Mid-19 th century to Fin de Siecle Sculpture and Architecture

1. Wonder when that thing will get done? Mid-19th century to Fin de Siecle Sculpture and Architecture

2. Augustus Saint-Gaudens • Beaux Arts style…blending elements of Greek Classical and French Baroque • American Renaissance ---1876-1917 U.S. is heir to Greek democracy; faith in new materials and technology • Memorial statue in Rock Creek Park, Washington DC • 1891, Grief (Adams Memorial, Mystery of the Hereafter): mysterious, mystical, dedicated to wife of Henry Adams who killed herself • No dates; no artist signature • Arm brings attention to shrouded face

3. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux • Ugolino and Children, 1867---now at the Met.Ugolino is accused of betraying his town by not fighting hard enough. He is sent to a tower with all sons and grandsons to die, ending his lineage. Sons offer their bodies to keep their father alive. How does it compare to the Classical statue, Laocoon Group? terror inside vs outside c. 175-150 BCE, marble

4. Auguste Rodin (1840-1917) • French • Expressed distress and moral weakness as well as beauty • You can see some of his sculptures at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington • Went away from the heroic and turned to the natural in his sculptures "There is a statue in each block of marble. It is just a question of divining it and bringing it out by removing all that is excessive" - Rodin The Kiss

5. Auguste RodinFrench • Realist sensibility with an interior emotional content • Interested in motion through sculpture as well as the effects of light on the surface • Worked in clay, then cast in bronze • Burghurs of Calais, bronze 1884-89— 6 men offer their lives to save their town in 1347, during the 100 years war; varying expression, not all heroic—Realism • Figures sculpted individually, then grouped • Rejected at first by the town of Calais as not noble enough • Gates of Hell, 1880-1917, Gates of Hell,a response to Ghilberti’s Gates of Paradise in Florence and Michaelangelo’s Last Judgement. Inspired by Dante’s Inferno, Rodin addresses the inner hell of the psyche, not the external hell of the devil. Never completed…now at Rodin Museum in Paris; plaster cast into bronze. Sculptures include: the Thinker, the Ugolino Group, the Kiss • The Walking Man, 1877 sketchy, rough, impressionistic. Rodin sought to express motion and dynamic pose. Headless, armless reminds one of a Classical sculpture, yet the attributes (texture, stride, motion) are modern. Look for it at the Hirshhorn. Find Carl Sandberg’s poem on the Walking Man

6. Royal Pavilion at Brighton, England, John Nash, 1815-22 Here is an example of Romantic architecture, to be compared with later buildings of the 19th century…. • Indo-Saracenic. Indian Gothic. Indo-Islamic. Fantasy India! Asian Exoticism…fits in with Romantic sensibilities. • Neo-Gothic meets Mughal. • Conquest of India by the Muslims leads to Mughal style of architecture in the 1500-1600s. Taj Mahal (1648) in India is a famous example. • Cupola built over cast iron • Interior, cast iron columns used; cast iron decoration • Built for the Prince Regent of England (later King George IV) who didn’t like London • Brits were on their way to rule all of India (mid-century) …busy making diplomatic contacts and trading connections

7. Houses of ParliamentBarry and Pugin, 1835 Mimicking medieval times, granite and masonry define the construction of Neo-Gothic buildings • Gothic Revival (Neo-Gothic); cohesiveness with other architecture in London • Romantic return to roots of the country---medievalism • Built after fire destroyed old buildings in 1834 • Tower groupings including Big Ben, built in 1858 • Palladian windows and classical regularity • Gothic detail and embellishment

8. ARCHITECTURE Some builders had no interest in “modern” materials of iron and steel, but favored a return to all things hand made… Red HouseWilliam Morris, England, 1859 • Arts and crafts style • Anti-industrial Age • Morris designed fabrics, tiles, furniture, all items • The garden is a room • Profoundly influenced by essayist and critic Ruskin = Romantic, Medieval values and hand-made craft • Marx = modern man is alienated from his work…doomed to a soul-less production line

9. Antoni GaudiBarcelona Modernista • Catalan Spanish art nouveau style • Organic form, undulating, lyrical, subjective, imaginative • Used elements of nature for design • Incorporated new techniques for ironwork, ceramics, stained glass…all disciplines in which he was versed • Made 3-D plans for his work ; used catenary curve (the perfect curve of a naturally hanging line) • Interior elastic walls of indefinite shape • Imaginative use of materials… trencadis=broken ceramic pieces in design Casa Batllo, 1906 A private residence Casa Mila, 1906 an apartment building

10. first Cast Iron Bridge, 1775-79England, Abraham Darby, III But cast iron is a compelling material for builders and architects… • As woodlands were disappearing in England, mineral fuels such as coal, were in demand. New coal furnace technology made cast iron melting more affordable. Darby leased a large coal furnace and experimented with improved, low-cost methods for melting iron • 1767, first iron rails were cast • 1775-79; first cast iron bridge constructed in Coalbrookedale, England • Spanned about 100 feet, erected over the river Severn IRON ALLOYS: Wrought iron= more pliable; pounded into shape, not melted cannot be broken with a hammer Cast iron=brittle, but melts at low temperature for pouring in molds Steel= combination of iron, carbon, nickel and other minerals to make it very strong and durable

11. St. Genevieve Library, ParisHenri LaBrouste, 1845-51 • Contemporary interior with iron arches, barrel vaulting and columns support roof--- independent of masonry walls • Italian Renn. Revival on exterior—”Romantic Rationalism” • Felt that buildings should reflect the rational and technical effects of modern society—architecture is a form of communication • Large expanse; monumental long vaulted reading room; stacks constructed with open girders allowing natural light to come in • Importance of book storage due to increase of book production in the 19th century…changed focus of libraries from reading rooms to stacks (in National Library, constructed by LaBrouste a few years later) Cast Iron

12. Crystal Palace, LondonJoseph Paxton, 1851 • First major building to reveal modern exterior structure • Iron skeleton framework and glass panels • Paxton was a gardener and designed it as a giant greenhouse hall for the Great International Exhibition of 1851 (Industrial Age Exhibition ) • First located in Hyde Park, London, then relocated to a suburb • burned in 1930s • Included pre-fab parts and largest spans of glass possible at the time---4 feet long • Length of building is almost 2,000 feet; ground area is @ 800,000 square feet. Completed in 6 months! Wrought and Cast Iron

13. Eiffel TowerGustave Eiffel, 1889 • “puddle iron” lattice tower • Built as entrance to 1889 World’s Fair in Paris • Criticized as an eyesore • Tallest building in the world when constructed, comparable to 81 stories • Cables cut during Nazi occupation so that Hitler would have to walk up to the top

14. Hotel Tassel, 1893, BrusselsVictor Horta Even elaborate art nouveau designers incorporated cast iron into their “modern” creations • Considered the first true Art Nouveau building—graceful lines and natural elements • Exposed cast iron as a structural material—columns and girders. Decorative iron elements include stair banister • Brussels townhouse, affordable only by the rich bourgeoisie • Horta’s grandfather owned one of the first cast iron factories in England, enabling the Industrial Revolution • Horta designs all elements of house, including light fixtures and mosaic flooring--- Gesamtkunstwerk

15. CHICAGO-birthplace of the skyscraper 1st skyscraper--Home Insurance Company, ChicagoWilliam LeBaron Jenny, 1883-85 • The first steel-frame skyscraper ( of 10+ stories ) • Weight of building is held by interior skeleton of steel—enabling exterior to be a glass curtain • Also built with wrought and cast iron • Weighed only 1/3 as much as a stone building • Great Chicago fire of 1871 created a blank slate for architects to develop buildings with the newest techniques and materials • Jenny considered the father of the Chicago School • Important innovations enabling skyscrapers to be built: • inexpensive methods for creating steel had been developed by the 1880s • the Otis elevator (American) was perfected to include a brake system Destroyed in 1931 to make way for a larger building

16. Marshall Field Wholesale Building, ChicagoHenry Hodson Richardson, 1885 • Flat treatment of exterior walls—Italian Romanesque Revival • Interior—large open loft spaces; iron columns for interior supports • Exterior—masonry exterior walls support the building; slow gradation of masonry from heavy to light • Rounded Romanesque window arches give appearance of 4 floors, but really 7 • Sunken basement provides more strength for building • Large scale form with little ornamentation; masculine to counter “feminine” department stores • Did not include cast iron skeleton--- frame consisted of plaster walls for support, reinforced with wood, concrete and iron beams Torn down shortly after 1930 for larger building The Boathouse is Richardsonian style! Anti-Victorian

17. The Reliance Building, ChicagoBurnham and Root, 1894 CHICAGO STYLE: • Chicago window = horizontal, with large fixed central pane and two openable side panels; developed for office buildings to create more light and ventilation. Glass curtain. • Load-bearing iron skeleton • Floating foundation of reinforced concrete to bear heavy weight of structure • 14 floors • Steel frame clad with terra cotta • Still stands; currently a hotel • Proto-modern=Anticipates modern development of architecture

18. Carson Pierre Scott, ChicagoLouis Sullivan, 1899 • Steel-frame structure with Chicago windows—exterior non-supportive • Art-Nouveau bronze cast-iron ornamental work • Piers emphasize verticality; windows horizontal emphasis • Sullivan also built the Guaranty Building, Buffalo, in 1894..prototype of modern office building Sullivan= “Form Follows Function” in that everyone was attracted to the beautiful detail and wanted to shop in the store!