Anchorage Public Library >> Picturing America >> Art
"Picturing America" - April 2009 at Anchorage Public Library...
The following images were featured at Z. J. Loussac and Muldoon Branch Libraries during the month of April, 2009. Click on the "resources" link for each image to locate books and websites about American history and other related topics that connect with these works of art.
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Thomas Cole and others, State Capitol, Columbus, Ohio, 1838–1861
Asking for a Greek revival style, the Capitol Design Commission received fifty-six design entries. The first place entry was from Henry Walter of Ohio, second from Martin Thompson of New York, and the third place design was from Thomas Cole of New York. Undecided on a design, the building's foundation was started from Cole's plan in 1839. Henry Walter was the first supervisor of the work. Due to a poor economy, the building sat eight years and the land pastured livestock. When restarted in 1848 to 1861, four more architects controlled the construction. The final form was decided by William Russell West, who brought in the Doric columns on the recessed porch. The exterior of the building is of Ohio limestone. The building still fulfills the Commission's statement "not for ourselves, but for future generations."
Why would this building be shorter than the modern buildings behind it? Can you find the pediment, columns, capitals, pilasters, and entablature?
The building is shorter because the material and building techniques of the time were limited. The pediment is the triangle above the entrance, columns are the round upright posts. The capitals sit on top of the columns, pilasters are the vertical structures that look like columns, and the entablature is the two part band that runs horizontally above the column capitals and the pilasters.
Ithiel Town and A. J. Davis, architects; design largely by Thomas Cole, Ohio State Capitol, Columbus, Ohio, 1838–1861. Photograph © Tom Patterson, Cincinnati, Ohio.
James McNeill Whistler, Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, 1876–1877
James McNeill Whistler liked the Aestheticism style of art with "art for no moral purpose." The dining room of Fredrick Richards Leyland, London is a three dimensional work of art. The Princess from the Land of Porcelain celebrates the beauty of the figures on porcelain vases. Shelves act as frames for the porcelain pieces. Peacocks adorn the shutters and mural wall. The room is in peacock blue, brass and gold.
Find the four golden peacocks. What other feature of this room would make people think of a peacock? How is the painting of the woman made an important part of the room?
The peacocks are on the shutters and on the back wall. The blues match the color of peacock feathers. The painting of the women is above the fire place (a place of honor) surrounded by golden panels and shelves that match the frame.
James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room, 1876–1877 (two views). Oil paint and gold leaf on canvas, leather, and wood, room dimensions: height 13 ft. 11 5/8 in., width 33 ft. 2 in., depth 19 ft. 9 1/2 in. (425.8 x 1010.9 x 608.3 cm.). Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1904.61.
Walker Evans, Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1929
Walker Evans uses a Modernist style to show a familiar scene in different perspective. The angle of the photo shows the bridge having no practical purpose. The bridge appears to be floating in air and the angle shows the geometric designs of the bridge. The photo suggests that the camera was set on the ground and off center of central pedestrian walkway. The arches appear as an ancient fortress. The lamppost is the only thing to give the picture a sense of scale.
Where is the lamppost? Where do all of the cables seem to lead? Is the photo symmetrical (even) or asymmetrical (uneven)?
The lamppost is to the right side of the bridge. The cables lead to the middle of the bridge at the top. This is an asymmetrical picture.
Walker Evans (American, 1903–1975), [Brooklyn Bridge, New York], 1929, printed ca. 1970, Gelatin silver print: 17.2 x 12.2 cm. (6 3/4 x 4 13/16 in.): The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Arnold H. Crane, 1972. (1972.742.3) © The Walker Evans Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Joseph Stella, Brooklyn Bridge, c. 1919–1920
Wanting to capture the complexities of the machine age, artist Joseph Stella used the Futurism style to paint the Brooklyn Bridge. The idea came to Stella on a dark night listening to the noises of a modern city and the emotional tension he felt from the bridge, sky scrapers and sounds. He shows this tension in the taut wires but gives an air of spirituality by suggesting a stained glass appearance.
Where are the Brooklyn Bridge's towers? What time of day is it? Can you find the traffic signal?
The towers are at the top. It is night: the sky is dark and there are shining lights. The traffic signal is in the lower center of the painting.
Joseph Stella (1877–1946), Brooklyn Bridge, c. 1919–1920. Oil on canvas, 84 x 76 in. (213.36 x 193.04 cm.). Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn. Gift of Collection Société Anonyme.
William Van Alen, The Chrysler Building, 1926–1930
William Van Alen (1883–1954), The Chrysler Building, 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, New York, 1926–1930. Steel frame, brick, concrete, masonry, and metal cladding, height 1046 ft. (318.82 m).
In 1926, automobile maker Walter P. Chrysler hired architect William Van Alen to design a 77-story building (over 1000-feet high), a record for the era. The "step back" ordinance (requiring buildings to be stepped back as they rose) helped Van Alen give the building an inventive and dynamic form. The machine age Art Deco style is incorporated in the overlapping arches at the top, the stylized eagles on the 61st floor, and the form of a Chrysler radiator cap on the 31st floor level. The interior of the building was decorated in Egyptian motifs popular during the 1920s. The brass inlay on the elevator doors are a lotus flower motif.
Find the triangles, squares, rectangles and semi circles on the Chrysler Building. New York City building codes required tall buildings to step back their stories, Why would this be of benefit?
The semi-circles and triangles are near the top, squares and rectangles are the windows. Some of the triangles at the top are windows. These shapes were important in the Art Deco style. The "step back" allows more light and air to reach the streets and make buildings look taller.
Chrysler Building, New York City, 1930. Photographic print. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.
Detail. Steeple of the Chrysler Building in New York. © Photo Company/zefa/CORBIS.
Detail. Workers waterproofing Art Deco stainless steel eagle ornament of sixtyfirst floor. © Nathan Benn/CORBIS.
Detail. Art Deco elevator doors at the Chrysler Building. © Nathan Benn/CORBIS.
Detail. Thirty-first floor decoration based on radiator cap and hubcap designs. Photograph by Scott Murphy, Ambient Images, Inc.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater, 1935–1939
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the country home of Edgar J. Kaufman to blend with the landscape. The firmly anchored terrace platforms mimic the slabs of stone in the creek, making the house appear a part of nature. The house's low ceilings and fieldstone interior give the appearance of caves in nature.
Why is this house called Fallingwater? What are the natural and manmade materials in the house?
The house is called Fallingwater as it is over a waterfall. The natural material is the stone, and the concrete, glass and metal are manmade.
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), Fallingwater (Kaufmann House, Mill Run, Pa., 1935– 1939.) Photograph courtesy of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
