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SALUTES
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SALUTES: September
Many sculptures in Manhattan are linked to important dates in U.S. or world history. Here are a few for September. (They lean toward the martial, because the second volume of the Forgotten Delights series of guidebooks includes many soldiers.)
September
8, 1841: Birth of Dvorak
* Antonin Dvorak, by Ivan Mestrovic. 1963. Bronze bust. Northwest corner of Stuyvesant Square Park, near 17th St. and Ave. B.
"With Smetana, Fibich and Janacek he is regarded as one of the great nationalist Czech composers of the 19th century. ... He earned worldwide admiration and prestige for 19th-century Czech music with his symphonies, chamber music, oratorios, songs and, to a lesser extent, his operas." (New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, 2nd ed., VII:777) Influenced by Beeethoven, Schubert and Liszt as well as Czech folk traditions, Dvorak was a prolific composer beginning in the mid-1870s. In 1892 he began a three-year tenure as director of the National Conservatory of Music in America. His most famous composition during this period was Symphony #9 in E minor, the “New World Symphony” (1893). In 1895 Dvorak returned to Bohemia; he died in Prague in 1904.
This bust is by a student of Rodin - not a big surprise, given the texture. Originally dedicated in 1963 on a rooftop terrace of Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, it was moved in 1997 to its present location, to honor the neighborhood where Dvorak lived during his time in America.
September
14, 1321: Death of Dante Alighieri
* Dante Alighieri, by Ettore Ximenes, 1921. Dante Square, Broadway at 64th St. (near Lincoln Center).
Dante (1265-1321) was not an ivory-tower intellectual: his support of the White Guelphs led to exile from his native Florence in 1302. Living in Verona and Ravenna, he composed the Divine Comedy, in which he is guided through the divinely-ordered hell, purgatory and paradise first by the poet Virgil and then by his lost love Beatrice. The Comedy was Europe’s first literary masterpiece in a vernacular language. Dante's influence has infiltrated such unlikely places as Lemony Snickett’s Series of Unfortunate Events, the first volume of which is dedicated "To Beatrice, darling, dearest, dead."
I've tried to read Dante, but the translations I've found so far have been uncongenial. So here are two favorite quotations found on the Net, not really representative of Dante's outlook:
The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.
Consider your origin; you were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.
The New York branch of the Dante Alighieri Society commissioned this statue for the fiftieth anniversary of Garibaldi’s unification of Italy in 1862, but the sculpture was not completed on time. It was dedicated instead in 1921 to honor the 600th anniversary of the author’s death. Ximenes, the sculptor, also did the Verrazzano monument in Battery Park (Forgotten Delights: The Producers, Essay No. 3).
Mid-September
2005: "Full of sound and fury ..."
* Metronome, by Kristin Jones and Andrew Ginzel, 1999. Union Square South (14th St. at Broadway), above the Virgin Music Store.
Henry Kirke Brown's equestrian statue of George Washington at Union Square "quotes" an ancient Roman statue of Marcus Aurelius. In my forthcoming book on outdoor sculpture in Manhattan, I discuss why an artist would choose to quote another sculpture, and what effect it has in this case. Here I want to raise an issue that I omitted from the forthcoming book for lack of space.
Facing Washington on the south side of Union Square is a conglomeration of ten objects on a 100 x 60-foot wall, collectively entitled Metronome. Metronome includes a digital clock, a genuine concrete cast of a chunk of Manhattan bedrock, and a hole that belches steam twice a day. It also includes (top center) an enlarged cast of the hand of Brown's Washington. The artists dubbed this "The Relic," and explain on their website that
History is malleable and what is taken as truth is always in transition. Time and history are relative to ourselves. Monuments created to commemorate often loose [sic] their relevance. Metronome asks to be considered as the opposite of a monument. The work as a whole is meant to confound the very idea of a monument. It dwells on the intangible and unknowable. …
What's the difference between Henry Kirke Brown's work and Metronome? Both of them use the work of earlier artists. Brown didn't invent bronze or the equestrian statue, and he certainly didn't produce the first portrait of George Washington. He did, however, ponder what he knew, and come up with a statement (a theme) that he thought was important enough to convey to others. Washington honors a man who achieved an extraordinarily difficult task - it's not about the struggle, but about the serene triumph afterwards. This message is conveyed visually, as messages must be in the visual arts. If you know American history and recognize the country's first president, you can grasp that message. You don't require the artist's explanation.
Metronome, on the other hand, is just a bunch of weird objects unless you read Jones and Ginzel's lengthy exposition. Their work is roughly the equivalent of saying "Months minutes moon-phases Tomorrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, / Creeps in this petty pace from day to day / To the last syllable of recorded time BOOM!" Tossing a famous line in the midst of gibberish doesn't make a work great, or good, or even comprehensible.
Jones and Ginzel request that I think of "The Relic" as "the opposite of a monument." Very well: I'll think of it as a pretentious $1.5-million piece of trash, and (to continue with Macbeth) "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
For more on abstract "art," see my essay on Christo's Gates.
Mid-September
1864: Sherman evacuates Atlanta
* William Tecumseh Sherman, by Augustus Saint Gaudens, 1903. Fifth Avenue at 59th St., just east of the Plaza Hotel.
Now and then, in the course of my research, I come across a document so relevant to current circumstances that one could almost submit it as a letter to the editor, with only minor revisions. Sherman's letters ordering and justifying the evacuation of Atlanta, Georgia in September 1864 are that sort of documents - particularly the one written to the Mayor of Atlanta, dated September 12th. The exchange of letters between Sherman, Confederate General Hood and the Mayor of Atlanta is rather long, so instead of putting it here I've added it as a separate page.
For Sherman's concept of "total war," see the November salute to Sherman. Sherman is discussed in more detail in Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan - which, incidentally, focuses on neither the evacuation of Atlanta nor the March through Georgia.
September 20-24, 1846: the Battle of Monterrey (Mexico)
* General William Jenkins Worth Monument, north end of the triangle formed by Fifth Ave., Broadway and 24th St. The relief on the base faces south, and (like all bronze sculpture) is best viewed when the sun is not glaring.
General William Jenkins Worth was a hero of the Battle of Monterrey, a crucial victory in the Mexican-American War, 1846-48. The following eyewitness account of Worth's role in the battle was written by a Texas ranger a year later. (For more on the Battle of Monterrey, see http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monterrey .)
The position Gen. Worth then occupied might have been considered as critical as it was dangerous. Separated from the main body of the army--his communication cut off, and no possible route less than eight miles to regain it--with but scanty supplies of provisions for only four days--surrounded by gorges and passes of the mountains, from whose summits belched forth the destructive shot, shell, and grape; he was liable at any moment to be attacked by an overwhelming force in the direction of Saltillo, which had been reported to be daily expected...
It was feared, too, from his impetuous nature, that he would rush his command into unnecessary danger by some rash and desperate attempt. But it was not so. He was collected, calm, and cool, and bore himself with that proud, resolute, and commanding mien, giving his orders with promptness and decision, which inspired men and officers alike with confidence. He never appeared better than on that day; and all felt that with Worth they were sure of victory....
Before us stood the steep and rugged hill, about three hundred and eighty feet high, whose slopes were covered with thick and thorny chaparral. With a glass could be seen the swarm of Mexicans that crowned the height, while its cannon, which looked down in defiance at us, seemed to threaten with annihilation all who dared to approach. The daring of the expedition was thought to be one of the last hope; and men looked forward to meet death calmly in the face, as they felt that it was only by great sacrifice that they could gain a victory. Gen. Worth rode up, as the command moved off, and pointing to the height, said: "Men, you are to take that hill--and I know you will do it." with one response they replied, "We will." And those who before had felt a doubt as to its practicability, now became reanimated, and felt themselves invincible. The words of Worth had nerved every arm, and hearts swelled with that proud feeling of enthusiasm which make men indomitable before the foe. ... "
Samuel C. Reid, Jr., The Scouting Expeditions of McCulloch's Texas Rangers, 1847. http://www.hillsdale.edu/academics/history/War/America/Mexican/1846-Monterey-Reid.htm
September
22, 1776: execution of Nathan Hale
* Nathan Hale, facing City Hall. You may have trouble getting past City-Hall security to see Hale's face. Be polite, be patient, and go during business hours.
On the night of September 21, 1776, a catastrophic fire swept through New York, starting at Whitehall, reducing Trinity Church to rubble, finally burning itself out in the empty lots north of St. Paul's. The British, who had just occupied the city after Washington's retreat, were certain the loss of a quarter of the city's dwellings was due to arson by the American rebels, and did a sweep for suspects. Among those brought in was a 21-year-old school teacher turned captain in the American forces, who confessed to spying on the British. (The notes hidden in his shoes were in Latin.) British General Howe had no compunction about ordering him hanged. Hale's famous last words: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." (I've always taken this to mean not that he enjoyed the thought of dying, but that he recognized that certain things were worth fighting for, and dying for if necessary.)
This is one of my favorite sculptures in the city: I wrote an essay on it several years ago.
On the fire in New York and Hale's subsequent capture, see Burrows & Wallace, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, pp. 241-2. For more on Hale, see http://www.ctssar.org/patriots/nathan_hale.htm
For more on this sculpture, see Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan.
September 2005: Mystery Sculptures at Rockefeller Plaza
* ??????? (see below), by Paul Manship, 1934. Rockefeller Center Plaza, west of Fifth Ave. between 49th and 50th Sts.
Here's a test of your habits of observation. You're standing at Rockefeller Center, looking down at Prometheus, who's overseeing either ice skaters or diners at the Sea Grill restaurant, depending on the season. To each side of the steps leading down into the plaza is a bronze sculpture of substantial size. Can you remember what they look like? I've given you a minute to think about it by putting the photos at the end of this Salute rather than the beginning.
In the course of researching Prometheus for my upcoming book on outdoor sculpture in Manhattan, I discovered that these two figures were originally gilt, and stood on ledges to either side of Prometheus. They represent the human race, to whom Prometheus (according to Greek legend) brought the gift of fire. The inscription above Prometheus, from Aeschylus, reads, "Prometheus, teacher in every art, brought the fire that hath proved to mortals a means to mighty ends."
Within a year after the figures were set in place, sculptor Paul Manship decided that they were out of proportion to Prometheus, and they were hauled up to the roof of the Italian Building. Fifty years later, cleaned but not regilded, they were moved to their present locations.
The sunken plaza that Prometheus floats above was always intended as a focal point for Rockefeller Center, but the Christmas tree behind it and the skating rink for which it is most famous were both serendipitous experiments, intended to increase foot traffic to the Center's stores during the Greatly Depressed 1930s. I'll have more to say about Prometheus and other Rockefeller Center sculptures in Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan: A Historical Guide.
Note: The Café at Saks Fifth Avenue has a lovely view of the rooftop gardens on the Italian and British buildings, as well as the Channel Gardens, Prometheus and (in December) the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Having a cup of tea in the Café is affordable and ever so relaxing. dahling.
September 26, 1918: beginning of the Meuse-Argonne offensive
*
Chelsea Park Memorial, Chelsea Park, at 28th
St. and Ninth Ave.
The Meuse-Argonne offensive in northeastern France (between the Meuse River and the Argonne forest) began September 26, 1918, and continued until November 11, when the Armistice was signed. With some 600,000 American troops involved, it was the largest U.S. military action during the First World War, and the Americans took heavy casualties - 26,277 killed, 95,786 wounded.
During this offensive, on October 8, Corporal Alvin York (known in his native Tennessee as a hell-raiser, a pacifist, and an extraordinarily good marksman) was credited with almost single-handedly killing about 25 German soldiers, taking out 3 machine guns and capturing 132 German prisoners. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor and became the best-known American hero of World War I.
Numerous monuments to World War I are scattered throughout Manhattan: among them the Chelsea Memorial, the Abingdon Square Memorial, Father Francis P. Duffy at Times Square, the Flanders Field Memorial, the 107th Infantry Monument, and the Inwood War Memorial. Duffy is discussed in Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan.
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