The exhibit, \u201cStoops of Manhattan: Railings and Shadows,\u201d is of more than 20 oil paintings of the decorative ironwork from homes of the 1830s and 1840s. Even a glance at these paintings makes one more aware and appreciative of a part of the streetscape that we touch, hold, and walk near but don\u2019t always consider.<\/p>\n
Jones\u2019 subjects speak of the walking life: He paints primarily within walking distance of his home in New York\u2019s West Village. His subjects are drawn from the time period, the 1830s through the mid-1840s, when the construction of grand townhouses on the north side of Washington Square heralded the establishment of the Greek Revival style in New York\u2019s domestic architecture, according to the exhibit notes. It\u2019s amazing and gratitude-inducing to consider how these iron railings have lasted, year in and year out, for a time that\u2019s not that shy of 200 years.<\/p>\n
Vantage Point and Setting<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n In that time, the ironwork has inspired artists such as photographer Berenice Abbott and painter Edward Hopper. Stoops actually have origins in New York City\u2019s Dutch settlement. It was a Dutch practice to elevate homes as a means of flood protection, and the name \u201cstoop\u201d comes from the Dutch word for veranda, \u201cstoep,\u201d <\/em>the exhibit notes explain. As time went on, stoop has come to refer to the flight of stairs and the landing that lead to the parlor-floor entryway of the urban townhouse.<\/p>\n As anyone knows who has hung out on stoops (as I have), one can see or create a whole world on them, from playing ball to observing the passing show of people and pets to gossiping with neighbors. Walk down any street dominated by the plentiful four- and five-story townhouses and residential rowhouses in Manhattan, Brooklyn, or the city\u2019s other boroughs, and your eyes can feast on an immense variety of swirls, geometric patterns, and decorative elements in stoop railings and window grilles. They are a complex, appealing, and elegant element in the street tapestry.<\/p>\n Jones\u2019 paintings both capture the beauty of the ironwork and form a rich historic chronicle. In an artist\u2019s statement that accompanies the exhibit catalog, Jones calls the railings \u201curban ruins,\u201d likening them to ancient ruins that the forces of time leave \u201cboth compromised and enhanced.\u201d His\u00a0Bethune Street Shadows, <\/em>2008 (photo, artist’s Web site<\/a>), captures such effects. The painting depicts the intricate railings of an 1836 townhouse at 27 Bethune Street. They are greenish silvery black with splotches of light orange rust, so detailed your hands can almost feel the rusted areas. The shadows thrown on the steps by the curving top railing and an anthemion motif \u2013 a floral-shaped ornament \u2013 seem like magnified insects.<\/p>\n Looking at Jones\u2019 paintings, I am in touch with how much I notice the play of light and dark, shadows and forms, on the railings throughout the days and seasons as I walk around New York. In Jones’ West 4th<\/sup> Street Quatrefoils<\/em>, 2008 (photo<\/a>), the winter midday sun creates vivid black silhouettes of the four-leafed forms topped by floral petals and thin railings with swirls <\/em>on the pinkish orange steps and landing.<\/p>\n These railings exemplify the High Classical Style (1835-1840), the exhibit explains, especially inspired by Greek art and containing its elements such as Greek anthemion motifs. An example is Jones\u2019 West 11th<\/sup> Street Anthemions, <\/em>2008 <\/em>(photo<\/a>), <\/em> from a townhouse at 331 W. 11th<\/sup> Street in the West Village, dated 1838-1839. These highly classical-style stoop railings are black-gray bathed in a peach-orangish light. This is one of the most multidimensional of Jones\u2019 works, giving the effect one sees in multiple mirrors.<\/p>\n \u201cStreet Vegetation\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The styles of railings, like other residential elements, are and have been a matter of taste and fashion. Federal-style railings fell out of favor, giving away to large cast ironwork panels of anthemions placed around egg-and-dart wreaths. Architects and builders were influenced in those choices by guides such as architect Minard Lafever\u2019s<\/a> The Beauties of Modern Architecture, <\/em>published in 1835.<\/p>\n Jones\u2019 oeuvre obviously reflects a love of these forms both strong and delicate, and his paintings give homage, as he notes in the exhibit catalog, to the ironworkers and their lost art. Viewing New York\u2019s many 19th<\/sup> century townhouses, or others in cities like Philadelphia or Boston, makes one mindful of their skilled, careful work. Jones notes this art is \u201cexemplified by the complexity of a spiraling newel rail that descends through multiple planes in complex geometries no longer practiced.\u201d How many generations beyond have enjoyed the ironworkers’ intricate work!<\/p>\n As the 19th<\/sup> century progressed, the stoops\u2019 ironwork contained less wrought iron and more cast elements. Throughout, according to the artist, those who created the railings expressed the iron as \u201cstreet vegetation,\u201d Jones writes, in rosettes as flowers, scrolls of iron as curling stems, and other facets.<\/p>\n The exhibit shows just how many variations were possible, and what beautiful forms, full of abstract patterns and even a kind of flowing movement. East 7th<\/sup> Street Railings II, <\/em>2008 <\/em>(photo below), <\/em>displays this kind of motion. <\/em>The stoop, dating to around 1841, is of the Plain Style that became more popular in the early part of the 1840s. It lacks the more ornate motifs of the earlier ironwork.<\/p>\n Jones\u2019 painting is of the graceful scrollwork of two matching stoops on the townhouse at 262 E. 7th<\/sup> Street, iron that curves easily as a wave, silhouetted against sunlight, green leaves, and the pastel tones of the townhouse\u2019s front. The townhouse is not a designated landmark. Many of these historic homes continue to be altered or demolished, or their features subject to vandalism or thievery. Even with landmark preservation, a goodly number of the stoops and railings in his paintings, Jones maintains, are vanishing.<\/p>\n Paintings such as Andrew Berrien Jones\u2019 are, thus, of many layers \u2013 an artist\u2019s interpretation of a common object in our midst, a historical record, a reflection of the legacy of those who practiced a skilled craft many years ago, and visual glories in their own right. Sometimes I wonder why I love certain building details and effects so much. Paintings such as Jones\u2019 help show why, as they possess both the magic and message of the everyday path upon which we walk.<\/p>\n Note:<\/em><\/strong> To view more of Andrew Berrien Jones\u2019 paintings and find information about exhibits of his work, visit the artist\u2019s Web site<\/a>. The George Billis Gallery<\/a> represents the artist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Like other city dwellers, New Yorkers follow the progress of the days and seasons on the details of the buildings and structures around them, from the rosy-pink and golden light of dusk upon the brick and stone to the melting of snow on window sills or the glint and angle of sunrise caught between two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[34,45,24,29,18],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-explore-new-york","tag-architecture","tag-art","tag-historic-preservation","tag-museums","tag-new-york"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2PDqY-G","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mindfulwalker.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mindfulwalker.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mindfulwalker.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mindfulwalker.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mindfulwalker.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mindfulwalker.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mindfulwalker.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mindfulwalker.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mindfulwalker.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"East](\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2608\/3762314197_1042d797e6.jpg\")
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