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The George Walter Vincent Smith art museum, Springfield, MA
The International
Journal
of Museum Management
and Curatorship (1987) 6,353-372
The George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield, MA I: The Building and its Decoration CAROLINEMORTIMER
At his death in 1923, George Walter Vincent Smith left behind few written words describing his attitudes toward art, collecting or architecture. But the artifacts he amassed in over fifty years of collecting and the monument in which they are housed speak for him. The collections reveal his diversified interests in European, Oriental and American art and culture; the architecture of his museum building illustrates his romantic and eclectic appreciation of the Italian Renaissance, and the fittings he commissioned for the interior of the museum demonstrate his regard for the revival of an American design tradition. It is the legacy of fine and decorative arts and architecture which makes it possible to view George Walter Vincent Smith in the context of the American Renaissance. ’ In 1850 G.W.V. Smith entered the business world for what was to be a short but fruitful career. He rose steadily through the ranks of a New York fabric importer; then he became a partner in a carriage building company. Accounts made after his death attribute his great wealth to his business acumen; while in most carriages little attention was given to the upholstery of the seats, those executed by Stivers & Smith were made using carefully pieced fabrics to emphasize their e1egance.l Whether or not this marketing technique alone was the source of Smith’s fortune is unsubstantiated, but it is known that by 1867, at the age of thirty-five, Smith retired from business, comfortable in his ability to travel, marry and pursue his interest in art and collecting. It is not clear what inspired Smith to begin collecting in the late 1850s. There is speculation that his business activities exposed him to the wide variety of fine and decorative arts entering America in the second half of the 19th century. In New York City after 1854, when Japan’s ports had opened to the West, Smith would have had the opportunity to purchase not only Chinese but Japanese wares in addition to European fine and decorative art. His first purchase was an Oriental cloisonnk vase bought at about this time.3 Although he never visited the Orient, Smith had a lifelong romance with its decorative arts and culture, and he purchased examples of them voraciously through dealers in New York and Europe. Undoubtedly he was fascinated by the romantic, mysterious and warlike image of Japan, as well as by the more accurate and extensive knowledge of China. He collected armor, swords, porcelain, cloisonnC, jade and ivory carvings, lacquer and furniture, as well as books about the history, culture and art of China and Japan. An omnivorous collector, he had amassed nearly six thousand work of art by his death. The 0260-4779/87/04
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Main facade of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, onto The Quadrangle, Aspinwall Designed by the local architect, Walter Tallant Owen, with Renwick, planning began in 1889, but the North Block was not completed
at Springfield, and Renwick until 1923.
Massachusetts. of New York,
long itemized bills from the 1890s through the 19 1OSin the Smith Museum archives detail his unceasing purchases. Yet nearly forty years after the opening of Japanese ports in 1854, his collecting cannot be considered as being in the vanguard of the interest in Japanese art. Between 1896 and 1906 Smith reported that he had more than doubled the collection in size and cost.4 By 1904 The Cruftsman reported that Smith’s cloisonne enamels out-ranked the combined collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.5 This would appear to refer to the size, breadth and value of Smith’s holdings. Smith was a connoisseur and a collector. He amassed his beautiful and varied treasures without professional advice, and he was interested primarily in the aesthetic qualities of beauty,’ a objects. ‘[His] aim has been to show the result of skill in producing the aesthetic qualities of contemporary newspaper reported. ’ But while he appreciated objects he also prided himself on his study and knowledge of their histories, functions and manufacture-all of which contributed to their intrinsic and aesthetic value. Smith also collected contemporary and European painting enthusiastically. Numbering about one hundred fifty pictures and representing seventy-five artists, the collection is dominated by landscapes, genre scenes and portraits. Most of the European artists represented in the collection, such as Rafael Mainella, Tito and Prosdocimi, are not well known and their works were probably purchased for sentimental reasons during a period when Smith and his wife lived in Venice. The collection includes 19th-century copies of works by Rembrandt and Velasquez. The names of American painters in the collection are somewhat more familiar: they include Thomas Waterman Wood and George Inness. Smith’s approach to this aspect of his collection was less encyclopedic and hardly progressive. Many of the paintings were purchased while Smith lived in New York, and
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trips from Springfield to New York throughout the 1880s certainly his frequent facilitated studio and gallery visits. Smith’s enthusiasm for European painting was most likely the result of his extensive travels in England and, particularly, Italy in the 1880s. Romantic representations of the Italian countryside, often painted by artists with whom he was acquainted, were as much souvenirs of his travels and experiences as they were serious ‘art’ objects. In view of Smith’s love of ‘beauty’ and appreciation of the decorative arts of the Orient, it is not surprising that his collection also included a variety of richly carved furniture. While perhaps the least extensive aspect of his collections, it is important to note that Smith probably purchased many pieces of European furniture as souvenirs of his travels as well as for more functional and aesthetic reasons. Like other American collectors, Smith was attracted by the romantic aura of European antiques, and many pieces in the collection have real or reputed provenances associating them with European aristocracy and history. Yet Smith appears to have treated all elements of his collection by the same standards, rationalizing the purchase of anything he found beautiful in design or workmanship. His discrimination did not reach the heights of todays’ curators, but it reflected the ideals of a zealous connoisseur as well as a serious student-an exemplar of the late l%h-century dilettante. Smith’s extensive travels began with a two year trip to Europe, 1867-69, prior to his marriage to Belle Townsley of Springfield, Massachusetts. He embarked on this trip intending to acquire an art education by looking at objects and meeting other connoisseurs, as well as by imbibing the atmosphere of Europe. He returned ‘familiar with every art collection of note’ and having met many ‘famous’ people.’ Such ventures were not uncommon to wealthy patrons at this time. Americans looked to Europe to define cultural standards; there was a rise of a wealthy industrialist society anxious to
Portrait Walter
of Mr. & Mrs.George
Vincent Smith, by Thomas Waterman Wood (1895), George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield MA.
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absorb an appreciation of ‘art’ and ‘culture’ and prepared with ready assets. The decline of European aristocracy and their willingness to part with the family treasures assured wealthy American patrons a wide variety of pedigreed items from which to choose. After their first two years of married life in New York, the Smiths removed to Springfield where Smith was actively involved in coordinating a number of successful exhibitions of contemporary American painting with a local art dealer. It is undoubtedly a tribute to Smith’s participation in the artistic life of the community that Springfield was called ‘one of the art centers of the country’ by a New York publication.8 Halfway between New York and Boston, Springfield was an important industrial city. The home of the gunmakers, Smith & Wesson, as well as manufacturers of automobiles, it also supported an active City Library Association, an educationally-spirited private organization which oversaw an art and natural history museum as well as a growing library. By the end of the century, Springfield’s library had been ranked eighth among free libraries in the country.9 Smith was by no means the most prosperous citizen of Springfield; the wealth of gunmaker Daniel B. Wesson certainly overshadowed Smith’s. However Smith’s status in the cultural hierarchy of the city was unmatched. Before the Smiths embarked on a European trip in 1878, they discussed and quietly planned to bequeath their collection to the city of Springfield. By 1882 they had already drafted a will to this effect, but their intentions remained a secret until 1891. In the interim the Smiths enjoyed a prolonged stay in Italy where they lived in Venice for almost two years. During this period they visited many public and private collections, accumulating works of art and ideas for the type of building and exhibition space they would want to house their collection. When they returned to Springfield in 1889 the Smiths learned of the City Library’s intention to purchase land on which to erect an art museum. At this appropriate occasion they announced their own intentions. They agreed to loan their collection to the City Library Association and in 1914 the collection was deeded to the city of Springfield. Contingent on the loan of his collection to the City Library Association, Smith stipulated that a suitable building be erected to house it and to keep it intact, apart from the gifts of others. These requirements were met and under Smith’s personal supervision a museum was begun. The result is a building reminiscent of an Italian Renaissance palazzo, which was designed by a Springfield native, Walter Tallant Owen, and the well known New York architectural firm of Renwick, Aspinwall and Renwick. In its concept and design the Art Gallery, as it was then called, embodied many of the characteristics associated with the American Renaissance. Smith’s influence was evident from the outset, and it was his decision to design the building in the Italian Renaissance style. Although it was Smith’s generosity that provided the need for the building, it was also his travel experiences and knowledge of art that made him the obvious choice for director of the museum project. He had visited the famous European collections and experienced the effects of room scale and lighting on art displays. With a knowledge of these varying types of ambiance, Smith was able to make informed decisions about the type of museum he would want to house his collection. His choice of a building in the Italian Renaissance manner was characteristic of stylistic decisions made by other contemporaries who also looked to the European Renaissance for inspiration for domestic and civic buildings. During the late-19th and early-20th centuries America looked to Europe as its cultural and artistic leader, and conservative, European-oriented art was popular because it projected an image of culture and civilization with which Americans liked to associate themselves.” The artistic
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Clearing Up, by George
Inness (1825-1894), a typical example of the fine American Walter Vincent Smith for his Art Museum.
paintings
collected
by George
atmosphere in America was lively, as designers and architects strove to emulate the idealism and gentility of European art. In doing so, Americans began to sense a special connection with European historical, artistic and cultural traditions as they had existed during the Renaissance. A feeling that the spirit of the Renaissance had been captured circulated throughout America as people in artistic as well as academic, political and commercial circles began to identify with aspects of Renaissance life. Parallels between -the 19th century and the Italian Renaissance enforce their seemingly special relationships: both periods were driven by a faith in science and in the power of work, wealth and culture. Examples of architecture from the early years of the American Renaissance reveal a heightened art consciousness but a somewhat amateurish approach to design. There was an unscientific replication of ornament, combining many motifs from varied sources and styles in a single building. To this end, the architecture of these early years is seen as being evocative of European prototypes but not precise studies of individual elements. However, by the peak of the American Renaissance-1886-1914-the leading generation of architects shunned this romantic approach to design and claimed a greater understanding of art, architecture and history. They favored an almost scientific approach to the adaptation and replication of ornament.” While eclecticism still raged, there was a more urbane and decisive study, recording and classification of architectural prototypes, and the resulting buildings illustrate this heightened understanding of proportion, clarity of detail and overall coherence. ‘Scientific eclecticism would reveal the American connection with the great civilizations of the past,‘l* but it would also create a new American entity. G. W. V. Smith’s Springfield art gallery was planned and built at the height of the American Renaissance and its plan and ornament demonstrate how a European prototype was adapted to its American functions. In many ways the building is an
The George Walter Vincent Smith Museum
Central
block of the Main Facade of the George Walter Vincent Smith Arr Museum. The terra cotta decoration Main Facade and the south end of the building was executed by Domingo Mora (died 1911).
of the
excellent example of the earlier period of the American Renaissance due to its overt romanticism and eclecticism, Smith must have felt the spirit of the American Renaissance and understood the implications of the palatial building form. ‘From the outset [he] decided that the building ought to be of the Italian Renaissance style, as indicating more clearly than any other its character and purpose. ‘I3 By borrowing forms from past styles, explicit associations with particular ideas could be incorporated into American buildings. A building form could be used for its iconographi~al significance; an Italian palazzo represented the wealth, culture, power and patronage of the Renaissance princes. It was an appropriate form for a domestic dwelling or an art museum. By building an Italian Renaissance palazzo in Springfield the spirit and tradition of that era could be evoked on a personal and public level. The museum building is an arcaded block connecting a north and south wing. Although the original plan included both wings, only the center block and south wing were completed during Smith’s life; the north block was completed in 1923. The two-story palazzo is built of long, thin bricks in golden buff tones with terra cotta ornament. The long rectangular facade of the center block is punctuated by arcades on both stories onto which the forms of a low campanile project. The gabled roof of the center block contrasts with the flat roof of the south block onto which a balustrade was applied. In this block the pattern of arched windows is repeated, but the windows of the second story are squared in a Palladian format. Smith’s museum building is an interpretive combination of elements of Italian architecture. Its unique design is not based on a particular building, and its eclectic ornament reveals the romantic sensibility of the patron and architect. The naivete of this approach is evident in W.T. Owen’s description of the building in the 1894 Annual as an ‘example of Italian Renaissance Report to the City Library Association architecture’. i4 An analysis of the building and its decoration reveals that Smith and Owen adapted a wide vocabulary of Renaissance and Baroque elements of Italian
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architecture to design the museum. They may have tried to combine as many elements as possible to create an ‘ideal’ example of the style. The result of the Owen and Smith collaboration is easier to understand in the light of their experiences and personalities, and these factors help to explain why the museum, although built at the height of the American Renaissance, includes characteristics of the earliest years of the movement. As discussed previously, Smith was a self-educated man; although he was a collector and connoisseur, his interests were broad and his holdings diverse. His enthusiasm for art was overwhelming. Such characteristics also apply to his approach to architecture and the design of the building. He chose an appropriate form for the building, but the embellishments reflect an enthusiastic naivete common to the early American Renaissance. The art gallery borrows motifs from several periods: Classical, Renaissance and Baroque. Smith’s interpretation of the palazzo form was selective. He drew upon the Renaissance palazzo plan for the museum by selecting ‘typical’ elements of its varied architecture. He chose the open Venetian palazzo plan, the clear delineation of stories, arcaded windows, and Palladian-style windows. He disregarded the formal elements of classical modularity and geometric proportion in favor of a building which suggested the Italian Renaissance without really depicting it. The terra cotta motifs include putti, decorative string courses, applied rosettes and extremely naturalistic representations of flora and fauna throughout the ornamental detail. The facade of the building contains innumerable visual contradictions and incongruities yet it also creates a unified composition. Smith made an interesting addition to the facade and north side of the building by listing the names of painters, sculptors and decorative artists. A similar catalogue of the names of important authors can be observed on the facade of the Boston Public Library and the Brooklyn Museum. The practice implied a worldliness and sophistication about the patrons and the holdings of these influential institutions. Across the facade Smith listed the names of fifteen European painters from Giotto to Rembrandt. The list was not arranged chronologically, but the names Michel Angelo [sic], Giotto and Leonardo Da Vinci were emphasized by placing them on projecting sections of the loggia. The names
Detail of the central loggia of the Main Facade of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum.
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on the south side of the building (presently on the north side) probably revealed Smith’s personal heroes, as opposed to the acknowledged masters on the facade. The list combines Italian, English and American painters, Greek sculptors and decorative artists such as Cellini, Palissy and Wedgwood, as well as the Japanese artisan Korin. Smith did not own the works of these artists but this list is an interesting document of 19th-century American taste. It acknowledges the importance of American painting, and represents contemporary respect for antiquity, the decorative arts, and the arts of Japan, the latter being a new area of interest and study for the 19th century. Furthermore, Smith constantly emphasized the function of the building as a showplace of art and architecture and the Library’s educational mission, and he used symboIic and allegorical imagery of them on the facade. Above the capitals at the main entrance are small putti sculpted in terra cotta; one is an allegorical figure of sculpture modeling a portrait bust, the other, at an easel, depicts painting. In the medallions of the second story windows art and architecture are symbolized. The frieze on the second story of the south wing is the highIight of the facade. Modeled after Sansovino’s frieze for the Libreria in Venice,15 it is encrusted with putti holding garlands and lions’ masks, typical of many Renaissance friezes. The composition is punctuated by rectangular plaques with oval openings. The deep shadows of the openings provide a sharp contrast to the more modulated tones of the sculpture and heighten its illusion of space and light. Smith’s choice of a work by Sansovino as a model was probably due to his interest in Venice and to Sansovino’s excellent reputation among 19th-century critics. The ornate terra cotta work on the facade and south end of the building is the work of Domingo Mora (d. 1911). Mora, a Spanish sculptor, was also responsible for carving the granite rondels in the spandrels of the facade and keystone of the central arch of the Boston Public Library, by M&m, Mead and White, 1887-1895.
Detail of the terra cotta decoration of the Main Facade of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, and the putto representing Painting executed by Domingo Mom.
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Mora’s work in Springfield may have overlapped with his commission for the Boston Public Library carving; in both examples the quality of his work is extremely clear and well modeled. Terra cotta was, in the 19th century, a relatively new architectural medium in North America, and its first use in New York was in 1877.16 Although its surface was not as rich as that of traditional architectural materials such as marble or granite, it was cheaper and more efficient to produce. Its physical characteristics made it easier to handle than stone, and unlimited quantities of molded section could be produced quickly while maintaining crisp detail. The matte finish of terra cotta, due in part to the necessity of crimping every flat surface during production, complemented the mottled brick of the Springfield gallery. Domingo Mora probably carved models for sections of the ornament such as the arches and capitals and they were molded and assembled by the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Company of New York City. One-of-a-kind pieces such as the ornate window surrounds and the sculpted figures were probably modeled individually by Mora. The facade of the building is highlighted with wrought iron lanterns and grilles. Ornate lanterns modeled after those in the Strozzi Palace ” flank the main entrance, and four smaller lamps are anchored to the inner piers of the loggia. Their form is one used often in other comparable American Renaissance buildings. Foliated wrought iron grilles with symbols of art and architecture cover the side light of the main entrance - aesthetically reiterating the decorative motifs of the building as well as the educational mission of the institution. It is not difficult to attribute the less sophisticated nature of the art gallery to its provincial Springfield location. It is surprising, however, given the worldliness of Smith and his association with Renwick, Aspinwall and Renwick, a well-known, high-style firm, that the building does not reflect the scientifically eclectic attitude firmly established by this time during the period of the American Renaissance. While Smith professed his love of beauty, he did not truly understand the intricacies and theories of
Detail of the terra cotta frieze, modelled by Domingo Mot-a, on the Main Facade of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum. The design was inspired by Sansovino’s frieze for the Libreria in Venice where the Smiths lived for almost two years.
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architectural design. It seems likely that, under the supervision of an architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition, the appearance of the building would have been less widely-ranging in style. In this somewhat provincial city these variations were not subjected to the same scrutiny that they might have encountered in New York. At this iate date in Springfield, the patron and architect’s enthusiasm for a romantic rather than scientific adaptation of the Italian Renaissance was hardly noticed or criticized. The romantic and eclectic manner in which G. W. V. Smith approached the plan and facade of the museum building is also evident in its interior architectural plan, decorations and furnishings. While, technically, the museum was not his own, Smith dictated the interior design and fittings with the spirit characteristic of the American Renaissance; influences in this realm of the design range from Ancient Greek to the Colonial Revival.18 Smith appears to have adapted the palazzo plan in order to accommodate the building’s I%h-century function as a public art gallery and library, a temporary natural history museum and a lecture facility. Unlike a Renaissance palazzo in which the rooms are symmetrically and proportionately arranged, the museum floor plan appears to have been arranged for functional convenience and flexibility rather than on architectural tradition. During Smith’s life the first floor housed the museum of natural history and two lecture rooms, all off a central and somewhat unfocused, hallway. The decorative scheme of the hailway, an ornate and colorful passageway, must have been intended to evoke what Smith considered to be the feeling of the Renaissance. The small but elongated space sparkled from floor to ceiling. A shiny wainscotting of brownish-green tiles covered the walls and papier mache pilasters were applied at intervals along the walls. The pilasters are decorated with motifs typical of the Renaissance such as urns and acanthus leaves, but they were probably adapted from rather than based on specific antique prototypes. Smith’s interest in creating this rich allusion to the Renaissance is evident in the way the pilasters are arranged on the wall of the main entrance. Segments of two pilasters are incongruously truncated as they project
First f&r
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Detail of a richly decorated pilaster, executed in paper machi, and the brownish-green tiled wainscotting of the first floor foyer of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum.
down along the wall and intersect the arched window of the main entrance. Although they continue the rhythm of the pilasters on either side, such an architectural melange would never have been employed in a true Renaissance building. Here the decorative aura was more important than the rationality of architecture. Clear, leaded glass windows with painted medallions are used in the public rooms of the museum. Thematic medallions represent literary and historic personae from Columbus to Moliere and Goethe. Even the most direct light is diffused through the art gallery windows, contributing to the ambience Smith hoped to create. The window glass for the museum was manufactured by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company of New York.
Detail of a stained glass window in the Lecture Room of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, manufactured by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company of New York (1894).
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The second floor, traditionally the most important level of the Renaissance palazzo, is reached by mounting a richly paneled oak staircase at the south end of the hallway. The heavily balustered railing, dark paneled wainscotting and the rich colors reflected from an adjoining stained and leaded glass window suggest the dramatic and dignified aura associated in the imagination with a Renaissance palace rather than the actual cool stone surfaces of Italian prototypes. Despite the variety of sources from which Smith or his advisors developed a design vocabulary for the building, they attempted to project a sense of artistic continuity through the repetition of details. Elements of design from the exterior are echoed within the building’s interior and furnishings as well. The rooms originally housing Smith’s collection were located in the central section of the second floor, the innermost treasury. These rooms are decorated more ornately with architectural detail than other areas of the gallery. The rooms are harmoniously arranged with a sense of progression typical of Italian models; and the scale of the rooms suggests an appreciation of the effect of proportion. That this section of the gallery is more aesthetically appealing and personally scaled may be due to Smith’s interest in ‘his’ rooms. Instead of a single large gallery, the space is divided into eight small rooms which vary in size and shape. Smith’s rooms were not designed with the same scientific attention to spatial relationships and geometric proportions typical of architects like Palladia, or the scientific eclectics of the late 19th century. Yet the small rooms function successfully to evoke the feeling of such architectural systems without actually having their discipline. Their arrangement is reminiscent of rooms in a European palace, but adapted to an American function. The interior detail again illustrates Smith’s romantic eclecticism. The walls are decorated with carved pilasters, doorways are embellished with ‘Ionic columns of the purest type, carefully copied from the facade of the Erectheum in Athens,“’ and furnished with fittings suggestive of the Colonial Revival in America.
Second floor plan of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, c.1894. Clipped from an unidentified newspaper, this plan reveals the arrangement of the collections during Smith’s lifetime, when the first floor housed the Museum of Natural History and two Lecture Rooms. George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum Archive, Springfield
MA.
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By the 1880s America had entered its second century and an increase in national spirit inherent in the American Renaissance was felt throughout the country. Stimulated by the Centennial celebration held in Philadelphia in 1876, there was a genteel concern that a lack of historic traditions was a sign of cultural immaturity. The Europeans had expressed their history in art and architecture-and Americans found inspiration in that-but in the closing decades of the century they realized that events in their own history could provide sources and motifs to establish a national art. Thus art and design took on a vital role in promoting America’s past. By the final quarter of the 19th century nationalism was rampant and the Colonial Revival evolved. Architects and designers discovered the American past worthy of study. As early as 1875 Charles McKim remodeled a private home in Newport, Rhode Island, to emphasize its Colonial attributes; delicately turned balusters and carved wooden ornament loosely based on American Colonial precedents served as inspiration for many 19th-century architects. However it would take another decade before the revival became nationally popular. For sentimental and patriotic reasons, as well as to increase the number of elements in the American design vocabulary, 19th-century craftsmen began to adapt, rather than copy, Colonial prototypes for furniture forms. The significance of the Colonial Revival to the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum lies in the design of the display cases. They were specially designed for the building by Smith and W. T. Owen, and they exhibit many of the features characteristic
Design by Walter Tallant Owen (1864-1902) for a large display case intended for the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum. Correspondence between the architect and Smith suggests that the concept was due to Smith and that he had been influenced by display cases at the Metropolitan Museum, New York. George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum Archive, Springfield MA.
Display Case made by the George A. Schastey Company of Springfield MA, to the designs of W.T. Owen, for the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum. The Company is listed in Springfield directories from 1891 until 1902.
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of Colonial furniture, such as foliated cabriole legs, ball-and-claw feet and fluted quarter columns reminiscent of the American version of the Chippendale style. Made of mahogany by a local woodworking firm, George A. Schastey Company, these vitrines illustrate the diversity of influences evident during the American Renaissance. Correspondence between architect and patron suggests that the vitrines were conceptualized by G. W. V. Smith and drawn to his specifications by W. T. Own. A letter from Owen to Smith reveals that Smith had been influenced by cases at the by those made Metropolitan Museum. 2o The New York cases were directly influenced for the South Kensington Museum, London, in 1877.2’ W. T. Owen designed a number of variations from these precedents, tailoring them to Smith’s tastes. One design shows cases with straight legs and classical detail while another design employs elements such as cabriole legs typical of the Colonial Revival. This case design also includes an interesting and revealing design element: the top of the vitrine was designed as a curved element, probably alluding to Japanese architecture such as the Kasagai, the curved lintel of a Shinto shrine. Although, ultimately, the Japanese motif was not incorporated in the final design of the cases, it is a clear indication of the wide range of influences on the entire project. The cabinetry was executed by the George A. Schastey Company of Springfield. Schastey’s name is familiar to scholars of New York interiors in the late 19th century. He was responsible for some of the interior woodwork and decoration of the Fifth Avenue house of Mrs. Arabella Worsham, later Mrs. Collis I’. Huntington, but little documentation exists on the Schastey Company in Springfield. Listed in New York City directories from 1876-1903, a company of this name is listed in Springfield directories from 1891, when the company assumed the business of the Springfield Woodworking Company, until 1902. What is documented by invoices and receipts is the company’s
Sgabello chair
by W.F. Stock made for the Gc :orge Vincent Smith Art Museum, c. 1915. Nume :UJUS sgabello chairs were duplicated and adapted from It alian originals in Slmith’s collection, by former Sch astey employees, for use in the galleries. Company Walter
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prolific production for the art gallery between 1891 and 1903. During this time not only were the vitrines constructed in accordance with Owen’s drawings, but also other gallery furniture such as benches were completed. In addition, Schastey’s firm created ornate pedestals and stands on which to display books, art, and furniture from the Smith collection. After the still mysterious demise of the Schastey Company, incidental furnishings were made for Smith by former Schastey employees. Among the most notable additions to the gallery furnishings were the numerous sgabello chairs duplicated and adapted from original Italian examples in Smith’s collection. Throughout the museum the furnishings and decorations reflect the visual and material richness suitable for Smith’s romantic image of the Italian Renaissance prince and his personal collection. In ‘the Smith Rooms’ and throughout the building the finely carved furnishings embody the interpretation of the Renaissance characteristic of the 19th century. To this end, Smith saw himself in the same light that many of his more famous contemporaries viewed themselves: it was his mission as a patron to bring to the public a greater understanding and appreciation of the world, its cultures and its art. Through his intellect and wealth Smith could pass his knowledge and love of art to experiences, generations of Springfield’s citizens.
Notes Renaissance is a term used to describe the artistic and cultural climate from 1. The American 1876-1917. In this period a new society stressing science, industry, commerce and democracy was formed. Contemporary parallels were made between the Renaissance and the emergence of post-Civil War American civilization. The artistic community helped to express this new vision of America, particularly in the architecture of the period, the characteristics of which will be discussed later in this article. Hartford Courunt Magazine, March 1946, p. 4. 2. T. H. Parker, ‘Beauty was His Sole Criterion’ Patricia Cahill, ‘Truth and Beauty and Good Business: the Oriental Collection of George Walter Vincent Smith’ photocopy, 1978, p. 2, George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum Archive, Springfield, Massachusetts. The G. W. V. Smith Archive contains letters, bills, receipts, articles, photographs and drawings pertaining to Smith and his wife. Although much pertinent information was destroyed at Smith’s direction after his death in 1923, the extant documents have been sorted but not catalogued. Most of the contemporary articles written on Smith and the museum are kept in scrapbooks; however they lack complete bibliographical citations. 3. D. H. Maynard, ‘A Japanese Collection in America’ The Craftsman, vol. VI, no. 5, August 1904, p. 480. Section on George Walter Vincent Smith Art 4. ‘1906 Annual Report to the City Library Association, Gallery’ handwritten manuscript, n. p., G. W. V. Smith Art Museum Archive. 5. Maynard (Note 3), p. 465. Treasures at Springfield Art Museum’ Springfield Republican, 17 November 1912. 6. ‘Woodcarving Union, 18 July 1892. 7. ‘G. W. V. Smith and Art’ Springfield 8. ‘James Gill Gallery, Springfield, Exhibition’ The Collector [New York], 15 February 1890, p. 64. 9. Maynard (Note 3), pp 478, 479. of Identity’ in The American Renaissance 1876-1917, (New York: The 10. R. G. Wilson, ‘Expressions Brooklyn Museum, 1979), p. 11. 11. Wilson, ‘Scientific Eclecticism’ p. 57 (see Note I2 below). ‘ “The Decoration of Houses” and Scientific Eclecticism’ in Victorian Furniture 12. R. G. Wilson, (Philadelphia: The Victorian Society, 1983), p. 203. New Art Museum’ Springfield Republican, 27 April 1894. 13. ‘Handsome 14. W. T. Owen, ‘Description of the Art Museum in the Thirty-Third Annual Report of the City Library Association of the City of Springfield, (Springfield, MA: Cyrus Atwood, 1894), p. 3. 15. Owen (Note 14), p. 3. 16. James Taylor, ‘The History of Terra Cotta in New York City’ Architectural Record, vol. II, July 1892-3, p. 144.
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17. ‘Handsome New Art Museum’ (Note 13). 18. For an in-depth study of the Colonial Revival, which corresponds to the Georgian Revival in England, see The Colonial Revival in America, Alan Axelrod, editor (New York: Norton, for the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Delaware, 1985). 19. ‘Handsome New Art Museum’ (Note 13). 20. W. T. Owen, Letter to G. W. V. Smith, 2 January 1894, George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum Archive. 21. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Furnitrrre with Drawings and Measurements and Various Devices used by the Museum (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929), n.p.
Photographic George
Walter
credits Vincent
Smith
Art Museum,
Springfield,
Massachusetts
01103,
USA
Journal
of Museum Management
and Curatorship (1987) 6,353-372
The George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield, MA I: The Building and its Decoration CAROLINEMORTIMER
At his death in 1923, George Walter Vincent Smith left behind few written words describing his attitudes toward art, collecting or architecture. But the artifacts he amassed in over fifty years of collecting and the monument in which they are housed speak for him. The collections reveal his diversified interests in European, Oriental and American art and culture; the architecture of his museum building illustrates his romantic and eclectic appreciation of the Italian Renaissance, and the fittings he commissioned for the interior of the museum demonstrate his regard for the revival of an American design tradition. It is the legacy of fine and decorative arts and architecture which makes it possible to view George Walter Vincent Smith in the context of the American Renaissance. ’ In 1850 G.W.V. Smith entered the business world for what was to be a short but fruitful career. He rose steadily through the ranks of a New York fabric importer; then he became a partner in a carriage building company. Accounts made after his death attribute his great wealth to his business acumen; while in most carriages little attention was given to the upholstery of the seats, those executed by Stivers & Smith were made using carefully pieced fabrics to emphasize their e1egance.l Whether or not this marketing technique alone was the source of Smith’s fortune is unsubstantiated, but it is known that by 1867, at the age of thirty-five, Smith retired from business, comfortable in his ability to travel, marry and pursue his interest in art and collecting. It is not clear what inspired Smith to begin collecting in the late 1850s. There is speculation that his business activities exposed him to the wide variety of fine and decorative arts entering America in the second half of the 19th century. In New York City after 1854, when Japan’s ports had opened to the West, Smith would have had the opportunity to purchase not only Chinese but Japanese wares in addition to European fine and decorative art. His first purchase was an Oriental cloisonnk vase bought at about this time.3 Although he never visited the Orient, Smith had a lifelong romance with its decorative arts and culture, and he purchased examples of them voraciously through dealers in New York and Europe. Undoubtedly he was fascinated by the romantic, mysterious and warlike image of Japan, as well as by the more accurate and extensive knowledge of China. He collected armor, swords, porcelain, cloisonnC, jade and ivory carvings, lacquer and furniture, as well as books about the history, culture and art of China and Japan. An omnivorous collector, he had amassed nearly six thousand work of art by his death. The 0260-4779/87/04
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& Co (Publishers)
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Main facade of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, onto The Quadrangle, Aspinwall Designed by the local architect, Walter Tallant Owen, with Renwick, planning began in 1889, but the North Block was not completed
at Springfield, and Renwick until 1923.
Massachusetts. of New York,
long itemized bills from the 1890s through the 19 1OSin the Smith Museum archives detail his unceasing purchases. Yet nearly forty years after the opening of Japanese ports in 1854, his collecting cannot be considered as being in the vanguard of the interest in Japanese art. Between 1896 and 1906 Smith reported that he had more than doubled the collection in size and cost.4 By 1904 The Cruftsman reported that Smith’s cloisonne enamels out-ranked the combined collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.5 This would appear to refer to the size, breadth and value of Smith’s holdings. Smith was a connoisseur and a collector. He amassed his beautiful and varied treasures without professional advice, and he was interested primarily in the aesthetic qualities of beauty,’ a objects. ‘[His] aim has been to show the result of skill in producing the aesthetic qualities of contemporary newspaper reported. ’ But while he appreciated objects he also prided himself on his study and knowledge of their histories, functions and manufacture-all of which contributed to their intrinsic and aesthetic value. Smith also collected contemporary and European painting enthusiastically. Numbering about one hundred fifty pictures and representing seventy-five artists, the collection is dominated by landscapes, genre scenes and portraits. Most of the European artists represented in the collection, such as Rafael Mainella, Tito and Prosdocimi, are not well known and their works were probably purchased for sentimental reasons during a period when Smith and his wife lived in Venice. The collection includes 19th-century copies of works by Rembrandt and Velasquez. The names of American painters in the collection are somewhat more familiar: they include Thomas Waterman Wood and George Inness. Smith’s approach to this aspect of his collection was less encyclopedic and hardly progressive. Many of the paintings were purchased while Smith lived in New York, and
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trips from Springfield to New York throughout the 1880s certainly his frequent facilitated studio and gallery visits. Smith’s enthusiasm for European painting was most likely the result of his extensive travels in England and, particularly, Italy in the 1880s. Romantic representations of the Italian countryside, often painted by artists with whom he was acquainted, were as much souvenirs of his travels and experiences as they were serious ‘art’ objects. In view of Smith’s love of ‘beauty’ and appreciation of the decorative arts of the Orient, it is not surprising that his collection also included a variety of richly carved furniture. While perhaps the least extensive aspect of his collections, it is important to note that Smith probably purchased many pieces of European furniture as souvenirs of his travels as well as for more functional and aesthetic reasons. Like other American collectors, Smith was attracted by the romantic aura of European antiques, and many pieces in the collection have real or reputed provenances associating them with European aristocracy and history. Yet Smith appears to have treated all elements of his collection by the same standards, rationalizing the purchase of anything he found beautiful in design or workmanship. His discrimination did not reach the heights of todays’ curators, but it reflected the ideals of a zealous connoisseur as well as a serious student-an exemplar of the late l%h-century dilettante. Smith’s extensive travels began with a two year trip to Europe, 1867-69, prior to his marriage to Belle Townsley of Springfield, Massachusetts. He embarked on this trip intending to acquire an art education by looking at objects and meeting other connoisseurs, as well as by imbibing the atmosphere of Europe. He returned ‘familiar with every art collection of note’ and having met many ‘famous’ people.’ Such ventures were not uncommon to wealthy patrons at this time. Americans looked to Europe to define cultural standards; there was a rise of a wealthy industrialist society anxious to
Portrait Walter
of Mr. & Mrs.George
Vincent Smith, by Thomas Waterman Wood (1895), George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield MA.
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absorb an appreciation of ‘art’ and ‘culture’ and prepared with ready assets. The decline of European aristocracy and their willingness to part with the family treasures assured wealthy American patrons a wide variety of pedigreed items from which to choose. After their first two years of married life in New York, the Smiths removed to Springfield where Smith was actively involved in coordinating a number of successful exhibitions of contemporary American painting with a local art dealer. It is undoubtedly a tribute to Smith’s participation in the artistic life of the community that Springfield was called ‘one of the art centers of the country’ by a New York publication.8 Halfway between New York and Boston, Springfield was an important industrial city. The home of the gunmakers, Smith & Wesson, as well as manufacturers of automobiles, it also supported an active City Library Association, an educationally-spirited private organization which oversaw an art and natural history museum as well as a growing library. By the end of the century, Springfield’s library had been ranked eighth among free libraries in the country.9 Smith was by no means the most prosperous citizen of Springfield; the wealth of gunmaker Daniel B. Wesson certainly overshadowed Smith’s. However Smith’s status in the cultural hierarchy of the city was unmatched. Before the Smiths embarked on a European trip in 1878, they discussed and quietly planned to bequeath their collection to the city of Springfield. By 1882 they had already drafted a will to this effect, but their intentions remained a secret until 1891. In the interim the Smiths enjoyed a prolonged stay in Italy where they lived in Venice for almost two years. During this period they visited many public and private collections, accumulating works of art and ideas for the type of building and exhibition space they would want to house their collection. When they returned to Springfield in 1889 the Smiths learned of the City Library’s intention to purchase land on which to erect an art museum. At this appropriate occasion they announced their own intentions. They agreed to loan their collection to the City Library Association and in 1914 the collection was deeded to the city of Springfield. Contingent on the loan of his collection to the City Library Association, Smith stipulated that a suitable building be erected to house it and to keep it intact, apart from the gifts of others. These requirements were met and under Smith’s personal supervision a museum was begun. The result is a building reminiscent of an Italian Renaissance palazzo, which was designed by a Springfield native, Walter Tallant Owen, and the well known New York architectural firm of Renwick, Aspinwall and Renwick. In its concept and design the Art Gallery, as it was then called, embodied many of the characteristics associated with the American Renaissance. Smith’s influence was evident from the outset, and it was his decision to design the building in the Italian Renaissance style. Although it was Smith’s generosity that provided the need for the building, it was also his travel experiences and knowledge of art that made him the obvious choice for director of the museum project. He had visited the famous European collections and experienced the effects of room scale and lighting on art displays. With a knowledge of these varying types of ambiance, Smith was able to make informed decisions about the type of museum he would want to house his collection. His choice of a building in the Italian Renaissance manner was characteristic of stylistic decisions made by other contemporaries who also looked to the European Renaissance for inspiration for domestic and civic buildings. During the late-19th and early-20th centuries America looked to Europe as its cultural and artistic leader, and conservative, European-oriented art was popular because it projected an image of culture and civilization with which Americans liked to associate themselves.” The artistic
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Clearing Up, by George
Inness (1825-1894), a typical example of the fine American Walter Vincent Smith for his Art Museum.
paintings
collected
by George
atmosphere in America was lively, as designers and architects strove to emulate the idealism and gentility of European art. In doing so, Americans began to sense a special connection with European historical, artistic and cultural traditions as they had existed during the Renaissance. A feeling that the spirit of the Renaissance had been captured circulated throughout America as people in artistic as well as academic, political and commercial circles began to identify with aspects of Renaissance life. Parallels between -the 19th century and the Italian Renaissance enforce their seemingly special relationships: both periods were driven by a faith in science and in the power of work, wealth and culture. Examples of architecture from the early years of the American Renaissance reveal a heightened art consciousness but a somewhat amateurish approach to design. There was an unscientific replication of ornament, combining many motifs from varied sources and styles in a single building. To this end, the architecture of these early years is seen as being evocative of European prototypes but not precise studies of individual elements. However, by the peak of the American Renaissance-1886-1914-the leading generation of architects shunned this romantic approach to design and claimed a greater understanding of art, architecture and history. They favored an almost scientific approach to the adaptation and replication of ornament.” While eclecticism still raged, there was a more urbane and decisive study, recording and classification of architectural prototypes, and the resulting buildings illustrate this heightened understanding of proportion, clarity of detail and overall coherence. ‘Scientific eclecticism would reveal the American connection with the great civilizations of the past,‘l* but it would also create a new American entity. G. W. V. Smith’s Springfield art gallery was planned and built at the height of the American Renaissance and its plan and ornament demonstrate how a European prototype was adapted to its American functions. In many ways the building is an
The George Walter Vincent Smith Museum
Central
block of the Main Facade of the George Walter Vincent Smith Arr Museum. The terra cotta decoration Main Facade and the south end of the building was executed by Domingo Mora (died 1911).
of the
excellent example of the earlier period of the American Renaissance due to its overt romanticism and eclecticism, Smith must have felt the spirit of the American Renaissance and understood the implications of the palatial building form. ‘From the outset [he] decided that the building ought to be of the Italian Renaissance style, as indicating more clearly than any other its character and purpose. ‘I3 By borrowing forms from past styles, explicit associations with particular ideas could be incorporated into American buildings. A building form could be used for its iconographi~al significance; an Italian palazzo represented the wealth, culture, power and patronage of the Renaissance princes. It was an appropriate form for a domestic dwelling or an art museum. By building an Italian Renaissance palazzo in Springfield the spirit and tradition of that era could be evoked on a personal and public level. The museum building is an arcaded block connecting a north and south wing. Although the original plan included both wings, only the center block and south wing were completed during Smith’s life; the north block was completed in 1923. The two-story palazzo is built of long, thin bricks in golden buff tones with terra cotta ornament. The long rectangular facade of the center block is punctuated by arcades on both stories onto which the forms of a low campanile project. The gabled roof of the center block contrasts with the flat roof of the south block onto which a balustrade was applied. In this block the pattern of arched windows is repeated, but the windows of the second story are squared in a Palladian format. Smith’s museum building is an interpretive combination of elements of Italian architecture. Its unique design is not based on a particular building, and its eclectic ornament reveals the romantic sensibility of the patron and architect. The naivete of this approach is evident in W.T. Owen’s description of the building in the 1894 Annual as an ‘example of Italian Renaissance Report to the City Library Association architecture’. i4 An analysis of the building and its decoration reveals that Smith and Owen adapted a wide vocabulary of Renaissance and Baroque elements of Italian
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architecture to design the museum. They may have tried to combine as many elements as possible to create an ‘ideal’ example of the style. The result of the Owen and Smith collaboration is easier to understand in the light of their experiences and personalities, and these factors help to explain why the museum, although built at the height of the American Renaissance, includes characteristics of the earliest years of the movement. As discussed previously, Smith was a self-educated man; although he was a collector and connoisseur, his interests were broad and his holdings diverse. His enthusiasm for art was overwhelming. Such characteristics also apply to his approach to architecture and the design of the building. He chose an appropriate form for the building, but the embellishments reflect an enthusiastic naivete common to the early American Renaissance. The art gallery borrows motifs from several periods: Classical, Renaissance and Baroque. Smith’s interpretation of the palazzo form was selective. He drew upon the Renaissance palazzo plan for the museum by selecting ‘typical’ elements of its varied architecture. He chose the open Venetian palazzo plan, the clear delineation of stories, arcaded windows, and Palladian-style windows. He disregarded the formal elements of classical modularity and geometric proportion in favor of a building which suggested the Italian Renaissance without really depicting it. The terra cotta motifs include putti, decorative string courses, applied rosettes and extremely naturalistic representations of flora and fauna throughout the ornamental detail. The facade of the building contains innumerable visual contradictions and incongruities yet it also creates a unified composition. Smith made an interesting addition to the facade and north side of the building by listing the names of painters, sculptors and decorative artists. A similar catalogue of the names of important authors can be observed on the facade of the Boston Public Library and the Brooklyn Museum. The practice implied a worldliness and sophistication about the patrons and the holdings of these influential institutions. Across the facade Smith listed the names of fifteen European painters from Giotto to Rembrandt. The list was not arranged chronologically, but the names Michel Angelo [sic], Giotto and Leonardo Da Vinci were emphasized by placing them on projecting sections of the loggia. The names
Detail of the central loggia of the Main Facade of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum.
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on the south side of the building (presently on the north side) probably revealed Smith’s personal heroes, as opposed to the acknowledged masters on the facade. The list combines Italian, English and American painters, Greek sculptors and decorative artists such as Cellini, Palissy and Wedgwood, as well as the Japanese artisan Korin. Smith did not own the works of these artists but this list is an interesting document of 19th-century American taste. It acknowledges the importance of American painting, and represents contemporary respect for antiquity, the decorative arts, and the arts of Japan, the latter being a new area of interest and study for the 19th century. Furthermore, Smith constantly emphasized the function of the building as a showplace of art and architecture and the Library’s educational mission, and he used symboIic and allegorical imagery of them on the facade. Above the capitals at the main entrance are small putti sculpted in terra cotta; one is an allegorical figure of sculpture modeling a portrait bust, the other, at an easel, depicts painting. In the medallions of the second story windows art and architecture are symbolized. The frieze on the second story of the south wing is the highIight of the facade. Modeled after Sansovino’s frieze for the Libreria in Venice,15 it is encrusted with putti holding garlands and lions’ masks, typical of many Renaissance friezes. The composition is punctuated by rectangular plaques with oval openings. The deep shadows of the openings provide a sharp contrast to the more modulated tones of the sculpture and heighten its illusion of space and light. Smith’s choice of a work by Sansovino as a model was probably due to his interest in Venice and to Sansovino’s excellent reputation among 19th-century critics. The ornate terra cotta work on the facade and south end of the building is the work of Domingo Mora (d. 1911). Mora, a Spanish sculptor, was also responsible for carving the granite rondels in the spandrels of the facade and keystone of the central arch of the Boston Public Library, by M&m, Mead and White, 1887-1895.
Detail of the terra cotta decoration of the Main Facade of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, and the putto representing Painting executed by Domingo Mom.
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Mora’s work in Springfield may have overlapped with his commission for the Boston Public Library carving; in both examples the quality of his work is extremely clear and well modeled. Terra cotta was, in the 19th century, a relatively new architectural medium in North America, and its first use in New York was in 1877.16 Although its surface was not as rich as that of traditional architectural materials such as marble or granite, it was cheaper and more efficient to produce. Its physical characteristics made it easier to handle than stone, and unlimited quantities of molded section could be produced quickly while maintaining crisp detail. The matte finish of terra cotta, due in part to the necessity of crimping every flat surface during production, complemented the mottled brick of the Springfield gallery. Domingo Mora probably carved models for sections of the ornament such as the arches and capitals and they were molded and assembled by the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Company of New York City. One-of-a-kind pieces such as the ornate window surrounds and the sculpted figures were probably modeled individually by Mora. The facade of the building is highlighted with wrought iron lanterns and grilles. Ornate lanterns modeled after those in the Strozzi Palace ” flank the main entrance, and four smaller lamps are anchored to the inner piers of the loggia. Their form is one used often in other comparable American Renaissance buildings. Foliated wrought iron grilles with symbols of art and architecture cover the side light of the main entrance - aesthetically reiterating the decorative motifs of the building as well as the educational mission of the institution. It is not difficult to attribute the less sophisticated nature of the art gallery to its provincial Springfield location. It is surprising, however, given the worldliness of Smith and his association with Renwick, Aspinwall and Renwick, a well-known, high-style firm, that the building does not reflect the scientifically eclectic attitude firmly established by this time during the period of the American Renaissance. While Smith professed his love of beauty, he did not truly understand the intricacies and theories of
Detail of the terra cotta frieze, modelled by Domingo Mot-a, on the Main Facade of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum. The design was inspired by Sansovino’s frieze for the Libreria in Venice where the Smiths lived for almost two years.
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architectural design. It seems likely that, under the supervision of an architect trained in the Beaux-Arts tradition, the appearance of the building would have been less widely-ranging in style. In this somewhat provincial city these variations were not subjected to the same scrutiny that they might have encountered in New York. At this iate date in Springfield, the patron and architect’s enthusiasm for a romantic rather than scientific adaptation of the Italian Renaissance was hardly noticed or criticized. The romantic and eclectic manner in which G. W. V. Smith approached the plan and facade of the museum building is also evident in its interior architectural plan, decorations and furnishings. While, technically, the museum was not his own, Smith dictated the interior design and fittings with the spirit characteristic of the American Renaissance; influences in this realm of the design range from Ancient Greek to the Colonial Revival.18 Smith appears to have adapted the palazzo plan in order to accommodate the building’s I%h-century function as a public art gallery and library, a temporary natural history museum and a lecture facility. Unlike a Renaissance palazzo in which the rooms are symmetrically and proportionately arranged, the museum floor plan appears to have been arranged for functional convenience and flexibility rather than on architectural tradition. During Smith’s life the first floor housed the museum of natural history and two lecture rooms, all off a central and somewhat unfocused, hallway. The decorative scheme of the hailway, an ornate and colorful passageway, must have been intended to evoke what Smith considered to be the feeling of the Renaissance. The small but elongated space sparkled from floor to ceiling. A shiny wainscotting of brownish-green tiles covered the walls and papier mache pilasters were applied at intervals along the walls. The pilasters are decorated with motifs typical of the Renaissance such as urns and acanthus leaves, but they were probably adapted from rather than based on specific antique prototypes. Smith’s interest in creating this rich allusion to the Renaissance is evident in the way the pilasters are arranged on the wall of the main entrance. Segments of two pilasters are incongruously truncated as they project
First f&r
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Detail of a richly decorated pilaster, executed in paper machi, and the brownish-green tiled wainscotting of the first floor foyer of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum.
down along the wall and intersect the arched window of the main entrance. Although they continue the rhythm of the pilasters on either side, such an architectural melange would never have been employed in a true Renaissance building. Here the decorative aura was more important than the rationality of architecture. Clear, leaded glass windows with painted medallions are used in the public rooms of the museum. Thematic medallions represent literary and historic personae from Columbus to Moliere and Goethe. Even the most direct light is diffused through the art gallery windows, contributing to the ambience Smith hoped to create. The window glass for the museum was manufactured by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company of New York.
Detail of a stained glass window in the Lecture Room of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, manufactured by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company of New York (1894).
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The second floor, traditionally the most important level of the Renaissance palazzo, is reached by mounting a richly paneled oak staircase at the south end of the hallway. The heavily balustered railing, dark paneled wainscotting and the rich colors reflected from an adjoining stained and leaded glass window suggest the dramatic and dignified aura associated in the imagination with a Renaissance palace rather than the actual cool stone surfaces of Italian prototypes. Despite the variety of sources from which Smith or his advisors developed a design vocabulary for the building, they attempted to project a sense of artistic continuity through the repetition of details. Elements of design from the exterior are echoed within the building’s interior and furnishings as well. The rooms originally housing Smith’s collection were located in the central section of the second floor, the innermost treasury. These rooms are decorated more ornately with architectural detail than other areas of the gallery. The rooms are harmoniously arranged with a sense of progression typical of Italian models; and the scale of the rooms suggests an appreciation of the effect of proportion. That this section of the gallery is more aesthetically appealing and personally scaled may be due to Smith’s interest in ‘his’ rooms. Instead of a single large gallery, the space is divided into eight small rooms which vary in size and shape. Smith’s rooms were not designed with the same scientific attention to spatial relationships and geometric proportions typical of architects like Palladia, or the scientific eclectics of the late 19th century. Yet the small rooms function successfully to evoke the feeling of such architectural systems without actually having their discipline. Their arrangement is reminiscent of rooms in a European palace, but adapted to an American function. The interior detail again illustrates Smith’s romantic eclecticism. The walls are decorated with carved pilasters, doorways are embellished with ‘Ionic columns of the purest type, carefully copied from the facade of the Erectheum in Athens,“’ and furnished with fittings suggestive of the Colonial Revival in America.
Second floor plan of the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, c.1894. Clipped from an unidentified newspaper, this plan reveals the arrangement of the collections during Smith’s lifetime, when the first floor housed the Museum of Natural History and two Lecture Rooms. George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum Archive, Springfield
MA.
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vkws
the
of the inreriorof the George
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and variety
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of the collections
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By the 1880s America had entered its second century and an increase in national spirit inherent in the American Renaissance was felt throughout the country. Stimulated by the Centennial celebration held in Philadelphia in 1876, there was a genteel concern that a lack of historic traditions was a sign of cultural immaturity. The Europeans had expressed their history in art and architecture-and Americans found inspiration in that-but in the closing decades of the century they realized that events in their own history could provide sources and motifs to establish a national art. Thus art and design took on a vital role in promoting America’s past. By the final quarter of the 19th century nationalism was rampant and the Colonial Revival evolved. Architects and designers discovered the American past worthy of study. As early as 1875 Charles McKim remodeled a private home in Newport, Rhode Island, to emphasize its Colonial attributes; delicately turned balusters and carved wooden ornament loosely based on American Colonial precedents served as inspiration for many 19th-century architects. However it would take another decade before the revival became nationally popular. For sentimental and patriotic reasons, as well as to increase the number of elements in the American design vocabulary, 19th-century craftsmen began to adapt, rather than copy, Colonial prototypes for furniture forms. The significance of the Colonial Revival to the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum lies in the design of the display cases. They were specially designed for the building by Smith and W. T. Owen, and they exhibit many of the features characteristic
Design by Walter Tallant Owen (1864-1902) for a large display case intended for the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum. Correspondence between the architect and Smith suggests that the concept was due to Smith and that he had been influenced by display cases at the Metropolitan Museum, New York. George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum Archive, Springfield MA.
Display Case made by the George A. Schastey Company of Springfield MA, to the designs of W.T. Owen, for the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum. The Company is listed in Springfield directories from 1891 until 1902.
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of Colonial furniture, such as foliated cabriole legs, ball-and-claw feet and fluted quarter columns reminiscent of the American version of the Chippendale style. Made of mahogany by a local woodworking firm, George A. Schastey Company, these vitrines illustrate the diversity of influences evident during the American Renaissance. Correspondence between architect and patron suggests that the vitrines were conceptualized by G. W. V. Smith and drawn to his specifications by W. T. Own. A letter from Owen to Smith reveals that Smith had been influenced by cases at the by those made Metropolitan Museum. 2o The New York cases were directly influenced for the South Kensington Museum, London, in 1877.2’ W. T. Owen designed a number of variations from these precedents, tailoring them to Smith’s tastes. One design shows cases with straight legs and classical detail while another design employs elements such as cabriole legs typical of the Colonial Revival. This case design also includes an interesting and revealing design element: the top of the vitrine was designed as a curved element, probably alluding to Japanese architecture such as the Kasagai, the curved lintel of a Shinto shrine. Although, ultimately, the Japanese motif was not incorporated in the final design of the cases, it is a clear indication of the wide range of influences on the entire project. The cabinetry was executed by the George A. Schastey Company of Springfield. Schastey’s name is familiar to scholars of New York interiors in the late 19th century. He was responsible for some of the interior woodwork and decoration of the Fifth Avenue house of Mrs. Arabella Worsham, later Mrs. Collis I’. Huntington, but little documentation exists on the Schastey Company in Springfield. Listed in New York City directories from 1876-1903, a company of this name is listed in Springfield directories from 1891, when the company assumed the business of the Springfield Woodworking Company, until 1902. What is documented by invoices and receipts is the company’s
Sgabello chair
by W.F. Stock made for the Gc :orge Vincent Smith Art Museum, c. 1915. Nume :UJUS sgabello chairs were duplicated and adapted from It alian originals in Slmith’s collection, by former Sch astey employees, for use in the galleries. Company Walter
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prolific production for the art gallery between 1891 and 1903. During this time not only were the vitrines constructed in accordance with Owen’s drawings, but also other gallery furniture such as benches were completed. In addition, Schastey’s firm created ornate pedestals and stands on which to display books, art, and furniture from the Smith collection. After the still mysterious demise of the Schastey Company, incidental furnishings were made for Smith by former Schastey employees. Among the most notable additions to the gallery furnishings were the numerous sgabello chairs duplicated and adapted from original Italian examples in Smith’s collection. Throughout the museum the furnishings and decorations reflect the visual and material richness suitable for Smith’s romantic image of the Italian Renaissance prince and his personal collection. In ‘the Smith Rooms’ and throughout the building the finely carved furnishings embody the interpretation of the Renaissance characteristic of the 19th century. To this end, Smith saw himself in the same light that many of his more famous contemporaries viewed themselves: it was his mission as a patron to bring to the public a greater understanding and appreciation of the world, its cultures and its art. Through his intellect and wealth Smith could pass his knowledge and love of art to experiences, generations of Springfield’s citizens.
Notes Renaissance is a term used to describe the artistic and cultural climate from 1. The American 1876-1917. In this period a new society stressing science, industry, commerce and democracy was formed. Contemporary parallels were made between the Renaissance and the emergence of post-Civil War American civilization. The artistic community helped to express this new vision of America, particularly in the architecture of the period, the characteristics of which will be discussed later in this article. Hartford Courunt Magazine, March 1946, p. 4. 2. T. H. Parker, ‘Beauty was His Sole Criterion’ Patricia Cahill, ‘Truth and Beauty and Good Business: the Oriental Collection of George Walter Vincent Smith’ photocopy, 1978, p. 2, George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum Archive, Springfield, Massachusetts. The G. W. V. Smith Archive contains letters, bills, receipts, articles, photographs and drawings pertaining to Smith and his wife. Although much pertinent information was destroyed at Smith’s direction after his death in 1923, the extant documents have been sorted but not catalogued. Most of the contemporary articles written on Smith and the museum are kept in scrapbooks; however they lack complete bibliographical citations. 3. D. H. Maynard, ‘A Japanese Collection in America’ The Craftsman, vol. VI, no. 5, August 1904, p. 480. Section on George Walter Vincent Smith Art 4. ‘1906 Annual Report to the City Library Association, Gallery’ handwritten manuscript, n. p., G. W. V. Smith Art Museum Archive. 5. Maynard (Note 3), p. 465. Treasures at Springfield Art Museum’ Springfield Republican, 17 November 1912. 6. ‘Woodcarving Union, 18 July 1892. 7. ‘G. W. V. Smith and Art’ Springfield 8. ‘James Gill Gallery, Springfield, Exhibition’ The Collector [New York], 15 February 1890, p. 64. 9. Maynard (Note 3), pp 478, 479. of Identity’ in The American Renaissance 1876-1917, (New York: The 10. R. G. Wilson, ‘Expressions Brooklyn Museum, 1979), p. 11. 11. Wilson, ‘Scientific Eclecticism’ p. 57 (see Note I2 below). ‘ “The Decoration of Houses” and Scientific Eclecticism’ in Victorian Furniture 12. R. G. Wilson, (Philadelphia: The Victorian Society, 1983), p. 203. New Art Museum’ Springfield Republican, 27 April 1894. 13. ‘Handsome 14. W. T. Owen, ‘Description of the Art Museum in the Thirty-Third Annual Report of the City Library Association of the City of Springfield, (Springfield, MA: Cyrus Atwood, 1894), p. 3. 15. Owen (Note 14), p. 3. 16. James Taylor, ‘The History of Terra Cotta in New York City’ Architectural Record, vol. II, July 1892-3, p. 144.
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17. ‘Handsome New Art Museum’ (Note 13). 18. For an in-depth study of the Colonial Revival, which corresponds to the Georgian Revival in England, see The Colonial Revival in America, Alan Axelrod, editor (New York: Norton, for the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, Winterthur, Delaware, 1985). 19. ‘Handsome New Art Museum’ (Note 13). 20. W. T. Owen, Letter to G. W. V. Smith, 2 January 1894, George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum Archive. 21. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Furnitrrre with Drawings and Measurements and Various Devices used by the Museum (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929), n.p.
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