North Light Books Selects My Drawing

I just received notification that my drawing "Willow Mount" has been selected for inclusion in "Strokes of Genius 6: Value/Lights & Darks" to be published October 2014. They had over 1,500 entries and selected 144 drawings for the book. I am thrilled!!

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Just months after the Civil War ended in 1865, a group of veterans, with the help of the Reverend Robert Shaw Howland, founded the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest as a memorial to those who had served and fallen in that terrible conflict. The first services were held in 1865 at the original location at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 45th Street.

In 1925, the parish acquired its present location at 90th and Fifth Avenue from Mrs. Andrew Carnegie, who lived across the street. The new church was dedicated on Easter Sunday, 1929. This elegant, Art Deco-style, limestone-clad church is one of only two religious structures on Fifth Avenue on the Upper East Side. 

The boldly massed structure was erected with a modern steel frame and has austere limestone façades distinguished by large pointed-arched openings and sculpted figures that seem to grow organically from the stonework. This is especially evident at the entrance with its figures of Moses and John the Baptist and its pair of winged angels.

This is angel on the left side of the front of the Church of the Heavenly Rest. The way it comes right out of the building gives it a certain strength as well as its Art Deco style. The very angular style made interesting shadows. The fact that it is such an unusual angel really made me want to draw it.

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This ornate cast-iron and aluminum street lamp is a replica of the historic streetlights that adorn the Lombard Bridge in Hamburg, Germany. It is a gift from the City of Hamburg, dedicated on March 1, 1979.

The ornate Lombard Lamp, designed by Hamburg sculptor Carl Borner, has a lavish base composed of cherubs, garlands and other decorative features. Although it is hollow, the fifteen-foot lamp weighs more than 1,200 pounds, and supports five glove-shaped luminaires.

The gift of this lamp symbolizes the sister-city relations between Hamburg and New York. As Hamburg Mayor Helga Elster commented at the time, “We hope to shed light on a bridge of friendship…”

I was at the south end of Central Park when I saw this lamp post. It is a beautiful work of art in itself. I really enjoy drawing ornamentation such as this lamp, especially with the strong shadows. The dark, dark shadows on the bushes in the left of my drawing "Lombard Lamp, Central Park" with the lighter foliage on the right adds so much depth to the composition.

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The Richard Morris Hunt Memorial was dedicated in 1891. It is on Fifth Avenue on the edge of Central Park across from the Frick Museum. It is an exedra consisting of a semicircular terrace lined with columns and benches, in the center of which is a bust of Richard Morris Hunt on a pedestal. On the left side of the exedra is an allegorical female figure representing Painting and Sculpture. She holds a palette and a mallet. On the right side is an allegorical female figure representing Architecture. She holds a model of the Administration Building designed by Richard Morris Hunt for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

Hunt (1828-1895) was the first American architect trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He went on to design such New York buildings as the Tribune Building and the Lenox Library, both now gone, the Metropolitan Museum, and the granite pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, as well as homes for the Vanderbilts and Astors. Hunt was the founding president of the Municipal Art Society in 1892. 

It took two tries on two trips to New York City to get photos of the memorial that I liked enough to work from. This pen-and-ink drawing of the "Hunt Memorial." is a very vertical composition which I decided to use because I wanted to focus on the statue holding the model of the building on the right side of the memorial. The shadows were fantastic and I loved the trees in Central Park as a back drop. 

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Nat Sherman’s first store opened at 1400 Broadway in the heart of New York City’s garment center in the early 1930s. It became a high-profile hangout for fashion and show business executives, as well as gangsters - all big fans of premium cigars. In the 1970s, the tobacco store joined the prestige of retailers along Fifth Avenue at 55th Street, close to the Plaza Hotel and Park Avenue South, but by the late 1980s the shop had veered from its roots, selling more gifts than tobacco products.

In 1991 - anticipating a resurgence in premium cigars - Nat Sherman opened the former Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street shop. A stylish and ornately-appointed destination for cigar enthusiasts, it represented an entirely new phase of the retail store and helped raise the bar throughout the industry for a new generation of high-end, customer service-oriented shops. 

The new store which opened at 14 East 42nd Street with a grand-opening celebration in November 2007 marks the fourth location during its 78-year history. Each site change has reflected various stages in the company’s evolution and vision as a retailer, wholesaler, and even manufacturer.

The iconic Nat Sherman clock which adorned the corner of the previous store and became the company’s corporate logo, is prominently featured on the new building’s facade. Below left, the store on the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue. Below right, the clock as it now looks at the 14 East 42nd Street location.

I took my photo of the clock when it was located on the corner at 42nd and Fifth Avenue. I really liked the contrast of the old cigar store Indian against the reflection of skyscrapers in the highly polished marble. One of my first thoughts when I saw the photo with the Indian posed as if looking out at the buildings of Manhattan was "we only got $26 worth of beads for all this?" One of my favorite drawings--such a wide range of values and detail.

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In 1908, an entire building was built, just so a group of artists could have uninterrupted Northern light.  In 1903, a whiny artist named V.V. Sewell complained that no one understands how hard it is to find a decent studio in New York. Along with a group of artists who called themselves the Gainsborough Corporation, they banded together to build an epic studio and apartment building for themselves on Central Park South.

The lower levels are decked with intricate Victorian stone carvings. A frieze by Isidore Konti, representing a procession of people bringing gifts to the altar of the arts is on either side of a bust of painter Thomas Gainsborough above a palette in the middle of the building in a small niche. The top floors show ornate Edwardian tiles in bright colors, made in 18th Century German pottery from an artisan in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The interior boasts 18 foot ceilings--a rarity at the time, achieved by filing the building as a hotel rather than an apartment building. The north facing studios were filled with light, rich mahogany and oak woodwork, ornate balconies and fire places, built in cabinets and leaded glass doors. 

The luxury building hosted well-to do men and women artists over the greater part of the century, who shared kitchen areas, a reception area, laundry and private restaurant.

Once again, the sunlight and shadows played a big part in my wanting to create this pen-and-ink drawing of "Gainsborough Studios". The figures in the frieze, the Greek key decoration and all the other details with their cast shadows, including a portion of the building next door with air conditioning units poking out just made this a great composition for me. I also loved the reflection in the tall "north light" windows of the trees in Central Park giving the drawing a sense of location.

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Two of the most loved public sculptures are the lions in front of the New York City Public Library on Fifth Avenue. Sculptor Edward Clark Poptter obtained the commission for the lions on the recommendation of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of America's foremost sculptors. Potter was paid $8,000 for the modeling, and the Piccirilli Brothers executed the carving for $5,000, using pink Tennessee marble.

Patience and Fortitude's nicknames have changed a couple of times over the years. This is Patience, the lion south of the Library's main steps. They were originally called Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, after the Library founders John Jacob Astor and James Lenox. Later, they were known as Lady Astor and Lord Lenox even though they are both male lions. During the 1930s, Mayor Fioello LaGuardia named them Patience and Fortitude, for the qualities he felt New Yorkers would need to survive the economic depression.

As a tribute to their popularity and all they stand for, the Library adopted the lions as it mascots. They are trademarked, represent the Library's logo and are featured at major events.

I'm no different than anyone else, I have always loved these lions. My pen-and-ink drawing, "Library Lion" is of Patience. The way the sunlight hits him and the cast shadows make him look even more majestic. On the shadowed wall behind him is a marble fountain statue called "Beauty" in a niche in the building facade. She is a woman seated on the winged horse Pegasus, representing inspiration and elevation above the worlds concerns. I liked the idea of showing, even in shadow, what Patience is "guarding".

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Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on Seventh Avenue two blocks south of Central Park. It was designed by William Burnet Tuthill and built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1891. It is one of the most prestigious venues in the world for both classical music and popular music. Carnegie Hall presents about 250 performances each season. The hall has not had a resident company since 1962, when the New York Philharmonic moved to Lincoln Center.

I took the photo for this pen-and-ink drawing, "Carnegie Hall," on my very first trip to New York City in 1992. The sun was shining so brightly, the building was glowing. This was another instance of knowing I had to draw it. Those deep, dark shadows in the arches above the marquee just drew me right in. It would be 12 years before I drew it--after 9/11. So I really liked the fact that the American flag was right there in the middle.

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This is one of New York’s fabulous brick Rundbogenstil (German for round-arch style) buildings and home to Brooke Alexander Editions, publisher of prints and multiples. This monumental brick and granite warehouse, designed by Alfred Zucker and built in 1891, is decorated with carved heads and dragons. The main features of Rundbogenstil are arched windows that almost always have Venetian/Florentine tracery, inverted crenellations, or drops which are rows of small arches near the cornice, shallow gables, and thick quoins (on this building they are at the second floor level). 

Just as with Image 3 yesterday of my drawing "Soho at Wooster & Broome Sts," I saw this building as I walked north on Wooster Street. The rich terra-cotta color of the building made the beautifully carved heads, animals, rusticated stone (not smooth) and shadows stand out even more for me. The dragon in the center of my pen-and-ink drawing is an Ouroboros--a dragon swallowing its own tail.  

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1040 Fifth Avenue (informally known as the 1040) is a luxury residential housing cooperative in New York City. 1040 is one of the tallest of the limestone-clad apartment houses on Fifth Avenue, this prominent 17-story structure has one of the most distinctive roof-lines along the avenue. The canopied entrance has very attractive cast-iron doors and extensive sidewalk landscaping. It is on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 85th Street, one block up from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The facade, which has had many repairs, is relatively plain except for several sculpted faces at the fifth story. The large building has only 27 apartments and has had many prominent residents including the late Jackie Kennedy Onassis who purchased an apartment on the 15th floor in 1964 and lived there until her death in 1994.

The building was erected in 1930 and was designed by Rosario Candela, one of the city's most prominent designers of luxury apartment buildings in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

My pen-and-ink drawing, "Upper East Side Faces," shows to of the sculpted faces on the building. Of course I was also drawn to the shadows of the small iron balcony. It is hard to tell where the actual balcony ends and the shadows begin.

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I had been to The Drawing Center and was walking north on Wooster Street. When I got to this corner, Wooster and Broome Streets, I was mesmerized by the shadows cast by the fire escape on this building. I believe this is 483 Broome Street. As you can see from the sign it was an antiques store, but I don't think it was the same one that is there now, Eclectiques. The building across the street is where Brooke Alexander, publisher of prints and multiples is located (more about this building to come). This drawing, "Soho at Wooster & Broome Sts." is in a private collection in New York City.

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The Beresford, at 211 Central Park West, between 81st and 82nd Streets, is a luxury, 23-floor apartment building. Designed by the architect Emery Roth, The Beresford was completed in 1929 and is one of the most prestigious addresses in Manhattan.

It takes its name from the Hotel Beresford, which had occupied the site since 1889. It has two very prominent street-front facades, crowned by its three distinctive octagonal copper-capped corner towers. It is opened to the west, giving it a U-shape, wrapped around a central court.

The building's residents have included Jerry Seinfeld, Diana Ross, John McEnroe and Tony Randall.

Some years ago I was in NYC for a meeting, staying in a hotel on 81st Street. Walking back to my hotel one afternoon, I passed Tony Randall, his wife and another actor talking outside The Beresford. When I finished my pen-and-ink drawing "Beresford House" I made note cards and decided to send a package to Tony Randall. Less than a week after I mailed them I received a note from Mr. Randall on one of my cards. He said, "Well, you should have stopped and said hello." (I had told him about seeing him.) He also said that he had been in and out of the building a thousand times and had never noticed this angels.

"Beresford House" is a drawing of the ornamentation on the building as keystone at the top of some of the windows. It has a beautiful face and incised detail on the wings. When I was taking pictures of the building, as I stopped to move to a different angle, I noticed that people passing by were looking up trying to figure out what I was taking pictures of. Maybe they thought it was strange for someone to be interested in taking pictures of the side of a building or maybe they had never noticed the angels either.

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As we come to another anniversary of 9/11, I want to take time to celebrate New York City through its rich architectural history. As Winston Churchill once said, "We shape our buildings and thereafter they shape us." Each building has contributed to our culture through its purpose and use, whether as a home, a business or to commemorate a specific contribution to society.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's earliest roots date back to 1866 in Paris, France, when a group of Americans agreed to create a "national institution and gallery of art" to bring art and art education to the American people. On April 13, 1870, The Metropolitan Museum of Art was incorporated, opening to the public in the Dodworth Building at 681 Fifth Avenue.

On March 30, 1880, after a brief move to the Douglas Mansion at 128 West 14th Street, the Museum opened to the public at its current site on Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street. The architects Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould designed the initial Ruskinian Gothic structure, the west facade of which is still visible in the Robert Lehman Wing. The building has since expanded greatly, and the various additions—built as early as 1888—now completely surround the original structure.

The Museum's Beaux-Arts Fifth Avenue facade and Great Hall, designed by the architect and founding Museum Trustee Richard Morris Hunt, opened to the public in December 1902. The Evening Post reported that at last New York had a neoclassical palace of art, "one of the finest in the world, and the only public building in recent years which approaches in dignity and grandeur the museums of the old world."

Today, the Museum's two-million-square-foot building houses over two million objects, tens of thousands of which are on view at any given time. 

My pen-and-ink drawing, "Day at the Met," shows its beautiful ornamentation with the strong diagonal shadows emphasizing its rich detail. The decorative heads above the roof line of the building are reflected in the window as well as in the silhouette of the shadow on the north facade. The shadows cast on the keystone head at the top of the window reinforce the strength of its features. All of which convey a stately, magnificent presence on Fifth Avenue.