Description:

White Stanford 1853 - 1906 Stanford White discusses the Brooklyn's Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch with MacMonnies



Two typed pages on stationary stock addressed to "Mac", (Frederick William MacMonnies), on the firm's letterhead of "McKim, Mead & White". Dated "August 1st 1896", and signed by Stanford White as "affectionately White". 8" x 10". Expected folds, faint handling marks, two small 1mm holes, not affecting text. Verso blank. Small pencil notes.

White's letter to MacMonnies, the best-known expatriate American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts school, acknowledges receipt of his letters, in addition to commenting about the Soldiers and Sailors Arch at the Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York. "I do not think it would be well to spread the base of the Quadriga. It now carries up the line of the pilasters and I think it would add to the heaviness of the group to spread it" . Although the Arch had opened to the public on 1894, the sculptures were not added until later in 1898. McKim, Mead and White recommended bronze statues, and in 1894, Frederick W. MacMonnies was hired by the city of Brooklyn to design the bronze sculptural groupings. MacMonnies added Army and Navy sculptures and the allegorical crowning sculpture atop the Arch. It depicts three female sculptures, the winged goddess of Victory in the center following victorious combat with instruments of war and the Quadriga representing the Union Army: two winged female attendants are seen removing two of the four Quadriga horses for peacetime use while trumpeting the victory and emancipation. The Quadriga was cast in Paris at the LeBlanc Barbedienne Foundry.

The November 6, 1898, edition of the New-York Tribune pictured "Brooklyn's Quadriga ... Being Placed on the Memorial Arch ... ". The February 12, 1899, edition of The New York Times reported: "The Quadriga of Frederick MacMonnies has been placed upon the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch at the main entrance to Prospect Park, Brooklyn ... It is a colossal bronze group representing the triumph of American arms and the dignity of the Nation ... This great work of art was placed upon the arch recently without any ceremony attending it ... The work was to be completed by MacMonnies in two years in Paris, where he now resides. The sculptor, however, took four years to finish the group to his satisfaction ... "

White additionally noted to Mac that: "do you know that your contract provides that you shall provide the granite base and construction to support the Quadriga. I had no idea of this ... what shall I do about it?"

White's jocular, yet arrogant humor also resounded on the second page when he opines about the "hellish monument"/Indianapolis work that is occupying Mac's time. He writes: "Miss Scudder tells me that you have given up the Indianapolis work. Is this true? I hope to the Lord it is, because it always seemed to me that you would have a hell of a lot of work, that it would add little to your fortune, that it might break down your health and that the fame and effect of what you did would be seriously hurt by the hellish monument it was connected with."

A fascinating correspondence between architect and artist during a significant period of architectural design. Both men dominated the architectural scene in New York at the time. The Soldiers and Sailors Arch designated a New York City Landmark in 1973, and the crowning sculpture was restored after the chariot's figure fell out in 1976. A lovely image of the arch is shown below.

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