Queries

Magazine Antiques, July, 2003 by Remi Spriggs

On April 18, 1838, an act of the New York State Legislature incorporated the 'Green-Wood Cemetery for the purpose of establishing a public burial ground in the City of Brooklyn." David Bates Douglass, a civil engineer, was chosen as its landscape architect and first president He designed the cemetery to include majestic streams and lakes, and integrated scenic elements such as Vista Hill, Camelia Path, and Sylvan Cliff, The architectural firm of Richard Upjohn and Son designed an entrance gateway on Fifth Avenue in the late Gothic revival style that was completed in 1863. In the mid-nineteenth century Green-Wood presented an alternative to the traditional churchyard cemetery. It became fashionable after the body of former New York governor De Witt Clinton was moved there from Albany in 1853, Soon thereafter, the cemetery became a popular tourist site, supplemented by guidebooks and guided tours. It now consists of 478 acres of land with nearly 560,000 graves. Among those buried there are George Bellows, Leona rd Bernstein, Samuel F. B. Morse, Duncan Phyfe, Louis Comfort Tiffany and William Marcy "Boss" Tweed. The Green-Wood Historic Fund seeks objects pertaining to the cemetery and interments, including paintings, prints, books, and photographs for its archives and forthcoming exhibitions at the cemetery.

Jeffrey I. Richman

Historian

Green-Wood Historic Fund 500-25th Street

Brooklyn, New York 11232

The Society of American Artists, founded in New York City in 1877, is the subject of an exhibition (with an accompanying catalogue) to be on view in 2006 and 2007 at the National Academy of Design in New York City. The society presented the first viable challenge to the conservative art establishment in the United States and, as such, helped lay the groundwork for the advent of modernism at the beginning of the twentieth century. The exhibition will address the contributions the society made in that regard and, for the first time, document the organization's 130-year history, its innovative exhibition policies, and its place in the history of American art. Information about paintings and sculptures shown in the society's annual exhibitions between 1878 and 1906 as well as documentation regarding the roles of artists and nonartists in the society's programs and governance would be greatly appreciated. Those with relevant information should contact:

David B. Dearinger

Chief curator

National Academy of Design 1083 Fifth Avenue

New York, New York 10128

The Overbeck Pottery was established in 1911 by four sisters--Margaret, Hannah, Elizabeth Gray, and Mary Frances Overbeck-- in their family home in Cambridge City, Indiana. Margaret, an avid china painter, had studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and at Columbia University in New York City under Arthur Wesley Dow, before becoming an art teacher at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana Although she died the year the pottery opened, she imparted the guiding vision for the studio. Hannah, an invalid for many years, provided numerous designs for the pottery until her death in 1931. Elizabeth Gray who had studied with the Anglo-American ceramist Charles Fergus Binns, supplied the technical knowledge at the pottery, creating the wares as well as experimenting with glazes until her death in 1936. Mary Frances, also a student of Dow, provided artistic guidance as a designer and decorator. The sisters worked in close collaboration, creating wheel-thrown and hand-built pottery, often decorated with glaze or car ving. Margaret, Hannah, and Mary Frances produced numerous designs for the magazine Keramic Studio. After Elizabeth's death, Mary Frances continued working, primarily creating small figurines of people, animals, and birds. The pottery ceased operation in 1955 with the death of Mary Frances. The Indianapolis Museum of Art is organizing a retrospective exhibition about the Overbeck Pottery with an accompanying catalogue. The museum is seeking the loan of museum-quality examples of Overheck art pottery, china decoration, textiles, works on paper (designs and drawings), ephemera (designs submitted to Keramic Studio, bookplates, and note cards), and photographs.

Jennifer Howe

Exhibition consultant

3915 Millsbrae Avenue

Cincinnati, Ohio 45209

Thomas Hart Benton is the subject of a forthcoming catalogue raisonne. The compilers wish to locate paintings by the artist, including works in oil, tempera, gouache, and watercolor, for inclusion in the catalogue.

Thomas Hart Benton Catalogue Raisonne Foundation

Owen Gallery

19 East 75th Street

New York, New York 10021

A revised edition of the 1962 catalogue raisonne of the works of the American genre painter William Ranney (1813-1857) is nearing completion. Those who have not already done so are requested to contact the compiler who is seeking information about and photographs of unpublished or lost works, particularly animal pictures and portraits. Ranney began his career in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He was working in Brooklyn and New York City by 1840 and had opened a studio in Weehawken, New Jersey by 1847. Principally recognized for his paintings of western scenes, he also produced sporting, animal, history, and marine pictures. The catalogue will accompany an exhibition scheduled to open in 2006. Please forward information and/or photographs to: