· 8 years ago · Mar 21, 2018, 11:52 PM
1Lecture Week 10 and 11
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4SLIDE 1: Week 10 and 11: Developing American Modernism: What is Unique and American about American (Part I)
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6Week 10 and 11: Developing American Modernism: What is Unique and American about American Art? (Part I). Welcome to Week 10 and 11! Due to Spring Break we have two short weeks (Weeks 10 and 11) and during this time we are beginning our discussion of American modernism. This lecture will focus on the growth of the modern city, the rise of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Ashcan School.
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8Today we are beginning our discussion of American modernism – a topic that will take us through several lectures. And we are starting with architecture. We are starting early, in the 1870s (the Gilded Age), at the time of the Impressionists, and working our way into the 20th century. Our discussion will focus on modern cities since that is where all of the new construction was happening. Cities grew bigger, more crowded, and modern buildings were needed for the services and spaces the population demanded.
9We’ll see some modern construction outside of the city, but most modern architecture is found in modern spaces (unlike modern painting).
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11The main thing we will want to pay attention to is why this architecture we are looking at is modern. When does modernism really start? Well with architecture we last looked at the mansions of the Gilded Age which looked directly to Europe for their inspiration. Materials that had been used for centuries were being used and there wasn’t much new and modern about them. But the architecture we’ll see today was not always inspired by Europe, and we’ll see new building materials and new forms that truly make it modern.
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14SLIDE 2: The Growth of the Modern City and the rise of the Skyscraper
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16During the late 19th century there were a great deal of technological innovations that allowed architects to experiment more and builder taller and taller buildings. Architects started using iron, and then we’ll see that they leave iron behind and begin using steel beams. A new process known as the Bessemer process, allowed for larger quantities of steal to be produced at this time. This was important because steel is very strong and durable and it is not as susceptible to heat as iron.
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18The elevator was also invented in the late 1800s. It was perfected in the 1870s so this, of course, allowed structures to grow taller. Skyscrapers then at this point become possible.
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20The other important thing to note about the architecture of the late 19th century and heading into the early 20th century is that architects often tried to free themselves from European styles and ways of doing things. American architects started trying to find their own way of doing things so that they could create buildings that were distinctly American---hence the title of this lecture.
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23SLIDE 3: 21.5 John and Washington A. Roebling, Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, 1869-83.
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25So, we are going to turn now to the growth of the modern city in the late 19th century and look at some of the important buildings from the time and chart the rise of the skyscraper. Well, bridges of course, were an important part of the modern city and this is a very famous bridge – Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. It links Brooklyn to Manhattan. It is an example of an early steel bridge. As I mentioned a moment ago, steel is extremely strong so it allowed for a more daring and innovative bridge to be constructed. John A. Roebling, who designed this bridge, is actually famous for inventing the twisted-wire cable which is extremely strong and allowed him to build suspension bridges that could span incredibly long distances. The Brooklyn Bridge, for instance, had the longest span of any other bridge at that time -- nearly 1600 feet! The bridge was built with these two masonry towers and steel-wire cables that are suspended from them and support the bridge platform, so nothing is needed to support the bridge in between the towers. The towers might also remind you of Gothic architecture. Note the pointed arches.
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27Also, important, as we can see in the image on the left, is that the traffic is separated from a pedestrian walkway which is located above.
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29Unfortunately, John Roebling was not able to complete the project, but his son did. And the video you will watch this week will explain why.
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32SLIDE 4: 20.21 McKim, Mead, and White, Pennsylvania Station, New York City, 1910
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34Train stations were another important part of the modern city. This one was designed by the architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White. Pennsylvania Station was built in 1910 when the Pennsylvania railroad system extended its service and they decided to build a new station in New York City. The building was supposed to express the magnificence of the railroad and its importance to a growing city. The firm – McKim, Mead, and White – built a monumental structure. It was very organized and regularized – which expresses the regularity of a train – in theory something that should run like clockwork and service the people in the best way possible.
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36Unfortunately, this station no longer exists. It was replaced in the 1960s by a more modern building.
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39SLIDE 5: 20.19 McKim, Mead, and White, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA, 1888.
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41And, of course, libraries are another important part of the modern city. This is another building designed by the architectural firm McKim, Mead and White, but this time in Boston. The building is meant to look like a large Italian palace. There is a courtyard in the center and it is meant to express the significance of culture and learning. The architects believed that by looking to a country as rich in art and history as Italy for the influence was a wonderful way to express the importance of culture and learning in America. And of course, to really express this idea, the following description was written across the façade (or front) of the building: “The Public Library of the City of Boston Built By the People and Dedicated to the Advancement of Learning.â€
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43This is a monumental building and it is still the largest public library in the U.S. today.
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45As you will have noticed, architects are still looking to Europe at this point, but this changes as we’ll see next.
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48SLIDE 6: 20.25 Henry Hobson Richardson, Trinity Church, Boston, MA, 1872-7.
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50Right across the street from The Boston Public Library in Copley Square in Boston is Trinity Church which we saw briefly when we discussed collaborations during the American Renaissance. Churches were of course also important to a modern city and we will see that in the modern city, they often looked a bit different from some of the earlier churches we looked at. Trinity Church was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson.
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52Richardson went to Europe to study like a lot of American artists and architects. He studied for a while at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, but he returned to America and is responsible for designing several of the most important late 19th century buildings in the U.S. For Trinity Church, Richardson was looking to medieval (specifically Romanesque) churches from France and Spain. But he made the building incredibly bold and unique by using reddish-brown granite on areas. He created a structure that appears incredibly solid, heavy and monumental
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54SLIDE 7: Richard Upjohn, Trinity Church, New York City, 1839-46.
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56If we glance back at Trinity Church in New York City built by Richard Upjohn, it looks a lot heavier than any other church we have seen in class so far. It has a very dominate presence.
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58And this is what Richardson is known for – this is his architectural style. This is an early example of what is known as “Richardsonian Romanesque†– a style based on Henry Hobson Richardson’s work that is often characterized by rusticated (meaning rough) stone, rather than by very smooth stone, and buildings with a monumental presence.
59SLIDE 8: 20.27 Henry Hobson Richardson, Trinity Church, Boston, MA, 1872-7. Interior.
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61This shows you what the interior looks like.
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63SLIDE 9: Trinity Church decoration
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65Trinity Church was decorated by a variety of artists as I mentioned in our discussion of the American Renaissance. It took the artist John la Farge 5 months to complete the murals and he had to do it over the winter in the unheated church! So he was forced to wear gloves and a hat and coat while he worked.
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67SLIDE 10: Stained glass
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69Here we see some of the stained glass in the interior. Most of it was completed by the same artist who painted the murals, John la Farge.
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72SLIDE 11: 20.28 Henry Hobson Richardson, Marshall Field Wholesale Store, Chicago, Illinois, 1885-7.
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74Henry Hobson Richardson’s most famous building besides Trinity Church is the Marshall Field Wholesale Store from the 1880s. Marshall Field was a department store, but this particular one was just for wholesale for the salesmen. Again, Richardson is famous for what we call his “Richardsonian Romanesque†style as I mentioned with Trinity Church. So, again we see heavy stonework, a monumental appearance, and the use of rough/rusticated stone.
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76This style spreads throughout the country. You can see buildings influenced by Richardson throughout the United States. This style has no real precedent (although inspired in part by medieval architecture) so Richardson helps to give rise to a distinctly American architecture.
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78This particular building is made out of this heavy stone as mentioned, but Richardson used wood, iron, and steal beams on the interior. And this use of steel allows him to make the building a bit taller. Again, it’s more durable and at this point in time they have figured out how to produce large quantities of steel (Bessemer process), so now architects can start building taller structures.
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81The Marshall Field Wholesale Store is actually a very important building because it was built during the rebuilding of Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871. This fire was extremely important because Chicago was really a flourishing city after the Civil War. Railroad lines converged there and the city became very wealthy because they were able to bring all sorts of raw materials to the city via the train. The fire was therefore extremely devastating and they had to rebuild the whole city. Many architects came to the city to help rebuild, and they filled Chicago with new, modern architecture. And the city again flourished and became a very influential city in terms of its architecture. And the Marshall Field Wholesale store is a part of that
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84SLIDE 12: The Rise of the Skyscraper
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86The identity of the first skyscraper is endlessly debated, but it is clear that the development of this form was key to the growth of the modern city. And there was a great need for the skyscraper in modern cities – why? There was less and less space available for building and because the land became expensive. Therefore, they had to build up rather than out.
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88Due to the growth of production and manufacturing, a need for office buildings arose. At first, iron construction made high-rise buildings possible along with advances in fireproofing, heating, plumbing and ventilation. But, it was really two things that made tall skyscrapers possible: steel and the elevator. Steel was exceptionally strong, allowing architects to go taller and taller. And although early power elevators were in use in England by the 1830s, it was the invention of the closed car elevator and the safety elevator in the 1850s (by Elisha Otis) that made the service truly noteworthy. Continual improvements were made to the elevator throughout the 1870s, partly stimulated by the rise in building heights. Early skyscraper types in New York emerged in the 1870s – typically 10-story office buildings with elevators. Again, it was steel and the elevator that were vital in terms of the rise of the skyscraper.
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90SLIDE 13: Richard Morris Hunt, Tribune Building, 1875, New York
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92This is an example of an early skyscraper type. This is New York’s Tribune Building by Richard Morris Hunt (Do you remember what else he built?). This is one of the first high-rise elevator buildings. It was 260 feet tall. The clock tower and spire set it apart. Unfortunately, it was demolished in the 1960s.
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94SLIDE 14: Burnham and Root, Monadnock building, 1889-91, Chicago
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96Chicago became the home of the world’s tallest office buildings in the 1880s. Low wood and masonry structures were replaced after the fire of 1871 by taller structures and soon by the skyscrapers made possible through elevators and steel frames. Of course, there were consequences of the building: there was pollution of air and rivers, larger concentrations of people living in slums, and more.
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98The Monadnock Building is an example of one of these skyscrapers in Chicago from this time period. It is located in the South Loop. The north side was designed by the firm Burnham and Root, but the South side was designed a few years later by a different firm when Root died and Burnham became absorbed with his involvement in the World’s Columbian Exposition.
99The North side is an iron frame building with load-bearing masonry wall. It is one of the tallest buildings ever built that is supported primarily by brick walls. At ground level, those walls are six feet thick! Part of the south half is built with a steel frame—so the walls don’t provide support as it does on the north half and this also shows the change in skyscraper construction.
100SLIDE 15: 21.12 Louis Sullivan, Schlesinger and Mayer Department Store (now the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Co.), Chicago, Illinois, 1899.
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102Another architect who was a part of this rebuilding of Chicago was Louis Sullivan. Louis Sullivan really wanted to design uniquely American architecture. He wasn’t as interested in looking to Europe for ideas or to the past. He wanted to create something new and modern. He was also really interested in creating buildings that would improve the everyday life of people throughout the U.S. An example of one of his buildings in Chicago is the Schlesinger and Mayer Department Store. Department stores became an important part of the modern city because the country was getting more and more interested in material goods during the Gilded Age. We’ll see, too, how this is a great example of how Sullivan wanted to improve people’s everyday lives which he is known for doing.
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104Sullivan includes decoration on the front that was clearly influenced by flower and plant life with the swirling, natural lines. And this would have been wonderful for people to look at. It is right on street level for people to enjoy.
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106The other important thing to know about Sullivan is that he believed that “form follows function.†In other words, he believed that the function of the building should determine the form of the building. (For example, a Neoclassical style daycare center would not be a good idea in his mind!). Since this is a department store and Sullivan knew that it was meant to attract mainly women customers, he thought it was appropriate to have some floral, more feminine decoration on the front of the building to attract these shoppers.
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108SLIDE 16: 21.9 Louis Sullivan, Wainwright Building, St. Louis, Missouri, 1890-1.
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110This is another building by Louis Sullivan, but this time in St. Louis. And, again, he seems really interested here as well in creating a building that would improve people’s everyday lives.
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112Although this is a very straight-forward plan for a building – he divides the building into the bottom, the middle, and the top – he also includes some decoration between the windows. These floral designs were meant to help beautify the city and the whole building stands out with the terracotta red color. And he is also still following his famous dictum, “form follows function.†This is an office building so it was built to be practical for offices with a clearly organized space, and he made sure to include an area for shops at the bottom.
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114And, again, by using the new and improved elevator, as well as steel that allowed him to create a stronger, lighter, and therefore taller building, Sullivan was able to build what is an early example of the skyscraper.
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116SLIDE 17: 21.11 Adler and Sullivan, Guaranty (Prudential) Building, Buffalo, New York, 1895.
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118Here is another example of an early skyscraper by Sullivan. This is the Guaranty Building in Buffalo, New York which looks very similar to the Wainwright Building, although it is taller and it has even more decoration.
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120SLIDE 18: 21.11 Adler and Sullivan, Guaranty (Prudential) Building, Buffalo, New York, 1895. detail
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122The decoration that you see here in this detail added some refinement to the building and was meant to help beautify the city. Sullivan wanted people to walk by his buildings and enjoy seeing the beautiful decoration.
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124SLIDE 19: Adler and Sullivan, Guaranty (Prudential) Building, Buffalo, New York, 1895. Detail
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126You can see how much decoration the Guaranty Building has in this detail as well.
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128SLIDE 20: Louis Sullivan, Merchants’ Bank, Grinnell, IA, 1914.
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130Like HH Richardson, Sullivan’s work can be seen in many parts of the U.S. Here is just one more example of that. This is a bank designed in the small town of Grinnell, Iowa and it is an example of one of Sullivan’s Jewel-box banks. He built these throughout the Midwest. They are highly decorative as we can see here (and this is what Sullivan is known for) but they were also called jewel boxes because they were meant to appear sturdy and strong since they were built to protect money.
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132SLIDE 21: Daniel Burnham, Flatiron Building, 1901-03
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134Now Chicago and New York had been competing as the home to the tallest and best skyscrapers, with other examples built in many other cities. But, by 1893 skyscrapers fell out of favor in Chicago due to the financial crisis and the World’s Columbian Exposition. New inspiration came from this fair: people saw the differences between its beautiful buildings and the rest of Chicago and the City Beautiful movement emerged from this which placed an emphasis on parks, open spaces, and broad streets. And it also led to a diminishing popularity of the skyscraper. By 1890 the skyscraper was not just a symbol of progress, but also of overcrowded conditions in the city. Many people became concerned about the skyscraper blocking light, restricting air circulation, and contributing to disease. So, in 1893 an ordinance was passed to limit skyscraper height in Chicago.
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136When skyscraper height was limited in Chicago in 1893, New York was able to take the lead in the race for the tallest skyscraper and the largest concentration of them anywhere in the world. Here, they continued to increase in height up through the early 20th century, as you can see in this example.
137This is the Flatiron Building which was built at the intersection of Broadway, 23rd, and 5th Avenue. Its striking and unique shape is very distinctive and it has become a symbol of New York. Originally called the Fuller building, it was soon called the Flatiron after the triangular lot it’s on that resembles a flat iron for ironing clothes. At 21 stories (307 feet tall), the Flatiron Building was one of the taller skyscrapers in New York when it was built. And this was made possible due to its structural steel frame.
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139SLIDE 22: 27.4 Cass Gilbert, Woolworth Building, New York City, 1911-13.
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141From 1870 to 1913 New York skyscrapers grew from 5 stories to 50 stories. Here is an example of another early 20th century American skyscraper. This is the Woolworth Building in New York City designed by Cass Gilbert. It served as the headquarters of the Woolworth Company which ran 5-and-dime stores. Again, the height of the skyscraper is made possible through the steel-frame construction. When this was completed in 1913 it was the world’s tallest building. It has 55 floors and is 792 feet tall.
142SLIDE 23: Comparison with Reims and St. Patrick’s
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144It should also remind you of a Gothic cathedral since it is basically built to resemble a giant spire. It looks quite similar to an actual Gothic cathedral as well as a Gothic revival church, both of which you see here on the right. As a result, this was considered a “Cathedral of Commerce.†It’s height and its similarities to a Gothic tower made it a symbol of the American devotion to business (rather than to God) during the early 20th century.
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146SLIDE 24: 27.22 and 27.23 William van Alen, Chrysler Building, New York City, 1928-30. 1048 ft.
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148Of course, skyscrapers just kept getting taller and taller. Just as the Woolworth building was the world’s tallest building in 1913, the Chrysler Building became the world’s tallest building when it was built in 1928 (until Empire State Building came along in 1929). Unlike the Woolworth building which was inspired by Gothic cathedrals, the Chrysler Building is very geometric. In fact, it is covered in geometric pattern. There is a series of rectangular windows, there are different rectangles that make up the building itself, and the top of the spire is scalloped – it is made up of these overlapping arched shapes. And within that it is decorated with triangular shapes. This geometric style is called Art Deco and it was extremely popular in the 1920s and 1930s.
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150The spire is also important because it is covered in aluminum, so the shiny metal top speaks to the age of the machine, the efficiency of modern business. This was perfect for an office building in America– it’s the perfect exterior decoration to reflect what was going on in the interior.
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152SLIDE 25: Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon, Empire State Building, 1929-1931, New York City.
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154The Empire State Building which we mentioned briefly when we discussed Hine’s photographs that documented its construction, surpassed the Chrysler Building as the World’s tallest building in 1929. The Empire State Building held this distinction for over 40 years.
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156SLIDE 26: 27.27 Raymond Hood and others, Rockefeller Center, New York City, 1927-39.
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158The Gilded Age was a time of great wealth as we saw a couple of weeks ago, but wealthy individuals continued to finance projects that improved and enhanced modern U.S. cities well into the 20th century. Rockefeller Center built in the late 1920s and into the 1930s is an example of this. It was financed by the millionaire John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
159Rockefeller Center is a huge complex that consists of 14 buildings. It was a massive undertaking. Three different architects and architectural firms were responsible for these buildings. One is the famous Radio City Music Hall. And there is the RCA building – which serves as the focal point of the complex. These buildings were designed to house radio and television industries. This holds true today – NBC studios is there, along with others. This center also includes a mall, a skating rink, roof gardens, garages, restaurants, and more! It is decorated with sculpture, murals, and mosaics by well-known artists. The whole center serves as a symbol of the ideal city. It represents a new, modern, improved city. It celebrates corporations but it is also meant to be a place that appeals to the people of Manhattan.
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161SLIDE 27: The Genius of Frank Lloyd Wright
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163A part of our discussion of modern architecture, I want to turn to the modern architect Frank Lloyd Wright. He is particularly important because he is a truly innovative American artist. He created homes, businesses, churches, and many other building types. He used a unique style that was inspired by many sources such as Japanese architecture, but the final product is very much his own and certainly very different from what was happening in Europe.
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165He was a Midwesterner but his buildings can be found all over the world and everywhere from small towns to big cities. Wright actually worked with Louis Sullivan’s architectural firm early in his career. Wright learned a great deal from Sullivan but we will see that Frank Lloyd Wright quickly moves beyond anything created by Sullivan (or anyone else) to create architecture so unique and innovative that he is still thought of as one of the country’s most important architects.
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167SLIDE 28: 27.11 Frank Lloyd Wright, Frederick Robie House, Chicago, Illinois, 1908-9.
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169This is one of Wright’s early homes. He designed it for Frederick Robie, a businessman who made money from the family business selling sewing machine parts and bicycles. Now, the key thing about Wright is that he believed that architecture should be integrated in with its natural surroundings. We will see that especially in this house and the next house as well. This house fits into its surroundings, in this case Chicago/ the Midwest, because it is in the Prairie style. Prairie style houses are ones that are low to the ground and horizontal. This style was inspired by the flat landscape of the Midwest - the Prairie states in particular.
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171This house is organized around a central chimney and then a series of roofs and terraces project out from there to echo the flatness of the land. These roofs that stick out and are supported at only one end are called cantilevered roofs. They give a light-weight feeling to the house – as if it is hovering over the ground. The fact that they are supported at only one end is significant – this is possible structurally through the use of steel.
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173SLIDE 29: Vassall-Longfellow House, Cambridge, MA, 1759.
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175The other interesting thing to note about this house, and in fact most of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings, is that the doorway is really hard to find. It is not the central focus as it is in most houses. We can see this, for example, at the Vassall-Longfellow House which we discussed at the beginning of the semester. I am sure the door on your house is easy to find – somewhere on the front of the house!
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177SLIDE 30: “Hidden Entranceâ€
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179However, to find the door on the Robie House, the visitor must walk around the house and consider it in its entirety before they are able to find the door and explore the interior. This also offered privacy to the family.
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181SLIDE 31: 27.13 Frank Lloyd Wright, Dining Room, Frederick Robie House, Chicago, Illinois, 1908-9.
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183Here is a photograph of the interior of the Robie House.
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185Now, it is extremely important to note that Frank Lloyd Wright designed everything about his buildings. He designed the interior, the exterior, and all of the furniture as well.
186Wright believed in a free-flowing interior space—the living room and dining room of his houses were usually integrated together thereby becoming one long room, rather than two separate rooms. This “open concept†is popular again now.
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188SLIDE 32: Frank Lloyd Wright, Plan of Frederick Robie House
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190You can see this in this plan. The main level is the second level. And you can see that there is one long room for both the living room and the dining room. And the reason for this is that Wright believed that this keeps the family together
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192SLIDE 33: 27.13 Frank Lloyd Wright, Dining Room, Frederick Robie House, Chicago, Illinois, 1908-9.
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194In addition to designing the whole house, Wright designed all of the shelves, lighting -- everything you see here. He wanted to create a unified house so he had to do everything. Of course, this was annoying to some of his clients since Wright insisted that they only use his furniture! Wright even designed the dining room set that you see here. It has these high-back chairs round the table. He thought that the high-backs would help create a more intimate dining experience. So, again, the idea of bringing the family together is emphasized here just as it was with the front door (this is ironic considering he cheated on his wife and left his kids behind to live with his mistress!).
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196SLIDE 34: Frank Lloyd Wright, dining room table
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198This isn’t the same dining room table, but it is similar. You can see the high-back chairs that would give the feeling that the dining room table was like a separate room. It allowed for a very intimate family meal. You should also notice that there are posts for lights. Sometimes there would be candles there instead. But, Wright did this so that there was no centerpiece; no light had to go in the center of the table and block anyone’s view. There were no barriers in other words.
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200SLIDE 35: Frank Lloyd Wright, Frederick Robie House, Chicago, Illinois, 1908-9. Interior
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202Here is another interior view. Just as it is important for the exterior – the building itself -- to be integrating with its surroundings, Wright also believed that the interior needed to fit into the surroundings as well. To achieve this there are a lot of windows. Every room was light-filled to allow aspects of nature to fill the house. There were a lot of stained-glass windows in the Robie House as well. These windows are important because they are meant to allow light in, while at the same time filtering out the unpleasant aspects of the city.
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204SLIDE 36: 27.16 Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater (Edgar Kaufmann House), Mill Run, Pennsylvania, 1937.
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206The same ideas from the Robie House apply to Fallingwater (or the Edgar Kaufmann House) one of Wright’s other more famous houses. The house was designed for Edgar Kaufmann who was the wealthy owner of the Kaufmann department store. He commissioned Fallingwater in rural Pennsylvania to be the summer home for him and his family. Just as the Robie House was integrated into its surroundings because the Prairie style reflected the flat landscape of the Midwest, Fallingwater was integrated into its surroundings literally because it was built directly over a waterfall that already existed on the building site. It was also built over a large boulder on the site which was built directly into the house. The house also reflects the surroundings because all of the stone and wood used to build the house was taken directly from site. The central chimneys for example are all made of local stone. In addition, the terraces and roofs on the house extend out horizontally and echo the cliffs surrounding the house. The whole house then really expresses the idea of living in harmony with nature. You can actually think of the whole house as a tree—the tree trunk is the chimneys and the terraces that project out are tree branches.
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208And the door – as at the Robie House – is not clearly visible. So the whole house becomes more personal, more private. The family can remain close to nature and keep the chaos of everyday life out as much as possible. And then, of course, as in the Robie House as well, Frank Lloyd Wright designed virtually every aspect of the house, not just the building, in order to create a unified whole.
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210SLIDE 37: Frank Lloyd Wright, Interior, Fallingwater (Kaufmann House), Mill Run, Pennsylvania, 1937.
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212Here is the interior of Fallingwater. The floor you can see is the stone from the site. And as at the Robie House, the main living area with the dining room, and this sitting area, is all one space. It is light-filled and you can leave at various spots to go out onto one of the terraces and enjoy nature. You are just steps from nature everywhere in the house.
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214SLIDE 38: Frank Lloyd Wright, The Hearth, Fallingwater (Kaufmann House), Mill Run, Pennsylvania, 1937.
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216This is the hearth – the fireplace of the house. Wright believed that this was an important part of every house because it was the psychological center of the house. This was true in colonial times so Wright is carrying on that tradition.
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218The important thing that I want to show you here is that you can see the giant boulder that I mentioned earlier. The house was built right over a large boulder on the construction site and it was integrated into the house. In this case it becomes this sort of entranceway to the fireplace, or a place to sit in front of the fire. He emphasized family here, too, as we saw at the Robie House as well. He imagined a family gathering around the fireplace to eat, talk, and connect.
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220The big red orb is a pot; it swings into the fire for cooking.
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222SLIDE 39: 27.17 Frank Lloyd Wright, S.C. Johnson Wax Administration Building, Racine, Wisconsin, 1936-9.
223(tower added later –but designed by Wright, 1950)
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225I wanted to show you one more Frank Lloyd Wright building and then we will actually return to him in a few weeks when we discuss architecture of the second half of the 20th century. In addition to houses, Wright also designed businesses, churches, and hotels. The SC Johnson Wax Administration Building is an example of one building he designed for an American business. In fact, this building remains the headquarters of SC Johnson Wax even today. It’s in Racine, Wisconsin. The building has the organic idea of reflecting nature that carries over from Wright’s early homes – the Robie House and Fallingwater. This particular building is also organic because of all of the curves on the building – both on the interior and exterior.
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227SLIDE 40: 27.17 Frank Lloyd Wright, S.C. Johnson Wax Administration Building, Racine, Wisconsin, 1936-9. Interior.
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229For the interior Wright created one big workroom, which should remind us of his home designs. Wright thought this was essential for a productive workplace. He believed that this room would be a “Center of Creativity.†There are no barriers and no cubicles! There are skylights in the ceiling to let in plenty of natural light, so again, Wright believed in the integration of the building into nature – even in an office building!
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231Does anything strike you as being rather odd here? Well, there are these slim columns that support the roof. They look a bit like toadstools! As he did in the Robie House and Fallingwater, Wright designed almost everything in the building himself, including the desks. He made sure they were curved desks so that they would match the curves of the columns and the curves of the exterior of the building. So again, this idea of the unity of the whole was important to him.
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233SLIDE 41: COMPARISON:
234Raymond Hood and others, Rockefeller Center, New York City, 1931-9
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236Frank Lloyd Wright, Edgar Kaufmann House (Falling Water), 1935-6
237
238Here, we see Raymond Hood and others, Rockefeller Center in New York City and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Edgar Kaufmann House (Falling Water). We can use this comparison to review what we have learned so far. Here we have two structures that reflect their environment. One is integrated into the city, one into nature. With Fallingwater, Wright is very concerned with integrating the building into nature. He built it over a waterfall and used materials from the site. Rockefeller Center is the symbol of the ideal city and it was designed to house tv and radio stations. It is complex and consists of many different buildings designed by three different architects, whereas Wright’s structure is a unified whole. Rockefeller Center is also open to the public and offers them activities to enjoy whereas Fallingwater is a strictly private space. We can also compare materials, with industrial materials being used to construct Rockefeller Center and more natural materials such as stone being used to build Fallingwater.
239
240SLIDE 42: The Ashcan School
241
242We just finished talking all about the growth of the modern city and the important innovations at this time in building construction. We discussed the rise of cities that needed to meet the needs of the many urban citizens by providing bridges, museums, libraries, and more. The city literally rose up as architects competed to build taller and taller skyscrapers. As skyscrapers were built, cities like Chicago, New York City and St. Louis were now filled with wonderful examples of modern architecture. The result of this is that in the early 20th century a greater focus on the great American city develops. It is at this time too that a lot of people start moving to these cities. For the first time the number of people living in cities outnumbers the number of people living in rural areas. As a result, urban life becomes a more popular subject for artists in the early 20th century. There is a growing interest and concern about urban life in general. People are fascinated by the energy of the city, but at the same time they worry about the slums and the poor living conditions in the city.
243
244New York City, especially, became an important subject for artists. The population of New York tripled from 1840 to 1870 and reached more than a million by 1875. At this time, New York becomes the financial center of the U.S. and the industrial center. And New York becomes a very important city in terms of the arts. There were major colleges there as well as an important music scene, and substantial libraries. It was a publishing center, home of the Tenth Street Studio where many important artists worked over the years such as Albert Bierstadt and William Merritt Chase, and home to the National Academy (1826), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art by 1870.
245
246New York was the largest city in America: it was cosmopolitan, the hub of fashion and art, and it was large-scale and fast-paced. And, as a result, you will see a lot of artists working here. I want to turn now to reactions to the growth of the modern city and those modern painters and sculptors who took up the city as one of their major subjects. We will continue this discussion next week as well. We will discuss the Aschcan School today, then discuss other artists who responded with a more modern approach next week.
247
248I want to start by setting the stage a little bit more. We talked about the growth of the modern city in terms of its structures, but we need to think about the conditions of these big cities in the late nineteenth and early 20th century in order to understand what artists were responding to, excited by, and reacting to.
249
250So, to set the stage: In 1900 the electric street light was not yet common, there was a huge disparity between rich and poor, there was significant crowding by this time that led to characterizations of the city as a place of anxiety, disorder, and confusion. This was also a time of women and immigrants attempting to gain more power and visibility, and active labor movements developed, and it was a time of intense commercialization with brand names, slogans, and images filling the city streets and the press.
251
252Ashcan School photograph
253
254The first group I want to discuss for their responses to the modern city is the Ashcan School. You can see three members of this group in this photograph: Everett Shinn, Robert Henri, and John Sloan. There were actually six artists of the Aschan School altogether. The other three artists were William Glackens, George Bellows, and George Luks. These men demonstrate six related but different approaches to understanding life in a changing city. The term “Ashcan School†was coined by an art critic and a dealer in the 1930s, so it was not a term contemporary to the artists themselves. They got this name from their dark palette; critics thought their art was too dark. To them it looked like their palette was inspired by an ash can, meaning a cigarette tray.
255
256The artists in this group knew each other well, exhibited together and critiqued each other’s work. Later in their careers, these artists were also known as “The Eight†because in 1908 there was an exhibition of their work at the Macbeth Galleries which included eight artists: among them were Robert Henri, Everett Shinn, William Glackens, George Luks, John Sloan, Maurice Prendergast, Ernest Lawson, and Arthur B Davies.
257
258SLIDE 43: 29.1 Robert Henri, West Fifty-Seventh Street, New York, 1902. Oil on canvas. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.
259
260I am fitting the Ashcan School into this discussion of modern responses to the growth of the modern city, but it is important to note that they were not revolutionary in their style.
261In fact, they draw from the Realist tradition as we will see, and their style is certainly the result of the painterly style of the Impressionists who came before them. Nevertheless, their sketch-like style challenged artistic conventions and their art was sometimes seen as crass, and it was not often accepted as fine art.
262The work of the Ashcan painters contrasted with the ideals of the American Renaissance and the City Beautiful Movement which emphasized civilization and refinement. They were accused of seeking out ugly subjects.
263But, really what we have are artists who didn’t look for the ugly as accused; instead they sought beauty in the everyday or the mundane. They were important for rejecting the established styles of the time and focusing on grittier subjects such as the poor, immigrants, prostitutes, lower class leisure activities, and crowded and dirty streets. They addressed the key issues of modern life: diversity, strangers, technological changes, and consumerism.
264These artists did not attempt to change the problems in the city that they depicted in their art—like Jacob Riis or Lewis Hine – but they did sympathize with social reformers. They portrayed the working class and poor as they were in their few down moments, not as idealized heroes or mindless workers, but as they were.
265The background of these artists is important as well. These artists had a background in commercial art and were interested in the mass media. Several of them got their start as newspaper illustrators in Philadelphia. They were trained to observe the world around them carefully and work quickly. They were urban Realists!
266Robert Henri was the leader of the group. He and many of the other members of what became known as the Ashcan School met in Philadelphia. Henri taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and he called for his students to create art from what they saw around them. He emphasized that artists should focus on their own time and place – so he sent his students to pool halls and restaurants— and told them to make sketches and then bring those back to their studios to paint. This should sound very similar to Thomas Eakins who painted everyday life in Philadelphia as well, although his focus was on the hard-working professional men he knew rather than the poor and downtrodden.
267Robert Henri – one of the leading members of the Ashcan School – believed that “art is life†and he thought that real life was the poor.
268
269The grittiness of the Ashcan School, the dark palette of theirs that was often criticized, and the loose sketchy style can all be seen in this painting of the dirty, snowy streets of New York called West Fifty-Seventh Street, New York.
270
271SLIDE 44: Robert Henri, Dutch Girl Laughing, 1907. Oil on canvas. Dallas Museum of Art.
272
273Henri was also known for his portraits. He captured his sitter’s expressions and we can again see the dark and painterly characteristics Henri and the rest of the Ashcan School were known for in this work.
274SLIDE 45: John Sloan, Hairdresser’s Window, 1907
275
276John Sloan is another member of the Ashcan School. He captures the streets of New York, just as we saw with Robert Henri. And he captures real life like Henri – not the rich and famous, but the poor and the immigrants. He differs from the other Ashcan artists in that his paintings are not based on sketches made in the street but on images he remembers seeing during his travels around the city. He believed working from memory was being more truthful. Sloan believed that “When you work from Memory, it is the thing itself; when you work from reality, it’s eyesight.†(Sloan, in Zurier, 270)
277
278The act of seeing is important in all of his paintings. This takes many forms – people looking at each other, people spying on private moments, and more. Here, for instance, in Hairdresser’s Window, as the viewer we are watching a crowd viewing a hairdresser bleaching her client’s hair. It is an intimate moment, yet an audience has gathered.
279This is also a scene of the everyday which was the focus of the Ashcan School. It is a painting about signs, ads, commercialism, crowds – the everyday details of modern life.
280
281SLIDE 46: John Sloan, Election, Night, Herald Square, 1907. Oil on canvas.
282
283In this painting we can again see that Sloan was intrigued by the energy of crowds. He captures a diverse group in this work and despite his loose painting style, he always captures individual features amongst the crowd.
284
285SLIDE 47: 29.5 John Sloan, McSorley’s Bar, 1912. Oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts.
286
287This is one of Sloan’s more famous images. Here he is capturing a scene that most people would consider unworthy of taking up space on a canvas: it is a dirty, ordinary bar. But Sloan wanted to capture the ordinary moments of urban life of regular people, not wealthy people. This painting is also interesting because this particular bar was a venue that was famously off-limits to women until the 1970s.
288
289SLIDE 48: John Sloan, Fun, One Cent, 1905. Etching
290
291Despite the focus on men in the last work, women were a key theme for Sloan. He was interested in their role in society. In this etching, Sloan depicts girls enjoying a movie an inexpensive way – using a mutoscope machine which worked by hand cranks. These machines gave women the freedom to access movies of a sexual nature as some of the film titles suggest. This print also shows women participating in public and commercial life. They are watching films for one cent while enjoying each other’s company and wearing the latest fashions. They are away from the restrictions of their families; this also shows the loosening of moral standards of the previous century and the growing demand for leisure activities in the modern world.
292
293SLIDE 49: John Sloan, Three a.m., 1909. Oil on canvas.
294
295Prostitution became more prevalent in the mid-19th C when the city’s population was increasing and the city was growing economically. It became a popular subject of the Ashcan artists, especially for Sloan.
296Knowing the time of day – 3:00 AM as the title tell us – tells us that these women making a meal at this hour lead unorthodox lives. Are they working women starting their day with breakfast or are they prostitutes just returning home? Also, the various details provide information: the feathered hat indicates that they recently came in from the street. The woman’s off the shoulder chemise and cigarette indicate she doesn’t care about appropriate behavior.
297Sloan offers us a view of this private moment, and he offers it without judgment.
298
299SLIDE 50: John Sloan, Chinese Restaurant, 1909. Oil on canvas.
300
301In this work, Chinese Restaurant, Sloan again works from memory. He viewed this scene at a Chinese restaurant and then decided to paint it weeks later. It is a painting about relationships but it is confusing. Who are these people and how are they connected? Chinese restaurants were often seen as low class at this time, and the woman with the feathered hat and makeup is probably a prostitute. It is a casual moment few artists would bother to paint. It is also a painting devoid of criticism or judgment. Sloan simply painted what he saw.
302
303SLIDE 51: John Sloan, Night Windows, 1910 . Etching.
304
305This etching is another scene all about looking. We are watching people in their homes – spying on them through their windows. A man outside on the rooftop is also watching people in the night. This adds an ironic twist and legitimizes our own looking. We see a woman hanging clothes with a man asleep behind her and another woman fixing her hair whose waist and breasts – exactly what the man on the roof is looking at – are emphasized by the bars on the window. Sloan himself viewed this scene and he also reminds us that homes in working class neighborhoods often lacked the privacy we would expect.
306
307SLIDE 52: John Sloan, South Beach Bathers, 1907-08. Oil on canvas.
308
309In this last work by Sloan we see he focuses on the mixing of the sexes and also on the lower classes. South Beach was an amusement park on Staten Island that attracted mainly working-class clientele. At an upper-class resort, this behavior would never take place. Men and women sprawl on each other, leer at each other, and more. Rather than depicting an ideal woman, and one who is stereotypically passive, Sloan depicts a different type of woman – one who was muscular, loud, active, and sexual.
310SLIDE 53: Everett Shinn, Window Shopping, 1903. Pastel on paper.
311
312Our next Ashcan School artist is known for his pastel drawings of both gritty subject matter and more fashionable scenes of theater and shopping. He drew quickly with active lines. A lot of his work was published as illustrations and then later exhibited. In this work, we can see the subject is shopping. This was a fairly new and major pastime in New York. By the late 19th century, more people set out to buy items rather than make them themselves. The Ashcan School artists were interested in the commercialism present in the city, as we saw in Sloan’s Hairdresser’s Window as well. This woman is drawn to these dresses, despite the fact that it is nighttime and raining. Stores took the time to create elaborate window designs to attract female clientele. For many women, and perhaps this woman included, window shopping was the only shopping they could participate in.
313SLIDE 54: Everett Shinn, Eviction (Lower East Side), 1904. Gouache on paper.
314In this drawing we encounter a different subject. Here we see urban poverty. Shinn avoids details and does not focus on the individual. Instead, he wants to convey an overall message or mood. Here, we sense complete hopelessness as people and all of their property are put out on the street. Among the evicted we see a woman with a baby as well as several elderly men. A crowd has gathered to watch. As we saw in Sloan’s work as well, we are witnessing a private moment that has been made extremely public.
315SLIDE 55: William Glackens, Far from the Fresh Air Farm, 1911. Gouache and crayon.
316William Glackens created drawings of city life as well, but unlike Shinn, he keeps the viewer at a distance. His work also shows the influence of cartoons. He focused on poses and gestures and he developed character types.
317In this work we are presented with a scene of the Lower East Side. People of different ages and classes mix – often told apart through their clothing. This work was originally published in Collier’s magazine with a caption about the dangers of the city street as a playground for children. The title, Far from the Fresh Air Farm, refers to social programs that provided a week or two in a rural town for inner-city children. This work also shows different immigrants coming together to create this bustling and vibrant New York neighborhood.
318SLIDE 56: George Luks, Hester Street, 1905. Oil on canvas.
319
320George Luks is another Ashcan School artist who focused on New York City streets. In this painting, Luks emphasizes congestion – there appears to be endless buildings and an endless number of people. We also see people in a variety of clothes and engaged in a variety of pursuits and activities. Some are dressed more traditionally, some in modern American clothes. The old and new worlds converge in this immigrant community just as they do in Glackens’s drawing we saw previously.
321
322SLIDE 57: George Bellows, Forty-Two Kids, 1907. Oil on canvas.
323
324George Bellows is the last Ashcan School artist I want to show you. He was one of Robert Henri’s students. And like Henri and the other Ashcan artists, he focuses on New York City.
325
326In Forty-Two Kids we see a nod to Realist Thomas Eakins.
327
328SLIDE 58: Thomas Eakins, Swimming, 1884-5. Oil on canvas.
329To remind you, this is Eakins’s work which tackles a similar subject.
330SLIDE 59: George Bellows, Forty-Two Kids, 1907. Oil on canvas.
331
332Bellows’s work in comparison is flat and shows no interest in a close study of anatomy. He does not capture an idyllic scene, but one with rowdy kids smoking cigarettes. The difference between the two artists is clear despite the common devotion to painting contemporary life. Rather than a peaceful scene, these kids are on an old dock in the East River where they were not allowed to swim. Bellows painted children of immigrants – known as “river rats.â€
333SLIDE 60: George Bellows, Pennsylvania Station Excavation, c. 1907-08. Oil on canvas.
334
335Bellows was also interested in the construction of the modern city. Here he captures the construction sites of Pennsylvania Station which we saw at the beginning of this lecture. Although the men are responsible for the work, they are overshadowed by the monumentality of the equipment, materials, and smoke surrounding them.
336
337SLIDE 61: George Bellows, Men of the Docks, 1912. Oil on canvas.
338
339In one of Bellows’s most important compositions, Men of the Docks, he depicts more men at work in the modern city. Here, men wait around for a job. These are longshoremen and they led lives dictated by the arrival of boats; they may work many hours in a row then not work for days.
340
341SLIDE 62: George Bellows, Club Night, 1907. Oil on canvas.
342
343In Club Night, Bellows chooses to focus on a scene that most people would consider vulgar – that a lot of people considered unworthy of art— prizefighting or boxing. This will be the topic of the next few works I will show you. We’ll see that this subject fascinated Bellows. It was the focus of three of his major compositions. In this work he depicts a club where a fight is taking place. These settings were known to attract rougher clientele and the events themselves were considered immoral. Nevertheless, boxing became more common after the late 19th century.
344
345In this painting, we as the viewer are painted with the audience. From here, we can see the boxers as well as the other clientele in the audience. Among those watching were not just the working classes, but also the upper class. Club Night shows figures with collars and bow-ties in the front row.
346
347SLIDE 63: Thomas Eakins, Between Rounds, 1899. Oil on canvas.
348
349Again, we can see a nod to Eakins in the choice of subject.
350
351SLIDE 64: George Bellows, Stag at Sharkey’s, 1909. Oil on canvas.
352
353Prizefighting was appealing because of its violence, the rowdy crowd, and the threat that the police might close the events down. They were illegal in New York, so the fights were held at “stag†nights in the backrooms of bars or clubs. Fighters had to be members of the club.
354Drawings and stories in the New York Evening Journal were inspirational for Bellows work. He focused on portraying the excitement on the faces of the crowd. It is this act of viewing the fight, more than the fight itself that he focuses on in this work. He was also good at capturing violence by using long active brushstrokes to emphasize the chaos and bright red paint to indicate the bloody faces. Bellows claimed that he was “just painting two men trying to kill each other.†(British Museum)
355In this work, as in the last, the viewer is placed in the crowd.
356
357SLIDE 65: 29.12 George Bellows, Both Members of This Club, 1909. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
358
359In this next boxing painting, Bellows addresses the rise of African American boxers such as Jack Johnson, whose winning record caused race riots. In this scene, the African American boxer is clearly winning, however, African American boxers were not given the respect they deserved until after World War II. The title of this work seems to reference this issue. Boxing was popular and there were more and more great African American boxers at this time, but they couldn’t belong to the clubs they fought at. So, Bellows seems to be bestowing membership on this boxer. If nothing else, he is certainly emphasizing the racial issues that accompany a discussion of this sport.
360
361In this work, as in the previous compositions, Bellows captures the fighters up-close. He wants the viewer to witness the excitement. He uses loose brushstrokes and some of the faces of the spectators are just a couple of dabs of paint – there is little detail. Nevertheless, he captures their enthusiasm for the sport.
362
363SLIDE 66: George Bellows, Cliff Dwellers, 1913
364
365Cliff Dwellers is one of Bellows’s most famous paintings. It is another ordinary urban scene. In this case he captures everyday life in the Lower East Side of Manhattan and the cliffs he refers to in the title are tenement buildings. The dark palette the Ashcan School is known for is seen here again, as it was in the previous boxing compositions. It gives a sense of a rather dingy urban space.
366
367As the viewer, we encounter the scene as a passerby. We see immigrants leaving their apartments on a hot day. For them, life takes place outside as much as it does inside. We see the crowded chaos of urban life in New York. We also see that the people are surrounded by buildings – Bellows has trapped them in the scene, indicating that they cannot leave this life. Bellows actually published a preparatory drawing for this work in a radical socialist magazine. He gave it a satirical title: “Why don’t they all go to the country?†(Zurier, et al. 109-110). The point here being that, they can’t! Bellows, like the other members of the Ashcan School captured everyday life, but they also understood all of the problems that went on the city, so that often becomes an important subject for them as well.
368
369In Week 12 we will discuss the Stieglitz Circle and others who responded to the growth of the modern city as well. Thank you!
370
371
372Sources:
373
374In addition to the instructor’s own knowledge, this information comes from the following sources:
375
376The British Museum. A Stag at Sharkey’s. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=698831&partId=1
377
378Craven, Wayne. American Art: History and Culture. Revised First Ed. Boston:
379McGraw-Hill, 2003.
380
381Fallingwater. https://www.fallingwater.org/
382
383Kinsey, Joni. Professor, the University of Iowa.
384
385Kleiner, Fred S. and Christin Mamiya, eds. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages. CA:
386Wadsworth, 2005.
387
388Trinity Church Boston. https://www.trinitychurchboston.org/
389
390Zurier, Rebecca, Robert Snyder, and Virginia Mecklenburg. Metropolitan Lives: The
391 Ashcan Artists and their New York. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995.
392
393Zurier, Rebecca. Picturing the City: Urban Vision and the Ashcan School. Los Angeles:
394 University of California Press, 2006.