Weekend January 21-22, 2023 –  AN ARTIST AND INVENTOR WHO WORKED IN PARIS AND PHILADEPHIA

By admin

FROM THE ARCHIVES

WEEKEND, JANUARY  21-22,  2023


ISSUE 892

THE VIBRANT
ART OF
H. LYMAN SAYEN

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

Courtesy Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Henry Lyman Saÿen worked as an artist and scientist throughout his career. He acquired several patents for his inventions, which included a new type of X‑ray tube and a steel billiard ball. He traveled to Paris in 1906 to produce illustrations for a New York department store and joined Henri Matisse’s class. Saÿen was one of the first painters to introduce modern art into the conservative culture of Philadelphia, and his large vibrant images of landscapes and still lifes shocked many people. An assistant at the department store even told the artist that ​“if that is the way you paint you will never put shoes on your child’s feet.” World War I forced Saÿen to return to Philadelphia, where he spent his weekends at his friend Carl Newman’s summer home, painting the Huntington Valley landscape. (Breeskin, H. Lyman Saÿen, 1970)

H. Lyman Saÿen, Self-Portrait, 1910-1913, encaustic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Lyman Sayen to his nation, 1967.6.17

H. Lyman Saÿen, Zinnias, 1909-1912, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Lyman Sayen to his nation, 1967.6.23

H. Lyman Saÿen, The Thundershower (study for painting), ca. 1916, tempera, pencil and printed paper on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Lyman Sayen to his nation, 1968.19.6

H. Lyman Saÿen, Valley Falls I, 1915, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Lyman Sayen to his nation, 1968.19.1

H. Lyman Saÿen, Rooftops, Paris, 1909-1912, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Lyman Sayen to his nation, 1967.6.15

H. Lyman Saÿen, Notre Dame, ca. 1907, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Colonel Harrison K. Sayen, 1967.137

H. Lyman Saÿen, Child in Rocker, ca. 1916, opaque watercolor on paper mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Lyman Sayen to his nation, 1967.6.3

H. Lyman Saÿen, Portrait of a Girl, 1909-1914, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Lyman Sayen to his nation, 1967.6.13

H. Lyman Saÿen, Daughter in a Rocker, 1917-1918, tempera and collage on wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Lyman Sayen to his nation, 1967.6.4

WEEKEND PHOTO OF THE DAY
SEND YOUR RESPONSE TO:
ROOSEVELTISLANDHISTORY@GMAIL.COM

FRIDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

THE FORMER STEINWAY HALL THAT HAS BEEN INCORPORATED INTO
NEW BUILDING AT 111 WEST 57 STREET.
JAY JACOBSON, THOM HEYER,, ALEXIS VILLAFANE, GLORIA HERMAN GOT IT RIGHT.  FROM ED LITCHER:

111 West 57th Street, also known as Steinway Tower, is a supertall residential skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Developed by JDS Development Group and Property Markets Group, it is situated along Billionaires’ Row on the northside of 57th Street near Sixth Avenue. The main portion of the building is an 84-story, 1,428-foot (435-meter) tower designed by SHoP Architects and completed in 2021. Preserved at the base is the 16-story Steinway Building (also Steinway Hall), a former Steinway & Sons store designed by Warren and Wetmore and completed in 1925, which originally carried the address 111 West 57th Street.

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff

All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated

SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM

THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.

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