NYC Sculpture
Blog
Upward Glance
Tours, lectures
Essays
Art Consulting
Gifts, Greetings
Site Updates
Transcription
Profiles: Cont. Sculptors
FAQ
Links
Contact
About the Site
Press Releases
Most comprehensive guidebook in
print to outdoor sculpture in Manhattan
more info -
order
Links
This is an eclectic collection of links that I've found delightful, useful, and/or informative. If you'd like me to consider including your site on this list, email comments@ForgottenDelights.com.
- Art to buy: painting and sculpture
- Art to visit: museums
- Prints, photos, reproductions, frames
- Out-of-the-ordinary e-cards
- Movies
- Architecture
Indispensable research sources
Art
Note: If you're wondering why this list includes no sites devoted to abstract (non-representational, non-figurative) works, read my essay on Christo's Gates.
Art to buy: painting and sculpture
Quent
Cordair Fine Art
Contemporary romantic realism in painting and sculpture. In 2005-2006 I did
essays for this site on the Turner Prize, film, landscapes and still lifes.
In January 2008 I'll be giving 6 hours of lectures on art history and
appreciation on the Quent Cordair Arts Cruise.
Bryan Larsen Fine Art Main
I own two prints of Larsen's paintings. If I could afford it, I'd own originals.
Larsen is represented by
Quent Cordair Fine Art, but the
RationalArt blog on this site offers a running series of sketches by Larsen
and his friend Damon Denys.
Sculpture by Sandra J. Shaw
Sandra's tagline is "For the love of rational art and the glory of the human
form." She also offers
lectures on art history and a long, wonderfully annotated
list of recommended readings.
ARC International - The Art Renewal Center
The focus is on 19th-c. painting, although the mission statement is much
broader: "To create the largest on-line Museum on the
internet, with hundreds of thousands of oversized high quality images of all the
known works of the greatest painters and sculptors in human history, cross
referenced to the largest encyclopedic online art reference library of
historical texts, essays, biographies and articles." The quality of the
images on the site is very high, and most are also available for purchase as
prints. ARC sponsors an annual
Salon. They interviewed me for a
podcast in December 2006. (It should be uploaded sometime in January 2007.)
Viselaya Foundation
Sponsors "a professionally juried international competition for figurative
sculpture. The competition is open to any living artist. … Judging criteria
include: vitality and sensitivity of expression; originality; beauty; success in
portraying an important theme or concept; mastery of the medium; quality of
composition; and excellence in anatomy, including structure, balance and
movement of the figure(s)." The next exhibition is scheduled for 2008. If
possible, see
the competing works on display in Carlisle, MA - the garden is
lovely. (Sign up on the Viselaya site for an invitation.) Many of the works are available
for sale.
Conner
Rosenkranz, New York
Private gallery open by appointment only, specializing in
American figurative sculpture 1850-1950, including
neoclassical, Beaux-Arts, and modernist works as well as garden sculpture.
Their 1989
Rediscoveries in American Sculpture deserves a place on the shelf of any
lover of early 20th-c. American figurative sculpture, for the content and for
the David Finn photos. It's out of print, but Amazon offers used copies.
Gallery
71, New York
Focuses on works depicting New York City architecture and landmarks. I love the
mezzotint cityscapes of
Frederick Mershimer and the watercolors of
Marion Welch, who are both represented by this gallery.
StudioEIS,
New York
The studio produces sculpture for museums, corporations, government
institutions, and restaurants, among others. They’re the force behind the
forensic reconstructions of George Washington at 3 different ages that just
went up in Mount Vernon. They're also producing a series of busts of the
Founding Fathers. (Examples below.)
 |
 |
Art to visit: museums
Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York
Among the useful features of the site are the
timeline of art history and
list of past exhibitions, many of which can still be enjoyed via the
illustrations on the MMA's site.
Dahesh
Museum, New York
The Dahesh, one of New York's relatively new museums, is "the only institution in
the United States devoted to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting works by
Europe's academically trained artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries."
Don't miss the
gift shop, full of lovely baubles and a wide range of reference books for
the 19th c.
Frick
Collection, New York
Strictly representational art. Size- and time-wise, this is the most manageable
of the world's top-notch museums, size- and time wise. The paintings are the
main attraction, but I once spent a delightful visit looking only at the small
bronzes and furniture. The
Frick Art Reference Library next door is a very useful resource; first-time researchers need a
photo ID.
Brookgreen
Gardens, Murrells Inlet, SC
Founded by noted sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington and her husband, Brookgreen has
over 900 works dating from the early 1800s to the present. Every important
American figurative sculptor is represented there in at least a model if not a
full-scale work. The sculptures are displayed in beautiful gardens. Plan your
trip when the weather's right for strolling, and allow several days to explore
at leisure.
Saint
Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, NH
Home turned museum of Augustus Saint Gaudens (d. 1907), one of America's top
sculptors. The collections include the original base of the
Farragut Monument, models for Farragut's head, a full-size Puritan
and Diana, and much more. (See the
list on the site.) My lecture on Saint Gaudens, French and MacMonnies,
"Artist-Entrepreneurs," is available from the
Ayn Rand Bookstore.
Chesterwood,
Stockbridge, MA
Studio turned museum of Daniel Chester French (d. 1931), another of America's
top sculptors. The Andromeda, which French was working on at the end of
his life, is on display there, as are models of his Lincoln for the
Lincoln Memorial and many others. If you like Daniel Chester French's work,
check out
Doug Yeo's site, which includes numerous photos of French's works in situ.
Prints, photos, reproductions, frames
NOTE: Prints can also be ordered from Quent Cordair Fine Art and the museums listed above.
Monument Light
"Dedicated to bringing you those monuments that are
crucial to our lives—crucial in terms of inspiration, guidance and beauty—and
bringing you those monuments in a visually striking manner." Wonderful
photos of art for purchase, plus notices of lecture tours by Dr. Lee Sanstead.
I love Longman's
Genius of Electricity: what a pity it's no longer in New York City!
The
Giust Gallery
For top notch (and top priced) reproductions of Greek and Renaissance sculpture,
plus some 18th-c. historical busts. Plaques, busts, figures and figurines range
from 10 inches to over 4 feet.
Allposters
Bills itself as "the world's largest poster and print store"; can be
searched and browsed by
artist or subject.
Artcyclopedia
Offers prints as well as links to artists' works online. See
Indispensable Research Sources: Art.
Snapfish
Share your vacation photos without the
cost of printing and mailing photos, or put your favorite Vermeer on a mug.
Snapfish's program allows only one JPG per mug, but nothing's to stop you from
compiling several in a graphics program and saving the collage as a single JPG.
(For my mother-in-law's Christmas gift, I did a collage of her grand-daughter at
14 different ages.)
MCS
Wood Float Frame
I have a shoebox full of postcards from museums and vacations and a couple thousand photos
I've taken myself. Even for an art historian, papering the walls with these seems
excessive. The solution: "floating frames," two sheets of glass with
a black wood border. Because there's no mat (the wall behind serves as the mat),
I can insert images of widely varying sizes and proportions. Three
of these 8 x 10" floating frames hang by the bathroom sink, so I can look at the images while I'm doing
my obligatory 2-minute toothbrushing. I change the images every couple months,
sometimes making bizarre juxtapositions, sometimes asking my husband or daughter
to surprise me. This is a great way to see images buried in your albums or
scrapbooks, or to start anticipating an upcoming trip.
Out-of-the-ordinary e-cards
Quent
Cordair Fine Art e-cards
Images from the artists in represented by QCFA.
Jacquie
Lawson
Charming animated e-cards. For $8 per year you can send as many as you like.
Vintage
images
Choose from old postcards of cities and states (Boston, Chicago, New York,
Vermont), sports, the Founding Fathers, or prints and paintings by Escher,
Remington and others.
J.K.
Drummond
Lovely watercolor images that can be sent as e-cards, the work of a
representational artist from New Mexico.
Movies
Yahoo
Movies
Excerpts from and links to all the major critics and newspapers, plus a separate
section for users' comments and links to show times and trailers.
Box
Office Mojo
Scott Holleran's movie reviews and statistics. My family relies on his updates every
Thursday or Friday to tell us which new movies are being released this week and
which ones we'd better go see before they vanish from the big screen.
Netflix
Our family's source for all those great movies our local Blockbuster never
carried (no wonder they went out of business!), plus early episodes of TV series
we missed the first time around: House M.D., 24, Julia Child's 1960s
cooking show, Judi Dench in As Time Goes By ….
See New York City.
Indispensable research sources
History and art history
American
National Biography (ANB)
A subscription service, available online at some libraries. The multi-volume printed
version is available at major libraries.
New
York Times
The NYT is now available as a searchable database all the way back to its
founding in 1851, but (like the ANB) it's available by subscription only. Be sure to compile a list of possible search terms.
Entering "Monitor" with the year 1861 won't turn up references to Ericsson's
ironclad, which was known as "Ericsson's Battery" until it was launched and
christened in 1862. Entering "John Quincy Adams Ward" will miss a lot of
references to "John Ward" or "J.Q.A. Ward," but entering only "Ward" will turn
up dozens of references to NYC's archaic political subdivisions.
Artcyclopedia
Gives basic information on a wide (although not exhaustive) array of artists.
For each artist, there's a list of links to illustrations on the web. Ads allow
you to purchase prints of works by the artist. Search by artist, title, or
museum location.
Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (a.k.a. SIRIS)
Allows you to search American sculpture and painting by artist, title, subject,
object, owner, or a combination of the above. The database
also includes dimensions, medium, artists' and founders' marks and/or signatures,
bibliography, provenance, and sometimes a photograph.
Art
Resource
Offers a quarter million digital images, searchable by artist, title and
keyword. Most of the images in my article "Nineteenth-Century
French Painting and Philosophy" (in The Objective Standard, Fall
2006) were purchased from this site. Often several images of the same work are
offered, with significant differences in color presumably caused by
the lighting or film that was used.
New York City
Gotham
Center
Enormous number of links to archives, blogs, community groups, scholars, guides
for walking tours, and more. If you adore manhole covers, for example, it'll
direct you to fellow fanatics at the Society for the Preservation of New York
City Manhole Covers.
Francis
Morrone
Writes on sculpture and architecture for the New York Sun and
City Journal, and
offers tours of the city. His
Architectural Guidebook to New York City and
Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn are invaluable if you're interested
in New York City architecture and history.
Forgotten
New York
Run by Kevin Walsh, whose recent book on the subject (Forgotten
New York) is on my must-read list.
Clemens
Weiss, New York Brief
Very attractive photos of New York City by a German artist. Frequently updated.
New York
Wanderer
Run by Benjamin Feldman: historical essays about the City.
Skyscraper
Museum, New York
I love their illustrated timeline of the
world's tallest buildings.
Columbia
University's site on the architecture and development of NYC
Click here for the
sequence on the skyscraper.
Municipal
Art Society, New York
The MAS sponsors tours of New York architecture. Right now (early 2007) I'm
taking a fascinating series by Matt Postal on the growth of the NY skyscraper. The MAS bookstore,
Urban Center Books (just east of St. Patrick's Cathedral), is a wonderful place to
browse for books on architecture, interior design, urban planning, etc.
New-York
Historical Society
Full of fascinating objects (don't miss the Luce Center), with a top-notch
library. The
Gilder-Lehrman Collection (fascinating material, great website) is on
deposit here. NYHS publishes the indispensable
Encyclopedia of New York, whose second edition is scheduled to appear in
2008.
Museum
of the City of New York
Frequent exhibitions. You can purchase
classic photos of NYC from their site.
Education
PowerfulMinds
Glenn Woiceshyn's aim is develop high-quality curriculum materials for
students, teachers, and homeschoolers, grades K to 12. As a homeschooling mother, I was very
impressed by the level of integration in his
Pre-Civilization textbook.
StrongBrains
Lists approximately 500 books covering the
essentials of an education in history, literature, writing, science and art.
This is where I'd start if I were investigating a field completely unknown to
me.
VanDamme
Academy
I've been homeschooling for over 10 years now, but I always learn something from Lisa VanDamme's lectures and articles.
Objectivism
This is not an exhaustive list, just sites I've found particularly useful, or whose owners I happen to know in person or virtually.
Ayn
Rand Institute
ARI's
op-eds are unsurpassed for identifying the underlying principles of current
events.
HBL
web site
Dr. Harry Binswanger's moderated email list is for
discussion of philosophic and cultural issues. I've been a member for years, and
occasionally post there.
Jean
Moroney's Thinking Skills
Don't miss her
book recommendations. The ones by Lakein and Allen literally changed my
life.
Dr. Ellen Kenner,
clinical psychologist
The site has archives of her radio show, "The Rational Basis of Happiness" plus
book reviews and much more.
The
Objective Standard, A Journal of Culture and Politics
TOS's blog is
Principles in Practice. As of early 2007, two of my articles have appeared
here: "Getting
More Enjoyment from Art You Love" (Summer 2006); "19th-Century
French Painting and Philosophy" (Fall 2006).
John
Lewis
Provides links to his exceedingly well-reasoned articles for
The Objective Standard and
Capitalism Magazine, including "No
Substitute for Victory: The Defeat of Islamic Totalitarianism.” Don't miss
his photos of Greek and
Roman art.
American
Renaissance
Steven Brockerman posts fascinating articles on American inventors and
businessmen, for example on
A.C. Gilbert, who created the Erector set. He also attempts to maintain a complete list of Objectivist sites
and blogs.
Capitalism
Magazine
Online magazine providing articles from a pro-capitalist, laissez-faire,
pro-individual rights perspective. Includes a section on the arts.
Prodos
Australian radio-show host. He has a
blog and also sponsors the blog-service
Thinker-to-Thinker.com, whose requirement is that you support Capitalism,
free trade, individual rights, and creative thinking (per the
Bernstein Declaration). Among the Prodos bloggers are
- Sydney Kendall, author of A Turn for DeWurst
- Words by Woods, by Jim Woods
- OS - ObjectivelySpeaking by Lloyd (Dan) Smith
NoodleFood
Diana Hsieh's blog, with thought-provoking posts and a lengthy list of links.
The
American Individualist
Journalist and editor Joseph Kellard's well-written blog on current events and
culture.
New York Heroes
Society
The Society "celebrates human achievement and stature,
consistent with Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, through lectures, physical
activities, and cultural events for all who worship heroism and aspire to it in
their own lives." I've given two walking tours of New York sculpture for them.
Gus Van Horn
The mystery man (see his contact page). If you have problems with the link above
(I did when I was adding this link), try connecting via his
comments on the NYTimes review of Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan, and
navigating from there.
Miscellaneous
Google Maps
The hybrid versions are very useful for navigating Manhattan. I used one to
trace the map that goes with the
Battery Park podcast.
Books
Bartleby
Several years ago I started a Word file with favorite poems, which eventually
expanded to quotations I thought I might use as sidebars in
Forgotten Delights: The Producers
or
Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan. Many of the half-remembered poems turned
up on Bartleby.
Project
Gutenberg
Home of unexpected delights such as volume after volume of novels by Rafael
Sabatini, A.E.W. Mason and others, and plays by Hugo and Schiller that are out
of print or exorbitantly expensive. It even has the English translation of
Sienkiewicz's Teutonic Knights, which I'd almost given up finding for
Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan Essay 39 (Jagiello). I like to
download classics of English literature, convert them into ebooks with a
free plug-in for Word, and read them on my PDA when the mood strikes me.
Dentist
Salvatore J. Durante, DDS, FAGD,
Brooklyn, NY
The best dentist in the world, and my personal favorite; also my husband.
His site has excellent articles on government and medicine, including one we
wrote jointly: "National
Health Care: Prescription for a Fool's Paradise."
Food
An hour a week for grocery shopping and schlepping things home, times 52 weeks … Or Fresh Direct, which will let you order on line at 2 a.m., bring the food to your door when promised, and remember which cut of beef you ordered for the dinner party 4 months ago. If they don't serve your neighborhood yet, you have my deepest sympathy.
Recipes
According to my husband, who's an artist in the kitchen, none of these sites is perfect but all are very useful.
Chef 2 Chef
Epicurious
Recipezaar
Cameras & photography
Digital Photography Review
Invaluable if you’re in the market for a new camera: complete specifications,
test photos, etc. I used this site plus the method outlined in the
Kepner & Tregoe book that was recommended on
Jean Moroney's site to choose my latest camera.
Porter Case makes several carryon luggage cases with camera compartments; the cases also transform into baggage carts! I wish I had one for trucking my laptop around New York City.
Curse you, waste-ink tank!
Every September my printer demanded an $80-visit to the repair shop because, so it said, its waste-ink tank was full. This site told me how to circumvent the problem, now and (I hope) forever. It wins the award as Link That Saved Me Most Money Last Year.
Furnishings, funky and otherwise
United House Wrecking, in Stamford, CT, has odds & ends ranging from garden sculpture and mantelpieces to doorknobs and antique French confessionals. You never know what you'll find. It's a great place to spend a couple hours browsing.
CD with
350 JPGs
of New York City
architecture
$15 including shipping and handling (within the U.S.)
