1940s, he traveled the world, lecturing and promoting Indian art, while his work was displayed in exhibits around the country. Simultaneously, Devi Dja was receiving accolades and world recognition for her own artistry.

“Devi Dja attracts the gaze of the audience like a cobra unwinding from a basket.” Spokesman Reviewer

“Riot of beauty, Nothing has been more fun in this town in a long time. It was, at times a riot. It was also very beautiful. Whether the spectator was most interested in dancing, music, costumes, humor, or even, anthropology, he got what he came for and liked it.” Evabeth Miller, Peoria, Ill. “Star.”

“Devi Dja is a bright star. Her Art was most distinguished and persuasive.” The New York Sun

“Unusual program presented by Bali Dancers constitute art exhibit, the most elaborately mounted and excitingly animated Ballet presentation ever to come to the West from the East. No dull moments! Real Art! Well Staged! The Bali and Java Dancers are something to get exited about.” The San Francisco News

Devi Dja was born in 1914 on the Indonesian island of Java. As a young girl, Dja danced the Legong, a ceremonial Balinese dance in which young girls enact mythical Hindu stories. At twelve years of age Dja was reaching the end of her career as a dancer because traditionally, Legong temple-dancers are prepubescent. Inspired by the dance career of prominent ballerina, Anna Pavlowa, Dja began dancing and touring the world with a troupe of Indonesian dancers and musicians. On this tour, Dja entranced and captured many audiences with her dances. Don Bernardo Gomez wrote of Devi Dja’s “exquisite hands: her finger nails are from an inch and a half to two inches in length, usually painted a beautiful coral color, with strikes of gold.” As she became more popular, Dja even appeared in Hollywood-made movies, including the 1945 film, The Picture of Dorian Gray. [Photo: Marie Hansen./Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images]

After marrying in 1946, Blue Eagle and Dja spent much of their married life apart while their work kept them busy traveling the world. This particular letter was written and sent by Dja to Blue Eagle in January of 1948. At this time Devi Dja was living in Hollywood pursuing her movie career.

Click here to view some of Blue Eagle's art. You can visit the Archives and view more correspondence from Dja and Blue Eagle in the Acee Blue Eagle Papers.

-Jessie Cohen, Reference Intern and Leanda Gahegan, Reference Archivist

The National Anthropological Archives

The Full Moon

Last week I was sitting at my desk one afternoon and thinking about what to write for my next blog post.  My eyes darted around my cubicle, momentarily resting on various objects: postcards of some sculptures by Daniel Chester French from my trip to Chesterwood several summers ago; photos of my nieces and my brother’s black lab; a lovely print of an painting of a woman drinking tea under cherry blossoms; library books on George Inness, Edward Hopper, and William Merritt Chase.  Nothing held my interest. Then I looked at my calendar. I was excited to get a calendar this year that recorded the phases of the moon.  And my blog post just happened to be due the week of the full moon.

Moonlight (1887)

When I think of the full moon and art I immediately think of Albert Pinkham Ryder (1847-1917). Ryder was an important late-nineteenth century painter and he painted several paintings of the moonlit land and sea.  In her 1989 monograph on Ryder, Elizabeth Broun writes, “Collectors and critics have come to consider the moonlight marine as Ryder’s personal emblem, although such paintings constitute only a small part of his oeuvre...But if there are few in number, they still hold a special place, for they are like conversations with the soul. The longing that permeates Ryder’s paintings of women and his urge toward the unattainable become the yearning of the boat for the moon...”

Four of these moonlit scenes are in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum:  Moonlight, With Sloping Mast and Dipping Prow, Flying Dutchman, and The Lover’s Boat.

The Lover's Boat (ca. 1881)

When it was exhibited in 1881 at the Society of American Artists, Ryder accompanied The Lover’s Boat with one of his own poems.  The poem begins,

In splendor rare, the moon,
In full-orbed splendor,
On sea and darkness making light,
While windy spaces and night,
In all vastness did make.

Seeing a Ryder painting reproduced online or in a book is in no way a substitute for seeing one in person.  Broun discusses the often sculptural qualities of his work and how this was achieved:

The Flying Dutchman (by 1887)

“Everything temporal evaporated as Ryder worked over the image, sometimes for months or years. Layers of glaze accumulated as before, but now a dense, creamy white pigment full of coarse-ground crystals and lumpy impurities were liberally used as well. Forms took on palpable substance over a long period of work, so that even water and clouds present a sculptural aspect.  Whenever a moon appears, it is a full moon and the thickest part of the paint film, projecting in relief as if modeled. Positive and negative shapes, light and dark, balance each composition, like contending forces of good and evil.”

With Sloping Mast and Dipping Prow (ca. 1880-1885)

Besides the four moonlit paintings at the American Art Museum, the museum owns several other paintings by Ryder. There are also many other Ryder resources listed in the Smithsonian Collections Search Center.  His paintings and their current locations are listed in the Inventory of American Paintings.  The American Art Museum's Photograph Archives contain historical photographs of works by Ryder. Broun’s publication, along with several others, is held in the Libraries.  The Archives of American Art holds several items related to Ryder.

If you are interested in artistic representations of the moon, many other artists are known for their moonlit scenes, including Ralph Blakelock, Charles Burchfield, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, George Inness, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Dwight William Tryon. All of this information can be found by searching the National Art Inventories.

So when you look up to see the full moon tonight, I wonder if you will think of Albert Pinkham Ryder.  I know I will.

--Nicole Semenchuk, Research and Scholars Center, American Art Museum
   (email: semenchukn@si.edu)