Jean Xceron, Watercolor #308, 1947, watercolor on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia and Phillip Frost, 1986.92.107
Jean Xceron, Greek by birth, came to the United States when he was fourteen years old. For the next six years he lived and worked with relatives in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and New York City. In 1910, determined to be an artist, he moved to Washington, D.C., and enrolled in classes at the Corcoran School of Art. At the Corcoran, where the curriculum focused on the traditional academic practice of drawing from plaster casts, Xceron perfected his skills as a draftsman. He first encountered modernism when, in 1916, two fellow students arranged an exhibition of avant-garde paintings borrowed from Alfred Stieglitz. The show made a deep impression on Xceron, whose own appreciation for flat color and expressive distortion paralleled the work being done by others.
Jean Xceron, Portrait No. 38, 1932, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia and Phillip Frost, 1986.92.106
In 1920, Xceron moved to New York and became friends with Joaquin Torres-Garcia, Max Weber, Abraham Walkowitz, and Joseph Stella. He exhibited in the New York Independents’ exhibitions in 1921 and 1922. In New York, Xceron studied Céanne and read as much as possible about new artistic movements abroad. Xceron was finally able to travel to Paris in 1927. There he began writing reviews of the latest in art for the Boston Evening Transcript and the Paris edition of the Chicago Tribune. His articles on Jean Hélion, Hans Arp, John Graham, Theo Van Doesburg, and other artists showed his increasingly sophisticated understanding of recent art. About the same time, his own painting underwent a dramatic transition. As a writer, he was quickly accepted into the Parisian art world as one of the few critics sympathetic to modern art; but few realized that Xceron was an accomplished painter as well. Soon, however, members of the Parisian Greek community became aware of Xceron’s talents, and Christian Zervos, editor of the influential magazine Cahiers d’Art, arranged a solo exhibition at the Galèrie de France in 1931. Visitors to this first exhibition saw an artist who was working his way through Cubism. Still-life and figural motifs remained prominent, but the artist was striving to capture rhythmic and fluid movement rather than solid form. Over the next several years, Xceron moved away from his figural foundations, introducing at first gridlike structural patterns and, by the mid 1930s, planar arrangements of severe Constructivist purity.
Jean Xceron, Portrait No. 61, 1932, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia and Phillip Frost, 1986.92.105
When Xceron returned to New York in 1935 for an exhibition at the Garland Gallery, he was among the inner circle of Abstraction-Création and other leading Parisian art groups. Moreover, he had achieved some reputation. He again visited New York in 1937 for a show at Nierendorf Gallery. Although planning only a visit, his move proved permanent. Xceron soon joined the American Abstract Artists, who welcomed him as a leading Parisian artist. Despite his reputation, however, he fared little better commercially than did his new colleagues. He was hired by the WPA Federal Art Project and executed an abstract mural for the chapel at Riker’s Island Penitentiary. In 1939 he began working for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, where he remained for the rest of his career.
Figure 3: Installation view of Abstraction in Relation to Surrounding Architecture by Jean Xceron, Hebrew Chapel, Assembly Room, Rikers Island Penitentiary. (Presumed destroyed). Photograph by Blitzstein, May 6, 1942. Collection of the Public Design Commission of the City of New York.
Abstraction (1942) by John Xceron, left panel, oil on canvas, Hebrew Chapel. Collection of the Public Design Commission of the City of New York.
Abstraction (1942) by John Xceron, right panel, oil on canvas, Hebrew Chapel. Collection of the Public Design Commission of the City of New York.
Untitled by Arshile Gorky, 86 square feet, stained glass, Protestant Chapel, never installed. Collection of the Public Design Commission of the City of New York.
In 1940 and 1941, the Art Commission reviewed abstract murals by Balcomb Greene and John Xceron, as well as a stained glass installation by Arshile Gorky, for new chapels in the Rikers Island penitentiary.
Balcomb Greene proposed a mural installation opposite a work by John Xceron in the Assembly Room of the Christian Science Chapel. Greene noted his intention to use non-objective imagery, as the Chapel served members of both the Orthodox Jewish and Christian Science religions, which “do not jointly permit of any representation.” For reasons undocumented, Greene’s proposal was rejected by the Commission, and instead the Commission approved two murals in the room by Xceron. Both have either been covered up or removed.
Arshile Gorky’s stained glass proposal was based on traditional medieval church symbols. It was initially rejected in March of 1940 but then approved the following month. However, the project was never realized, because, according to Gorky’s assistant Giorgio Cavallon, the artist was depressed over a lost love.
Portrait No. 61 andPortrait No. 38, both of 1932, represent midway points in Xceron’s artistic development. Created several years after his move to Paris, they reflect Xceron’s simultaneous commitment to a tactile surface and the rhythmic movement of line and form. By the early thirties, Xceron was fully indoctrinated into the aesthetics of De Stijl, but had not yet accepted the geometric formulation of spatial balance that would shape his work during the mid 1930s. The muted palette of soft gray tones in the portraits had not yet yielded to the vibrant, almost optical color that became his hallmark during the geometric phase of his work. By the late 1930s, Xceron’s paintings took on striking similarities to Kandinsky’s work of the mid 1920s, and works like Watercolor #308 (1947) show parallels with the paintings of Rudolf Bauer that played so prominent a role in the exhibitions Hilla Rebay presented at the Guggenheim Foundation and later at the at the Museum of Non-Objective Painting. This connection with Rebay meant that Xceron never became closely involved with the inner circle of the American Abstract Artists. They, for the most part, rejected the mystical notions of art propounded by the influential baroness.(1)
COMPOSITION #8 LEFT SIE COMPOSITION #239 A RIGHT SIDE CHRISTIES (C)
The history of murals in municipal buildings is always mystifying. Every time I discover one more, others pop into view. With the continual digitalization of City records, recently of the design commission more treasures are discovered,
Judith Berdy
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM MASTER ART CHRISTIES
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 Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
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William H. Johnson, Children’s Dance, ca. 1940-1941, oil on plywood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.580
Politicians have always ended up on the shelf. Maybe a safe place for them.
Unidentified (Mexican), (Children Swimming), n.d., woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Olin Dows, 1983.90.187
Jean-Francis Auburtin, Children at Play, 1915, pencil and watercolor, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Republic of France, 1915.11.3
Unidentified, The Mabie Children, ca. 1852, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Sturm, 1963.12.11
Elizabeth Olds, Silkscreen for Children, 1955, color woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1984.31.45
William H. Johnson, Children Playing at Dockside, ca. 1939-1942, tempera and pen and ink with pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.1066
Eddie Arning, Mother Feeding Children, 1973, oil pastel on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Sackton, 1987.51.15
Patsy Billups, Three Children, A Car and A Church, 1976, colored pencil and pen on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.106
Lloyd McNeill, Lou Stovall, Feed Kids, 1969, screenprint, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1970.29
Viola Frey, Self Portrait with Toys, 1981, alkyd oil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Bernard Koteen Revocable Trust, 2013.85.2
Zelermy, Memory Vessel with Doll Parts, n.d., sewer pipe clay? overlaid with applied brown compound, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr., 1998.84.67
The folk art tradition of “memory vessels” grew out of grave-marking or commemorative rituals found in several cultures. Objects embedded in the surface of the piece often provide clues to the person who owned or used the items. With its doll parts and clocks, this vessel may have been created to commemorate a child, suggesting a too-short life. These special items may have been from the maker’s childhood, and were gathered here as a keepsake.
63 rd and Lexington Avenue subway station Nina Lublin and Hara Reiser got it right!
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 Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM
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I had the opportunity today to take a M103 bus from City Hall to 63rd Street. It is an unusual and sad feeling to see the emptiness of some neighborhoods. From my left hand seat, I had a great view on a sunny morning to discover sites we usually ignore. The architecture and design and wonderful hodge-podge of our downtown structures lends excitement to the buildings thru the graffiti and shabbiness of some areas.
No demonstrations or even visitors this morning. City Hall is working from home.
The gracious entry to the Manhattan Bridge and off to Brooklyn
The wonderful former Bowery Savings Bank Building in Chinatown is now a Capitale catering hall. Two icons stand guard at the gates.
You knew your money was safe with all that looks over the building
The lady is protecting the water tank
Chair, table, booth and that is what we sell!
A blur on a mural heading north
The Bouwerie Lane Theatre is a former bank building which became an Off-Broadway theatre, located at 330 Bowery at Bond Street in Manhattan, New York City. It is located in the NoHo Historic District.
The building’s facade on the Bowery (2010) The cast-iron building, which was constructed from 1873-1874, was designed by Henry Engelbert in the Italianate style for the Atlantic Savings Bank, which became the Bond Street Saving Bank before the building was completed.
When the bank failed in 1879, the building was sold to the German Exchange Bank, which served the German immigrant community. ] Prior to the 1960s, the building was used for the storage of fabrics. Then in 1963, the building was converted into a theater by Honey Waldman, who produced several plays there.
From 1974 to 2006, it was the home of the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre. Among the many plays and musicals that were produced at the theatre, the first was The Immoralist (1963) with Frank Langella, Dames at Sea (1968), Night and Day (2000) by Tom Stoppard, Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera (2003), and the Cocteau’s final production, Jean Genet’s The Maids X 2 (2006).
] The building was purchased by Adam Gordon in 2007 for conversion into a private mansion with a climbing wall, and the Bowery street front used for retail. In 1967, the building was designated a New York City landmark,[1] and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The AIA Guide to New York City calls it “One of the most sophisticated cast-iron buildings.”
WIKIPEDIA
Arches, bay widows and some contemporary at the street level and dining too!
Lisa Fernandez, Nina Lublin, Gloria Herman got it right WALKING DOWN 7TH AVENUE IN Manhattan’s fashion district, you might be surprised to see a massive button and needle leaning against the Fashion District Information Center. While the sculpture was designed in the style of works by Claes Oldenburg, it was designed and built along with the information center by Pentagram Architectural Services.
Just next to the information booth, a statue of a garment worker toils in the shadow of the huge needle and button. This weathered-looking bronze statue is a work by Judith Weller. It depicts her father, one of a great many Jewish immigrants who moved to New York and wound up working in the garment district. Looming over the immigrant worker, the needle and button feel less whimsical and more menacingly oppressive.
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
Judith Berdy Wikipedia Foursquare
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is well known and active in many quilting groups including: Quilt N Queens, Brooklyn Quilters Guild, Empire Quilting Guild, Quilters of Color of NYC, Quits for Cops
PRAYER WARRIOR AFRICAN MASK
ROCHELLE HOLLAND
DR. ROCHELLE A. HOLLAND
QUILT BIO
My educational background is in sociology and mental health; however as a teen, during the weekends , I took classes at a local arts center. During 2012, I started learning mixed media art by watching YouTube and completing classes at Craftsy. Currently I enjoy creating mixed media fine art by using fabric, canvas and/or paper as substrata. I equally enjoy designing and sewing quilts. I have always admired the works of other artists and I have grown to enjoy my autistic process and work,
A BIT MORE ON WATER TANKS
STEPHEN BLANK SENT US TWO GREAT IMAGES HE TOOK OF MANHATTAN WATER TANKS
THIS IMAGE IS A FEATURED AD IN TODAY’S NY TIMES MAGAZINE.
THE AMERICAN STANDARD BUILDING ON WEST 40TH STREET OVERLOOKING BRYANT PARK, ALSO KNOW AS AMERICAN RADIATOR BUILDING. CLARA BELLA, ARON EISEMPRESS AND HARA REISER GOT IT RIGHT
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 Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
ROOSEVELT ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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On Monday, January 25, a brand new Roosevelt Island branch will open at 504 Main Street. The new 5,200-square-foot location will open with grab-and-go service, and replace Roosevelt Island’s former one-room branch.
At this time, you will be able to access a small area of the branch to pick up, check out, and drop off material requested online or over the phone. Beginning today, you can use our website to request items that can be picked up from the new branch as soon as Monday; an email notification will be sent to you when your items are ready. If you prefer, you are now also able to use your phone to reserve material at this location and use contactless self-checkout when you download the new NYPL app, available for iOS and Android devices. For full details on our grab-and-go service and reopening policies, please visit our website.
The Library currently offers a wide range of free virtual programs and services to all New Yorkers. When conditions allow us to expand services, the new library will offer significantly more space for additional classes, storytimes, and computers, plus designated areas for children, teens, and adults, a community room, an outdoor seating area with an exterior book drop, and more. Learn more about our Roosevelt Island location.
The completion of this exciting project, managed by the New York City Department of Design and Construction, ensures that the Roosevelt Island Library will continue to serve New Yorkers now and in the future. The Library is thankful to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Speaker Corey Johnson, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, City Council Member Ben Kallos, NYS Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, NYS Senator José Serrano, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Former Speaker Gifford Miller, Former Council Member Jessica Lappin, and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp. for their support of this project.
Yours,
Sumie Ota
Associate Director for the East Manhattan Neighborhood Library Network The New York Public Library
269th Edition
January 23-24, 2021
Stephen Blank
“The Wondrous Water Towers of New York City” is an art print by Pop Chart Lab featuring a “curated selection of New York City’s best rooftop darlings.”
Tanks for the Memories
If you have kept up with the reading, you will recall that the Croton Aqueduct system (and High Bridge) were completed in 1848. But that was scarcely the end of the story of water in Manhattan. Read on.
Bear in mind that a lot of things were going on in the city. Most important, New York City’s population doubled every decade from 1800 to 1880, and it expanded physically north rapidly on Manhattan Island as well. This radical growth demanded a lot of water (and, we shall see, produced a lot of water).
The Croton system brought clean water to the city, but remember that getting water into the city was one thing. Getting water into building where people lived and worked was another, and getting waste water (and other waste) out of buildings and roads was still another. These tasks were not carried out in any coherent fashion across the city, and some neighborhoods lagged badly behind.
The water towers we see on New York City roofs played an important part in the complicated evolution of our city’s water system. They have become a symbol, an icon of the city.
In 1865, New York State created a general sewage system that took into account the natural water histories of New York City districts when creating drainage lines. Unfortunately, these requirements only extended to unsewered areas; older districts would continue to struggle with sewage issues and access to clean water. Imagine the task of laying down water lines and sewer pipes in the crowded, narrow streets of much of the city.
By this time, some wealthier city households had indoor plumbing, which would have included one faucet and a water closet of some sort, but drainage systems were still in their infancy: builders buried house drains under cellar floors, rendering them inaccessible for repair or cleaning and preventing proper ventilation. If you weren’t that rich, you shared a water tap and privy in a common yard or hall. What this meant, of course, was that these districts were not only poorer but more crowded and sicker – suffering much more from typhus and small pox. Only during the 1880s, did indoor plumbing begin to appear more widely, and roughly 50 years later, top-floor storage tanks started popping up all over the city. Soon, the city mandated that every building more than 6 stories tall have a water tower.
The Tenement Act of 1901 states, “In every tenement house here after erected there shall be a separate water-closet in a separate compartment within each apartment.” Although new tenement construction had to comply and nearly all buildings erected after 1910 were built with indoor toilets, many existing tenement owners were slow to come into line with the new regulations. Indeed, in 1937, an estimated 165,000 families living in tenements were still without access to private indoor toilets.
Before we turn our attention to water tanks, let’s answer a question I know you want to ask. Before we had a comprehensive sewer system, what happened to our waste?
Well, until the late nineteenth century, most New Yorkers relied on outhouses located in backyards and alleys. While some residents had their own private outhouses, anyone living in a tenement would have shared facilities with their neighbors. The outhouse/resident ratio varied, but most tenements had just three to four outhouses and it was not uncommon to find over 100 people living in a single tenement building. This meant that people often shared a single outhouse with anywhere from 25 to 30 of their neighbors, making long line-ups and limited privacy common problems. Uncomfortable at best in the daytime and often dangerous at night. So, many continued to use chamber pots and – hopefully – empty them in outhouses and not in the street.
You cannot photograph the smell Wiki Commons
In 1975-77, I lived in a 5 story tenement on 2nd Ave at 82nd Street. Each floor had two apartments – front and back (with a window for air circulation in the dividing wall) – and a sleeping room in the hallway that would have been rented in 8-hour shifts to 3 working men. Perhaps 20 people had lived on each floor. In the hall on each floor was one toilet (and a water tap in each kitchen).
In the City, outhouses were permanent structures which meant that removing human waste was a thriving business in the nineteenth-century New York. Human waste was known as “night soil” probably because so-called night soil cart men, who worked for companies that had been lucky enough to win a coveted city contract for waste removal, made their living largely after dark. They shoveled waste from the city’s outhouses into carts (sometimes other garbage and animal carcasses would also be collected) and then disposed of the contents. Where did it go? Into the rivers, of course, and, we are told (though I am not absolutely sure of this), it was dumped on what became the UWS – which may account for some of the oddness some find there.
Even as toilets began to replace outhouses, there was still much work to be done as most cities had not yet built enough sewer pipes to connect every house. In the 1880s, two-thirds of flush toilets still emptied into backyard cesspools, which had to be cleaned to keep from overflowing. In New York, not until the first decades of the twentieth century were all toilets finally connected to main sewer lines.
In any case, water towers.
As you know, the source of New York’s water was in the Croton Highlands, considerably more elevated than the city (the water had to flow downhill in the aqueduct to reach the city). The force of this change in height (hydrostatic pressure) pushed water up to about five floors in standard multi-story buildings. But as buildings grew taller – and by the first decade of the twentieth century, much taller – the city needed a way to get water to the higher floors of buildings. One way would be to increase pressure to push water to higher levels. But this was viewed as dangerous, leading to exploding pipes. A second method, storing water in roof top tanks was viewed as a safer and cheaper alternative. Thus water tanks. Water tanks are simply giant barrels that store between 5,000 and 10,000 gallons of water which cover all uses. When the water level drops below a certain level, pumps are activated and the tanks are filled. Their design hasn’t changed substantially since they were mandated to ensure that all New York City residents had access to water. Made of untreated wood (originally redwood, now from cedar planks) so that no chemicals or sealants will seep into drinking water, the tanks leak when first constructed until water saturates the wood, making it swell, closing any gaps between the planks held together with cable. Steel tanks are possible, but are more expensive and require more maintenance. Roof top water tanks look old, New York City antiques, but they are all pretty new. A well maintained wooden tank lasts about 25 years and then requires replacement, thus keeping the water-tower-building business alive.
When first introduced, they were used solely to provide water to the occupants of the building. After the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, buildings were required to install fire safety measures. The bottom 40% of the water in a tank is now saved for fire protection and the rest is for domestic use.
The water tanks reduce the chance that water will freeze during cold weather. It is difficult for water in a water tower to freeze if it is constantly being drained and refilled. Water can be supplied during a power failure (at least until tank needs to be refilled). Water towers provide water during peak usage times, reducing stress on the municipal water system. They are a cheaper alternative to pumps, which demand electricity and must be maintained.
Rather than roof top tanks, other systems make use water pressure tanks, which store very little water and continuously supply water at the necessary pressure by pumping. Sometimes builders hide the tanks inside elaborate structures.
Originally, water tank builders were barrel makers who expanded their craft to meet a growing need, as city buildings grew taller. Today, New York water tanks are all made by one of two local, family-owned companies — Rosenwach Tank Company and the Isseks Brothers.
The Rosenwach Tank Company, the best known of the group, first began on the Lower East Side in 1866 by barrel maker William Dalton, who later hired Polish immigrant Harris Rosenwach. After Dalton died, Rosenwach bought the company for $55 and, along with his family, expanded services over the decades to include historic building preservation, outdoor site furnishings, and new water technologies.
Rosenwach boasts that they’re the only company that mills its own quality wood tanks in New York City. Isseks Brothers opened in 1890 and is now overseen by David Hochhauser, his brother, and sister. As Scott Hochhauser told the NY Times, there has been little changes to their water tank construction process over the past century. Despite this, a lot of people are curious about the tanks. “Some are interested in the history; a lot of artists like them, for the beauty; and there are people who are into the mechanics of them. But I don’t get too many people call up to say, ‘Hey, tell me about those steel tanks.’”
SONJA HENIE NINA LUBLIN, MARTIN DORNBAUM, GLORIA HERMAN, LIDA FERNANDEZ, ARLENE BESSENOFF WERE THE FIRST ONES.
SPELLING DID NOT COUNT
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 Deborah Dorff Roosevelt Island Historical Society
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Agnes Tait, Skating in Central Park, 1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.15
Agnes Tait had long wanted to make a large, festive painting of winter revelers in Central Park, but without a patron she could not take on this project. When the Public Works of Art Project gave her support in the winter of 1933–1934, the artist had her opportunity. As skaters and sledders flocked to the frozen lake and snowy slopes of Central Park, Tait joined them to sketch the winter fun. Then she retreated to her studio to make her painting.
Tait showed the park in late afternoon as the Manhattan sky began to blush and the street lamps to glow, but skating and sledding were still in full swing. Once she had the landscape painted, Tait added figures in groups to create a colorful pattern against the snow and ice. The dark branches of the bare trees make a more subtle design against the white snow and mist and the golden sky. Around the ends of tree branches and in patches along the snowbanks, Tait painted areas of gray into which she drew snow-covered twigs and grasses by scraping away the gray paint with the end of her paintbrush.
Frank McClure, Skating on the Potomac, ink, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Frank McClure, 1979.98.318
Winslow Homer, Skating on the Ladies’ Skating Pond–Central Park, from Harper’s Weekly, January 28, 1860, 1860, wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, Gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian, 1996.63.108
Winslow Homer, Skating at Boston, from Harper’s Weekly, March 13, 1859, 1859, wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian, 1996.63.31
Avery F. Johnson, Skating on Bonaparte’s Pond (mural study, Bordentown, New Jersey Post Office), ca. 1940, oil on canvas mounted on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.6
Palais de Glace Ice Skating Rink Paris – Vintage Advertising Poster by Jules
NINA LUBLIN, HARA REISER, BILL WILLARD WERE THE FIRST TO GET IT!
EDITORIAL
What a relief, a joyous transition from daily trepidation to a new day of enlightenment and truthfulness.
Judith Berdy
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 Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
Sources
Wikipedia
Smithsonian American Art Museum Google Images
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The Painting Presented to the Bidens After the Inauguration
Robert S. Duncanson, Landscape with Rainbow, 1859, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Leonard and Paula Granoff, 1983.95.160
Robert Seldon Duncanson was America’s best known African American painter in the years surrounding the Civil War. Based in Cincinnati, he was supported by abolitionists who bought his paintings and sponsored his trip to Europe to study from the Old Masters. In this pastoral landscape, a young couple strolls through fertile pastureland, toward a house at the end of a rainbow.The cattle head home toward the nearby cottage, reinforcing the sense that man lives in harmony with nature. Duncanson’s vision of rural America as Arcadia, a landscape akin to paradise, is a characteristic feature of his work, a late hope for peace before the onset of Civil War.
Winslow Homer, The Inaugural Procession at Washington Passing the Gate of the Capitol Grounds, from Harper’s Weekly, March 16, 1861, 1861, wood engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, Gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian, 1996.63.11
Charles Sheeler, Nation’s Capitol, 1943, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of State, 1971.281
Bertha E. Jaques, Capitol in Winter, n.d., etching, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chicago Society of Etchers, 1935.13.46
Joseph C. Claghorn, The United States Capitol, ca. 1930-1939, drypoint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Constance Claghorn, 1971.93
Unidentified, Family Group before United States Capitol, ca. 1850, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1968.36
Thomas Doughty, Childs and Inman, The Capitol. Washington, D.C., 1832, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1980.67.6
The Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President, from Harper’s Weekly, March 4, 1861, attributed to Winslow Homer Greetings from D.C. where change comes every four—or sometimes eight—years. It’s an interesting time to be in the nation’s capital. On January 20th, our newest president will be sworn in; his election was a momentous achievement in so many ways. The same can be said for Abraham Lincoln who was sworn in as the nation’s sixteenth president on March 4, 1861. Famed American artist Winslow Homer was in attendance and created this wood engraving on paper for Harper’s magazine. It shows Lincoln delivering his remarks on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, under a specially designed canopy. Dignitaries fill the area behind him, while the well-dressed throngs below share Homer’s perspective. The men wear hats, the women bonnets, while one woman in the foreground carries an parasol, presumably to shade herself from the glare of the sun. Painter and graphic artist Winslow Homer, whose work is well represented at American Art, was known for his illustrations of the Civil War, also published by Harper’s, and his luminous seascape paintings. While you’re at American Art, check out the exhibition, The Honor of Your Company is Requested: President Lincoln’s Inaugural Ball. It gives an inside, behind-the-scenes look into American history and pageantry in the same building where Lincoln’s second inaugural ball was held. Since we’re starting off a new year, I’m going to end this post with Lincoln’s famous words from his second inaugural speech in 1865 as a new year’s wish for 2009: “With malice toward none; with charity for all . . . .”
Samuel F. B. Morse, Study for The House of Representatives, ca. 1821, oil on panel, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through a grant from the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, 1978.166
James F. Minnicks, District of Columbia, from the United States Series, 1949, gouache on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.216
Isidore Laurent Deroy, Augustus Kollner, Washington–Capitol (East View), ca. 1848, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of International Business Machines Corporation, 1966.48.60
Emily Burling Waite, White House from South Gardens, 1923, etching, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chicago Society of Etchers, 1935.13.366
ARLENE BESSEOFF WAS THE ONLY PERSON TO GET IT RIGHT
Letter to the Editor
What a wonderful day. The pall of four years of destructive politics has ended. As I have for every inauguration since John F. Kennedy’s, in 1961, This one was special, very special.
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)
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM (c)
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Over 5 years ago I had the idea to put a bookshelf in our basement for people to leave books and others to take them. The idea was accepted and now we have 3 shelves that are usually full of books to take.
The original “Grab N Go”
It has been very successful and provides us with an amazing selection of titles left by tenants by over 300 residents of the apartments. Every few weeks we roll out a trash bin and editions that are in bad shape of have no hope finding a home go to recycling.
This is a sample of what was discovered one day on the shelf. If your building does not have a shelf, lobby to get one. It is a great source of reading and discovery for everyone.
We used to take videos to donate to charities, but they are not desired now. We can certify that the most frequently found video was Jane Fonda Workout.
Politicians have always ended up on the shelf. Maybe a safe place for them.
Great authors and late night hosts find a home here soon after publication
A cookbook for every taste
For those who dine out, here is the restaurant list from the 1990’s and a grand wine directory from 1982.
These two titles were sitting next to each other on the shelf.
Dictionaries in most every language have passed thru the shelves also with many foreign language books.
Diet books and self improvement have always been popular on the shelf.
Great book to doodle in while on a long ZOOM meeting……..
Any religion or belief has been well represented here
We used this photo last Tuesday V. Harwood and Andy Sparberg got it right!
EDITORIAL
May today be a day of peace, harmony and celebration of the inauguration of our new President and Vice President. Judith Berdy
FROM A READER
Hi Judy– Thanks for the info on Tuesday’s 266th Edition of “From the Archives” on 1/19/21. Astoria was my home for 7 years when I first moved to NYC in 1988. I always wondered about the little cemetery on 21st St. & 26th Ave., so thanks for the background. I have also always loved Astoria’s cute little version of the Flatiron Bldg on 21st St. & Astoria Blvd. Nice to know it actually preceded the Chelsea Flatiron Bldg & that it has a name: L.Gally Building & that it was originally a furniture store. Continuing to learn little bits of our collective histories in this melting pot of NYC is a delight! All the best: Thom
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 Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
Judith Berdy
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This tidy, well maintained cemetery is the last vestige of Our Land of Mount Carmel ‘s previous location on 21st Street and 26th Avenue.
You may have driven by it for many years, as I have, and wondered why this cemetery is on a busy thoroughfare.
Behind a chain link fence in Astoria, Queens, in the shadow of the Triborough Bridge, sits a small cemetery. Some of the gravestones are toppled over, while others are still standing straight.
The land belongs to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, which long ago sat adjacent to the churchyard before moving up the street from its original home on what used to be called Emerald Avenue. It was located within the heart of a rapidly growing Irish community.
Many Irish immigrants arrived in New York during and after the Great Famine (1845 to 1849). Some settled in Astoria, where they worked as servants in the houses of the wealthy as well as in factories and greenhouses. Soon, the community grew so large that the Catholic congregation outgrew its church.
As the first generations passed on, they were buried in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cemetery, which was used mostly from the 1840s through the 1890s. All the names etched into the gravestones, save one, are Irish. Also buried among the 150 or so graves is the church’s Italian gardener.
The cemetery is not normally open to the public, but in recent years, the parish has celebrated mass there on certain holidays. A small sign reminds people to curb their dogs. Another says that the plot is maintained by the Archdiocese of Brooklyn.
The church is now located at 2325 Newtown Ave, Astoria, NY 11102
WHITEY FORD FIELD
While researching the long lost Hell Gate Lighthouse, Whitey Ford Field was revealed. The field has been a the point of Hallett’s Cover neighborhood for years and the light has been there for 2 centuries guarding and guiding ships thru the hazardous Hell Gate.
The ball field is operated by the NYC Parks Department. Two new building are already occupied and many more to come in the Hallets Point development.
Since the early 1800’s there has been a light at the spot. At one time we had Fort Steven’s to protect us from the British.
Both images from 1814 just a few minutes from the north point of Blackwell’s Island.
L. GALLY BUILDING
Forgotten New York
Four roads converge at Astoria Square on the eastern edge of old Astoria Village, first established by fur merchant Stephen Ailing Halsey in 1839, who laid out streets and built the first structures in the area surrounding Hallett’s Cove in northwest Queens.
Astoria was named for a man who apparently never set foot in it. A bitter battle for naming the village was finally named by supporters and friends of John Jacob Astor (1763-1848). Astor, entrepreneur and real estate tycoon who had made his money in the fur trade, had become the wealthiest man in America by 1840 with a net worth of over $40 million. The beasts that contributed their furs were hunted and trapped in the northwest part of North America, in Astor’s day still owned by the British; later, a town named Astoria sprang up in the state of Oregon.
21st Street (originally Van Alst Avenue; the name is remembered by a G train subway station a few miles south of here); Astoria Boulevard, once known as Flushing Avenue because it stretched east to Flushing Creek and the town of the same name beyond it; 27th Avenue; and Newtown Road, perhaps the original road established in the area by Native Americans in the pre-colonial era, which led form the East River through the swamps to what we now call Woodside are the four roads that meet here.
In 1889 L. Gally established a furniture store and built this handsome four-story brick building in the western “V” formed by 27th Avenue and Astoria Boulevard. The furniture store lasted just a few decades, but this distinctive building with its cupola, now overshadowed by a high rise on the opposite side of Astoria Boulevard, has “nonetheless persisted.” It has been nicely restored within the past decade. It’s called Astoria’s Flatiron Building, but the actual Flatiron Building should be called Manhattan’s L. Gally Building — it preceded it by 12 years.
The Walkway over the Hudson at Poughkeepsie Andy Sparberg and Clara Bella got it right
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
FORGOTTEN NEW YORK
GREATER ASTORIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY
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 Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated PHOTOS BY JUDITH BERDY / RIHS (C) FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
In 2015 a remarkable New York City treasure reopened after being closed for almost half a century. It was modeled on an ancient Roman structure and helped provide a deeply needed resource, without which the City would never be able to grow.
Of course, this is the High Bridge – originally called the Aqueduct Bridge – built in 1848 to carry clean water from the Croton Aqueduct across the Harlem River to New York City, a city which was constantly struggling against the flames of fire and disease. The bridge was remodeled in 1928, much transforming its appearance, and then closed in the 1970s. It was reopened for pedestrian traffic in 2015.
Surrounded by rivers and by one of the world’s largest and most beautiful harbors, NYC became woefully short of drinkable water. New Yorkers had always drawn their water from nearby ponds, streams, and wells – brackish because of the salty rivers and harbor. They were scarcely fastidious in daily habits and their waste ran into the same water they drank. An article in the Smithsonian Magazine tells us “…the colonists ran amok in noxious habits…Runoff from tanneries, where animal skins were turned into leather, flowed into the waters that supplied the shallow wells. Settlers hurled carcasses and loaded chamber pots into the street. The goats and pigs roamed free, leaving piles of droppings in their tracks. In early New York, the streets stank.” The growing city was unable to pump water up from the rivers to battle fires. New York City became one of the unhealthiest cities in the new nation.
Still, in the late 18th century, there was one untainted pond just north of the city, named Collect Pond, and wealthy colonists bought carted water from that pond.
Ah yes, the Collect. In the swampy areas north of the wall was a fresh water pond. The pond covered about 5 acres and was about 50 foot deep. This was the Collect. And it was for a moment the best hope for fresh water for the city. But of course there’s a story – involving Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and the Collect. (The Collect was later filled in roughly and became the notorious Five Points, the crime center of the city. Today this is the City’
The site of the Collect Pond opposite the courthouses on Worth Street
In 1798, lawyer Joseph Browne (Burr’s brother in law) proposed to the Common Council that the City find a water source beyond Manhattan. Only a private company could fund the complex project, he argued, but the Council disagreed. Burr leapt in. His real aim was to create a bank to rival Hamilton’s Bank of New York (ultimately Citibank), but he convinced the State to give him authority to create a company to provide water to New York (Hamilton was his lawyer!). Burr was able to add a clause to the legislation that would allow the company to use “surplus capital” for any business purposes beyond the waterworks, a completely new freedom for state authorized businesses – and the Manhattan Company was born. The only viable source of water was the Collect which was then filthy beyond reason. By then, the Collect had become a town dump. In 1785, the New York Journal observed people “washing … things too nauseous to mention; all their sudds and filth are emptied into this pond, besides dead dogs, cats, etc. thrown in daily, and no doubt, many buckets [of excrement] from that quarter of the town.”
1835 Fire Wikipedia
Finally, devastated by cholera in 1832 and the Great Fire (which destroyed 700 buildings) in 1835, the inadequacy of New York’s water system of wells-and-cisterns became impossible to deny. The Manhattan Company’s system was poorly constructed and ill maintained. It froze in the winter and tree roots fractured the log pipes. At best, it provided pitifully low water pressure. And, despite having permission to get clean water that ran down the Bronx River, Burr chose to source water from the polluted sources the city tried to get away from – the Collect. The Company continued laying wooden pipes in the 1820s, even though other U.S. cities began using iron clad pipes. It remained the only drinking water supplier until 1842, leaving people with unreliable and bad water for over forty years.
So long story short. The Manhattan Company never provided enough safe water, but it grew over many years into the Chase Bank. (I know. You really can’t make this stuff up.)
There were few good sources of water close to Manhattan and what did exist was controlled by the Manhattan Company. A young civil engineer named De Witt Clinton, Jr. surveyed the Croton River and found it unlike any waterway around New York City. The river was fresh, clean and vast. Surrounded by rough terrain, development could never encroach its waters. So, after consideration, it became clear that only the Croton River in northern Westchester County had water sufficient in quantity and quality to serve the City. But how to get Croton River water to New York City?
When in doubt, do as the Romans did. Build an aqueduct.
Roman Aqueduct, Segovia Wikipedia
An aqueduct would bring the water to Manhattan by navigating hills, rivers and valleys over a distance never before reached by an American waterworks. A masonry conduit would cut right through the hills for some 41 miles, keeping the entire aqueduct on an incline so the water could flow by the power of gravity. The Croton Aqueduct was the first of its kind ever constructed in the United States. The delivery system was begun in 1837, and was completed in 1848. This was one of the young country’s greatest engineering projects.
John Jervis was chief engineer on the project. He had earlier begun his career working on the Erie Canal (the country’s other greatest engineering project) and had risen to a senior position there. Now he designed and built a dam on the Croton River in Westchester County, and then sent the water south solely on gravity. Jervis was America’s leading consulting engineer of the first half of the 19th century, designing and supervising the construction of five of America’s earliest railroads; was chief engineer of three major canal projects; designed the first locomotive to run in America – in addition to the Croton Aqueduct. (It’s interesting that these two enormously important and successful projects were undertaken by private companies.)
The Croton Aqueduct had to cross the Harlem River at some point, and the method was a major design decision. A tunnel under the river was considered, but tunneling technology was in its infancy and rejected. This left a bridge, with the Water Commission, engineers and the public split between a low bridge and a high bridge. A low bridge would have been simpler, faster, and cheaper to construct but would obstruct passage along the Harlem River, so a high bridge was ultimately chosen. The design then fell to the Jervis engineering team. James Renwick, who we know well here on Roosevelt Island, was a member of the team. George Law, Samuel Roberts and Arnold Mason were project contractors. Mason also had prior engineering experience working on the Erie Canal.
They chose a grand arched bridge echoing the aqueducts of ancient Rome, and multiple reservoirs connected by iron pipes underground was envisaged. So, the High Bridge.
Photo from William England 1859
In 1864, a walkway was built across the High Bridge. In 1928, to improve navigation in the Harlem River, the five masonry arches that spanned the river were demolished and replaced with a single steel arch of about 450 feet. Of the masonry arches of the original 1848 bridge, only one survives on the Manhattan side, while some ten survive on the Bronx side. In 2009, preliminary planning began for restoring the High Bridge which had been closed in the 1970s. The High Bridge Coalition raised funds and public awareness to restore High Bridge to pedestrian and bicycle traffic, joining the Highbridge Parks in both Manhattan and the Bronx and providing a link in New York’s greenway system. On January 11, 2013, the mayor’s office announced the bridge would reopen for pedestrian traffic by 2014, but this was postponed to spring 2015. In May 2015, the Parks Department announced a July opening and a July 25 festival. The ribbon was cut for the restored bridge at about 11:30 a.m. on June 9, 2015, with the bridge open to the general public at noon. Stephen Blank RIHS January 17, 2021
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 Deborah Dorff All image are copyrighted (c)
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
