New York ; Art and Cultural Capital of the Gilded Age PDF
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New York: Art and Cultural Capital of the Gilded Age Fueled by a flourishing capitalist economy, undergirded by advancements in architectural design and urban infrastructure, and patronized by growing bourgeois and elite classes, New York’s built environment was dramatically transformed in the 1870s and 1880s. This book argues that this constituted the formative period of New York’s modernization and cosmopolitanism—the product of a vital self-consciousness and a deliberate intent on the part of its elite citizenry to create a world-class cultural metropolis reflecting the city’s economic and political preeminence. The interdisciplinary essays in this book examine New York’s late nineteenth-century evolution not simply as a question of its physical layout but also in terms of its radically new social composition, comprising the individuals, institutions, and organizations that played determining roles in the city’s cultural ascendancy. Margaret R. Laster is an independent curator and scholar of American art. Previous posts include associate curator of American art at the New-York Historical Society and Lunder Consortium for Whistler Studies Fellow at the Freer Gallery of Art. Her research centers on art and material culture of the nineteenth century, including Gilded Age collecting and patronage histories. Chelsea Bruner is a member of the liberal arts faculty at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, where she teaches design history. Her work centers on architecture and interiors of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with an emphasis on elite patronage and the professionalization of architectural design in the Gilded Age. Routledge Research in Art History Routledge Research in Art History is our home for the latest scholarship in the field of art history. The series publishes research monographs and edited collections, covering areas including art history, theory, and visual culture. These high-level books focus on art and artists from around the world and from a multitude of time periods. By mak- ing these studies available to the worldwide academic community, the series aims to promote quality art history research. New York: Art and Cultural Capital of the Gilded Age Edited by Margaret R. Laster and Chelsea Bruner First published 2019 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 Taylor & Francis The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Laster, Margaret R., editor. | Bruner, Chelsea, editor. Title: New York, art and cultural capital of the Gilded Age / edited by Margaret R. Laster and Chelsea Bruner. Description: New York : Routledge, 2018. | Series: Routledge research in art history | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018007119 (print) | LCCN 2018007792 (ebook) | ISBN 9781351027588 (eBook) | ISBN 9781138493629 (hardback : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: New York (N.Y.)—Civilization—19th century. | New York (N.Y.)—History—1865–1898. | Arts and society—New York (State)— New York—History—19th century. Classification: LCC F128.47 (ebook) | LCC F128.47 .N53 2018 (print) | DDC 974.7/103—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018007119 ISBN: 978-1-138-49362-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-351-02758-8 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC This volume is dedicated to the late David Jaffee. We knew David as a brilliant, committed scholar, and later, through his participation in this project, came to consider him a friend. It is with great respect and admiration that we offer this book in his memory. Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiv Introduction 1 MARGARET R. LASTER AND CHELSEA BRUNER PART I Creating the Art and Cultural Capital 15 1 Looking West From the Empire City: National Landscape and Visual Culture in Gilded Age New York 17 DAVID SCOBEY 2 The François Premier Style in New York: The William K. and Alva Vanderbilt House 41 KEVIN D. MURPHY 3 Aestheticizing Tendencies in Hudson River School Landscape Painting at the Beginning of the Gilded Age 56 ALAN WALLACH PART II Institutionalizing Art and Culture in the Capital 71 4 The Lenox Library: New York’s Lost Treasure House 73 SALLY WEBSTER 5 Publishing and Promoting a New York City Art World: Scribner’s Illustrated Monthly, 1870–1881 90 PAGE KNOX viii Contents 6 An Unsung Hero: Henry Gurdon Marquand and His 1889 Gift to The Metropolitan Museum of Art 105 ESMÉE QUODBACH 7 Metropolitan, Inc.: Public Subsidy and Private Gain at the Genesis of the American Art Museum 122 JOHN OTT 8 Un-Domesticating the Ideal: William Wetmore Story and The Metropolitan Museum of Art 139 LAUREN LESSING PART III Depicting the Capital in Art and Culture 161 9 Before the Farragut: Who Was Augustus Saint-Gaudens? 163 THAYER TOLLES 10 Crossing Broadway: New York and the Culture of Capital in the Late Nineteenth Century 179 DAVID JAFFEE 11 Bulls, Bears, and Buildings: William Holbrook Beard’s Wall Street 192 ROSS BARRETT Afterword 208 JOSHUA BROWN Selected Bibliography 212 Contributors 215 Index 217 Illustrations Cover Frank Waller, Interior View of the Metropolitan Museum of Art when in Fourteenth Street, 1881. Oil on canvas (cropped slightly). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, 1895 (95.29) Color Plates Plate 1 John Gast, American Progress. Chromolithograph (1873) of original Gast oil painting (1872). Library of Congress Plate 2 “Japanese Parlor, North West Corner.” Earl Shinn, Mr. Vanderbilt’s House and Collection, described by Edward Strahan [pseud.]. Two vols. (Philadelphia: G. Barrie & Sons, ca. 1883–1884) Plate 3 John F. Kensett, Long Neck Point from Contentment Island, ca. 1870– 1872. Oil on canvas. Carnegie Museum of Art, Purchase, Gift of the Women’s Committee (80.51) Plate 4 Richard Morris Hunt, Lenox Library, New York City. Perspective rendering, 1871. Watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper. Library of Congress Plate 5 Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Richard Watson Gilder, Helena de Kay Gilder, and Rodman de Kay Gilder, modeled 1879, cast ca. 1883–1884. Plaster. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of David and Joshua Gilder, 2002 (2002.445) Plate 6 Domenico Ventura, Henry Gurdon Marquand (1819–1902), 1852. Watercolor with gouache. Collection of Edward Heimiller Plate 7 William Wetmore Story, Semiramis, designed 1872, carved 1873. Marble. Dallas Museum of Art, Gift of Morynne and Robert E. Motley in memory of Robert Earl Motley Jr., 1942–1998 (1999.117.A-B) Plate 8 Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Farragut Monument, 1877–1880. Madison Square Park, New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Plate 9 Currier & Ives, The City of New York, 1876. Color lithograph. Library of Congress Plate 10 William Holbrook Beard, The Bulls and Bears in the Market, 1879. Oil on linen. Collection of the New-York Historical Society, Purchase, Thomas Jef- ferson Bryan Fund (1971.104)
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