USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress Vol. III > Part 56
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In 1895 was finished and inaugurated at Broadway and Forty-fourth Street a monster music hall, styled by its proprietor " Olympia," where, on the same occasion and under the one roof, may be viewed spectacular opera and ballet, Vaudeville, and promenade concerts. At the old Academy of Music, embalmed with the memories of Patti, Nilssen, Gerster, Lucca, Kellogg, Hauk, Parepa-Rosa, Campanini, Capoul, Brignoli, Del Puente, and other idols of the public of their day, popular spectacular plays have held the stage for long runs ; and in 1896 Walter Damrosch reintroduced to it a season of opera in German.
In size, situation, architectural beauty, and lavish provision for the multitudes it is intended to harbor, the Madison Square Garden, de- signed by McKim, Mead, & White, completes, with the Metropolitan Opera House and Carnegie Music Hall, the list of the most important places of amusement in New York. On its opening night, in June, 1890, at a concert conducted by Edouard Strauss, the main hall con- tained comfortably seventeen thousand people, and there are, in addition, under the same roof, the attractive Garden Theatre, a concert-hall, an assembly-room, and a café. In the amphitheatre, the chief glory of the building, are held yearly the horse show, - where New York's fashion and beauty first appears after return to town from the so-called holiday of summer, - the bench show of dogs, cattle-show, poultry-show, cat- show, exhibitions of flowers, great fairs and bazaars ; and bicycle races, and other popular amusements of the better class follow each other in quick succession. Here, too, the circus and menagerie accommodate the crowds who frequent them; walking matches are seen, and other athletic events have been presented, -including the exhibitions of
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Roof and Tower, Madison Square Garden.
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AMUSEMENTS.
boxing, euphemistically called "glove contests." On top of all is the great "roof-garden," where multitudes find relief and entertainment dur- ing the summer evenings elsewhere uncomfortably hot. Viewed from many points of the town, and from near or afar, the lovely tower of the Madison Square Garden, modelled from the Giralda Tower at Seville in Spain, and crowned with the Diana of St. Gaudens, whether seen by day in the clear atmosphere habitual to New York, or by night a-glitter with stars of electricity, is a continual pleasure to the eye.
In music, it is not too much to say that New York is the present goal toward which strains the genius of the world. The Metropolitan Opera House, built in 1881 with an enormous auditorium and stage, had passed through a number of seasons of brilliant production of grand and lyric operas, rendered by the foremost artists of the day, before the interior was burned in 1892. A year later the building had been renovated and made better and more commodious. The singing birds then and several times since recalled to perch and warble within it, have given to over- flowing houses an exaltation of pleasure that has raised the standard of popular taste for music in an extraordinary degree. The musical educa- tion of New York, beginning with the concerts of the Philharmonic Society and those of Theodore Thomas, and progressing through the tuneful operas heard at the old Academy of Music, was finally at the Metropolitan Opera House put to the supreme test of the music-dramas of Wagner, first conducted here by Leopold Damrosch, and, after his death, by Anton Seidl. These operas, with Lili Lehmann, Brandt, Fischer, Alvary, Vogl, and other great artists in the casts, had ruled musical New York for a number of seasons, when Italian and French opera, under the management of Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau, for a time replaced them. Late years have seen the repeated triumphs of Jean and Edouard de Rescké, Victor Maurel and Pol Plancon, of Melba, Calvé, Nordica and Emma Eames.
In 1891 the good taste and public spirit of Andrew Carnegie provided for us the great Music Hall at the corner of Fifty-seventh Street and Seventh Avenue. In the large main hall of the building may be heard the concerts of the ever-vernal Philharmonic Society, of the Symphony Society directed by Walter Damrosch, and of the Oratorio Society also under his leadership, and frequently other excellent music. The Mendelssohn Glee Club has now its own club-house, and is still greatly enjoyed ; its accomplished and esteemed leader, Joseph Mosenthal, died in 1896.' Other musical societies of repute are the Rubenstein, a chorus of women ; the Musurgia, which gives part-songs of men's voices ; the New York Maennerchor, which in 1887 took possession of its new build-
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ing in Fifty-sixth Street; the Arion, enjoying a fine establishment at Park Avenue and Fifty-ninth Street; and there are many more associa- tions for vocal melody. With our other halls and opera-houses, with the many musicians who make their home here, the orchestras, the conser- vatories, the professors, the various opportunities for here learning and enjoying the best music, it would require many pages to deal properly. Every year has seen the arrival of great prophets of the divine art who had won fame abroad, - including Paderewski, Ysaye, Remenyi, Sara- sate, Von Bulow, Joseffy, Josef Hoffman, Anton Hegner, and Vladimir de Pachman ; and to the début of each has been accorded the welcome, both enthusiastic and comprehending, that furnishes the artist's most coveted reward. Of American operas, some of those by Reginald de Koven and Harry Smith have won the widest and most cordial recognition.
The recent spirit of acquisitiveness of works of graphic art in New York is remarkable not so much for its activity as for its nicety of choice. It is no longer the question with a buyer whether a picture is signed by Troyon, but whether it is a good specimen of Troyon's work. The old haste to accumulate without discretion, resulting in the association of many examples that could with benefit to our standard of art be heaped in a garret closed and shut out from the light of day, is superseded by growing deliberation, with intelligence in selection. Nor are paintings to-day secured as an investment or a speculation. Those who purchase them desire, as a rule, companions in their homes ; and so, hanging by twos and threes upon the walls of beautiful houses all over the residen- tial regions of the town where men of fortune have builded, one may find masterpieces of foreign art culled from the most treasured galleries of other lands. Over the tossing seas, in the holds of great ships that bring them safely to their destination, have recently come to find a sale in New York many world-renowned pictures Europe was loath to part with. For instance, in 1895 was sold here by the American Art Asso- ciation the noble Vandyke, bought from Lord Caledon in England, of the Marchesa di Spinola and her daughter, at the price of fifty thousand dollars ; in 1895 S. P. Avery secured abroad, and brought to his gallery in Fifth Avenue, the famous Turner showing St. Mark's Square at Venice on the occasion of a festa by night, the pride of the collection in England from which it came; this splendid example of that great painter's genius was sold recently in New York for fifty thousand dollars, and on the day it was disposed of to its present owner the dealer received for it two additional offers of the same amount. In a single
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COLLECTIONS OF RARE AND FINE ART.
room of his house, crowded with other works of art and with curios, Henry O. Havemeyer has hung seven priceless Rembrandts, creating a shrine toward which the devotee of the great Dutchman as naturally tends as the admirer of Velasquez to the Museo of Madrid. William H. Fuller has made a superb collection of works of old English mas- ters, and of the artists of the Barbizon school. J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry G. Marquand, Morris K. Jesup, Cornelius Vanderbilt, George Vanderbilt, D. O. Mills, Charles Stewart Smith, Charles A. Dana, Mrs. D. C. Lyell, J. D. Fletcher, Stanley Mortimer, J. H. Van Ingen, Alfred Corning Clark, B. Altman, Oliver H. Payne, Robert Hoe, James A. Gar- land, Charles T. Yerkes, Henry Sampson, George A. Hearn, C. T. Barney, Frederick Bonner, I. T. Williams, M. C. D. Borden, C. P. Huntington, W. C. Whitney, Miss Julia Cooper, A. S. Hewitt, J. W. Pinchot, - with A. A. Healey, John T. Martin, and I. C. Hoagland, in Brooklyn, - may be cited among the owners of notably fine and well-selected paintings, either assembled in galleries attached to their houses or displayed upon the walls of the living-rooms of their dwellings. Of other gatherings of treasures of art in New York the number is large. Monthly exhibitions of pictures during the winter seasons, at some of the leading clubs, nota- bly those at the Union League Club, have been great educators in the pictorial art. Recent loan-collections to raise moneys for patriotic or charitable purposes, and the galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, have given to the public the benefit of a rich array of the spoils of old-world æstheticism. Old prints, missals, and books - stained glass, laces, lacquer, musical instruments, miniatures, old porcelains, costumes, arms and armor - Oriental art in jades, fans, jewelry and silverware - old furniture, metal work, ceramics, crystals, coins, embroideries, enamels, etchings, rugs, tapestries and other textiles, are assembled to adorn the walls or cabinets of many a home in New York where an unobtrusive exterior gives little suggestion of the art of high merit maintained in the decoration within.
Of collections of curios, a few stand out conspicuous for excellence. Charles A. Dana is the owner of an exquisite assemblage of old Chinese porcelains where every example is a gem, usually of a solid color, and of interesting potteries. James A. Garland has a resplendent galaxy of Oriental porcelains, old blue-and-white, decorated pieces and eggshells ; he has also the best of old Spanish embroideries, with rare crystals and rugs. Robert Hoe, in addition to famous books, has many valuable curios. Heber R. Bishop's wonderful muster of jades is second to none known. H. G. Marquand's house is a treasury of Oriental art. Mrs. A. A. Anderson has fine Chinese porcelains. B. Altman has a number 507
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
of the Oriental porcelains, crystals, and enamels from the Spitzska sale. Mrs. A. S. Hewitt has a well-chosen assortment of curios. Of miniatures old and new, Peter Marie, Valentine A. Blacque, and others have amassed attractive gatherings.
The names mentioned do not begin to cover the actual list of posses- sors of collections or of detached specimens of rare and fine art; and every year sees our wealthy citizens securing themselves abroad - or, what is often better, through intelligent and trustworthy intermediaries at home - some permanent adornment of houses where mere upholstery and modern decoration play no part.
It is a source of natural satisfaction to the chronicler of progressive culture in our day to be able to point to the brilliant portraits signed by such American names as Sargent, J. W. Alexander, Carroll Beckwith, J. Alden Weir, Daniel Huntington, B. C. Porter, Eastman Johnson, William M. Chase, and to the pictures by George Inness, Winslow Homer, Homer Martin, D. W. Tryon, John La Farge, Abbey, George De Forest Brush, Dewing, Millet, F. Hopkinson Smith, Abbott Thayer, and others, now seen in many of the homes of New York. And among women the art of Mary Cassatt, Cecilia Beaux, Rosina Emmet Sherwood, Lydia Emmet, Dora Wheeler Keith, and Mrs. Leslie Cotton has recently furnished pleasing examples of portraiture.
In the realm of sculpture the adornment of New York has been of late years enriched with the spirited figure of Admiral Farragut by St. Gaudens, in Madison Square ; J. Q. A. Ward's " Washington," on the steps of the Sub-Treasury ; his "Pilgrim " and "Shakespeare " and " Indian Hunter," in Central Park ; MacMonnies' "Nathan Hale," in the City Hall Park ; Kemeys' "Still Hunt," in the Central Park; and Bartholdi's " La Fayette," in Union Square. Many other statues, with monuments and fountains, are scattered throughout the city, chiefly in our parks, - expressing in some instances the homage for a departed great man of some other nationality, offered to our municipality by his admiring countrymen.
Of the other American artists of merit and fame who to-day niche themselves in and about the city, or hive like bees in handsome new " studio " buildings, the numbers are too considerable for separate men- tion here. At the spring and autumn exhibitions of the National Acad- emy of Design, including those of the American Water Color Society ; at the exhibitions of the Society of American Artists, of the Architec- tural League of New York, the Art Student's League, the Society of Painters in Pastel, or of the New York Water Color Society, as well as in many studios, the public has frequent opportunity to pass judgment
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THE COMMERCIAL ASPECT IN ART.
upon their work. A new temple of the arts here referred to was finished in 1892 at No. 215 West Fifty-seventh Street, and is now occupied by a combination of forces from several of the associations we have just named, and from others.1
1 For a better understanding of the commercial aspect in art, which is, after all, the proof of its estimation in a community, we append the following list of sales here of pictures, etc., at auction, since 1880. And in this connection may be noted the fact that the American artist, as a rule, must die before a successful sale of his work can be made at auction, no mat- ter how meritorious his performance may be.
In 1881 the Thomas Reid collection brought $70,916 ; and the pictures of S. A. Coale, Jr., $72,781.
In 1882 the second John Wolfe collection of eighty-two pictures sold for $129,955 ; the Levi P. Morton and Robert Hoe galleries were sold for $50,570.
In 1883 J. C. Runkle sold his pictures for $66,195.
In 1885 George I. Seney's paintings, March 31st, April 1st and 2d, went at $405, 821.
In 1886 the estate of Mrs. Mary J. Morgan sold paintings, porcelains, silver, etc., etc., March 3d to 15th inclusive, at $1,205,153.30 ; and the paintings of Beriah Wall and J. A. Brown, March 31st and April 1st, were sold at $129,557.50.
In 1887 the estate of Robert Graves sold paintings and bric-à-brac, Feb. 9th to 15th inclu- sive, at $146,863.50; the estate of A. T. Stewart sold paintings, library, bronzes, bric-à-brac, etc., March 23d to 31st inclusive, at $575,079.42 ; the paintings of Henry Probasco, April 18th, sold at $168,920, - leaving his Oriental porcelains to go, April 19th, 20th, 21st, for the sum of $39,815.50 ; and the late Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's library, paintings, and bric-à- brac fetched, Nov. 8th to 17th inclusive, $31,738.76.
In 1888 the estate of Christian H. Wolff sold paintings, April 2d and 3d, at $26,035 ; the remarkable sale of Albert Spencer's second collection, sixty-eight pictures, fetched $284,025 ; and Henry T. Chapman Jr.'s paintings and bronzes sold, April 13th, 14th, 16th, at $74,365.
In 1889 J. H. Stebbins sold paintings, Feb. 12th, at $160,585; Elmer H. Capen and the estate of Wilmot. L. Warren sold paintings, March 7th and 8th, at $69,782.50 ; and Wang Shih Yuing and Yang Yan Deck sold Oriental porcelains, March 7th, 8th, 9th, at $41,477.50.
In 1890 the estate of Samuel L. M. Barlow sold his library, paintings, and bric-à-brac, Feb. 3d to 12th inclusive, at $142,120.25 ; Walter Bowne, W. T. Evans, the estate of Bernhard Stern and Wm. H. Shaw, sold paintings, March 5th, 6th, 7th, at $106,296, leaving Oriental porcelains to go, March 6th, 7th, and 8th, at $28,410.
In 1891 George I. Seney sold paintings, Feb. 11th, 12th, and 13th, at $665,550 ; Brayton Ives sold books, manuscripts, Oriental porcelains, jades, swords, lacquers, etc., March 5th to 14th inclusive, at $275,310.75 ; and Vassili Verestchagin sold paintings, curios, rugs, etc., Nov. 17th to 21st, at $83,807.50.
In 1892 Henry Deakin sold Japanese and Chinese art objects, January 26th to February 1st, at $41,029.25 ; there was a sale in partition, to settle the estate of R. Austin Robertson, some time a member of the American Art Association, of paintings, Barye bronzes, Oriental porce- lains, lacquers, metal work, etc., April 7th to 27th, May 3d, 4th, 5th, at $451,171.25, - and of art in warp and woof there were sales, October 24th to 29th, at $82,469 ; Deakin Bros. sold Oriental objects, Noveniber 28th to December 3d inclusive, at $29,774.25.
In 1893 the estate of Charles J. Osborn, the estates of Edwin Thorne, and Edwin S. Chapin, sold paintings, sculpture, bric-à-brac, etc., January 27th, 28th, at $163,646.50 ; Baron M. von Brandt sold Chinese porcelains and curios, February 21st, 22d, 23d, 24th, at $30,824 ; the Art of the Loom in the East made sales, March 31st, April 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, at $79,893 ; Knoedler & Co. sold oil paintings, April 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, at $384,670 ; the estate of John Hoey sold paintings, statuary, furniture, bric-à-brac, etc., April 22d to 26th inclusive,
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
No more satisfactory resorts for the leisure hour of a lover of art are to be found, than the various galleries for the exhibition and sale of pic- tures and bric-à-brac, fostered and supported by the taste of latter day New York.
Of art schools and classes, the Art Student's League and the Cooper Union Schools for men and for women are well to the fore in successful achievement.
The Associated Artists, of which Mrs. Candace Wheeler is the presi- dent, the Society of Decorative Art, and the School of Applied Design, all control work done by women, and are conducted by women with signal success.
The Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company, in Fourth Avenue, now produces a variety of objects in glass of a tone, texture, and finish than which nothing more artistically beautiful has ever been seen, including the brilliant new " Favrile " glass made by workmen trained in Louis C. Tiffany's individual methods.
The addition in 1881, by gift of the grandson of the founder, of a new hall to the Astor Library, seemed to make of that capacious building as
at $58,353.13 ; Capt. F. Brinkley, R. A., sold antique Chinese porcelains, May 9th and 10th, at $36,892.50.
In 1894 the estate of George I. Seney sold paintings, water colors, etchings, and engrav- ings, February 7th, 8th, and 9th, at $213,703 ; E. O. Arbuthnot, of Shanghai, sold Chinese porcelains, April 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, at $32,410; and the estate of J. J. Peoli sold etchings, engravings, water colors, etc., May 8th to 12th inclusive, at $20,426.55.
In 1895, January 9th, the collection of Richard H. Halstead, twenty master works by George Inness, sold at $31,350, being the highest average in quality and price of any American paint- ings yet sold ; April 25th, etc., there was a sale upon dissolution of the American Art Asso- ciation, at $232,548, when the following notable works went and these prices were realized : a Vandyke at $50,000, a Sir Joshua Reynolds at $6,100, a Sir Thomas Lawrence at $5,000, a Gainsborough at $5,150, a Rubens at $5,500, a Porbus at $4,600, a Bronzino at $4,100, and a Monet at $4,250 ; that same year, November 25th, the estate of Paran Stevens sold pictures at $7,513, including a Meissonier at $3,500.
In 1896, January 9th, the studio effects of Wm. M. Chase, N. A., were sold at $21,053.25 ; January 23d the collection of N. Q. Poyse went at $62,900.60, including a Meissonier at $4,000, a Rousseau at $2,600, a Schreyer at $2,000, and a Détaille at $1,350 ; February 6th and 7th the collection of Childe Hassam, two hundred and eight examples of his own work, fetched $9,072.50. February 18th and 19th the collection of D. H. King, Jr., fetched $294,917, including a Troyon at $17,200, a Sir Thomas Lawrence at $10,700, a Hoppner at $10,100, a Porbus the younger at $8,000, a Rembrandt at $11,100, a Sir Joshua Reynolds at $4,900, a Jacque at $3,500, a Turner at $9,800, a Corot at $6,700, a Mauve at $6,675, a Knaus at $3,200, a Copley at $3,200, a Schreyer at $5,100, and a Daubigny at $3,400 ; and February 28th the collection of the late William Schaus (thirty-one paintings) sold for $187, 825, including a Rousseau at $25,200, a Troyon at $24,500, a Diaz at $18,900, a Rembrandt at $18,600, a Corot at $8,000, a Daubigny at $10,150, a Fromentin at $6,700, a Frans Hals at $5,400, and a Rubens at $5,100, - being an average of quality and price higher than any collection ever sold in America.
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LIBRARIES.
complete and convenient a free reference library as New Yorkers could demand. In 1893 the Lenox Library, closed for a time for rearrange- ment of its treasures, supplemented by the pictures and ten thou- sand choice books left by the will of Mrs. Robert L. Stuart, had a formal reopening, and the public was made anew the beneficiary of this collection, to which the president, John S. Kennedy, also has added largely.
By the will of Samuel J. Tilden, who died in 1886, a capital of six millions of dollars was bequeathed to New York to carry out his favorite project of another free library. Family litigation over the will suc- ceeded in breaking it, and nearly the whole of the estate went absolutely to his nieces, nephews, and a great-niece, - to the latter, Miss Laura Pelton, then recently married to William A. Hazard, three million dol- lars of it; but it is to be recorded that, though entitled to the whole of that great sum, she reserved for herself one million only, freely giving the other two millions to the intended library. With this remnant of Mr. Tilden's proposed munificence to New York in hand, the trustees of the corporation his executors had organized to carry out the intentions of the testator have arranged a consolidation of the Astor Library, the Lenox Library and (what remains of) the Tilden Free Library, - the most pleasing proffer the future makes for book-lovers and general readers in New York.
The Free Circulating Library, beginning its career modestly in 1808 in two rooms, with a circulation of one thousand books, had current in 1892 nearly half a million volumes. This beneficent spring, which has sup- plied such a stream to satisfy the thirst of certain portions of our public for literature, dispenses its bounty through several channels, having branch buildings at 49 Bond Street, 135 Second Avenue, 226 West Forty- second Street, 251 West Thirteenth Street, and a distributing stand at 1943 Madison Avenue.
The Free Library for Mechanics and Tradesmen is at 8 East Sixteenth Street. The library of the Cooper Union is open to all, and of late years has been frequented by between 1,600 and 1,700 readers per diem.1
Another free resort for all respectable students, women or men, is the fine library of the Young Men's Christian Association, in East Twenty-third
1 This, as well as the success of the art schools of that institution, is an evidence of the far-reaching intelligence of the honored founder. The death of Peter Cooper, on the 4th of April, 1883, was justly regarded by all New York as a bereavement. Marks of respect to his memory were displayed upon public buildings, the Supreme Court was adjourned, and public bodies, including both houses of the Legislature, adopted resolutions of regard and regret.
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Street; it has the great attraction of being open in the evening, and during holidays. A free library devoted mainly to Hebrew literature is at 203 East Fifty-seventh Street. The library of Columbia College, at 41 East Forty-ninth Street, recently enriched by the addition of many donations of books, includes the Stephen Whitney Phoenix Library, the President Barn- ard Library, the Mary Queen of Scots Library, the Avery Architectural Library, Townsend's Civil War Record, and the libraries of the Huguenot Society and of the New York Academy of Science. It is remarkably well arranged for convenience of use ; and to this varied banquet students and scholars of all grades are made welcome; there may be found, among other attractions, the current numbers of nine hundred magazines and other serial publications.
Libraries of Law, Science, Medicine, and Theology are established at various points throughout the city ; and of special libraries, and those on general subjects attached to special institutions, there are many. Both the Society Library and the Historical Society Library belong more to the province of old New York than within the limits of this chapter. But in June, 1891, the latter purchased, for a building not yet erected, a fine site to the west of Central Park, at Eighth Avenue and Seventy-sixth Street, where, some day, the society's present overflow of things precious to him who would be reminded of bygone days and associations will be fitly displayed.
Of the private libraries in New York those best known to the public at the present time belong to Robert Hoe, Mrs. Drexel, Mrs. Astor, S. P. Avery, Loring Andrews, George Vanderbilt, J. Pierpont Morgan, J. J. Astor, George B. de Forest, R. C. Hawkins, Marshall C. Lef- ferts, T. A. Emmet, V. A. Blacque, Thomas J. McKee, Augustin Daly, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Beverley Chew, Rev. Dr. Dix, Justice Truax, Charles B. Foote, Laurence Hutton, Brander Matthews, William Dick, George T. Maxwell, C. W. Frederickson, J. H. V. Arnold; and we should here mention also those of E. D. Church, George F. Maxwell, and Paul Leicester Ford, in Brooklyn. In 1895 was sold in New York the library of the late Mrs. Norton Pope, of Brooklyn, including the " Morte d'Arthur," for which that lady had bid against the British Museum, securing it at the price of 1,950 pounds sterling, - a straw showing which way the wind of book-collecting blows in the new world to-day. To the numberless gems gathered by bibliomaniacs, and comprised in the collections noted above, it is possible here to refer merely, and only in passing.
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