Please join me, a long-time member of the ICA, for my exhibition of paintings entitled “Railings & Shadows.” The show is open through January 31, 2009 at the George Billis Gallery. My paintings explore the classically-inspired iron railings of the stoops of old New York townhouses. More information on the show is available at the end of this blog entry.
Bethune Street Morning Railings
The American Greek revival style of architecture has fascinated me since
childhood. In 2000, I participated in ICA’s symposium on the early 19th century New York architect Minard Lafever. My contribution was to conduct a
walking tour of Greenwich Village to view homes with architectural features
derived from Lafever’s 1835 book The Beauties
of Modern Architecture.
My passion for the American Greek revival movement is reflected in other ways as well. My home is an 1840s late Greek revival West Village townhouse filled with a collection of 1830s Duncan Phyfe furniture of the “architectural” style. Last, but not least, I have devoted much of the last 10 years to painting the intricate cast iron railings of New York’s Greek revival townhouses. The exhibition includes the most recent work from this ongoing project.
West 20th Street Morning Railings
Several my paintings explore the stoop railings of the 1830s during the height of the Greek revival. Characteristic of these railings are bands of scrolls under the handrail. The sides of the railings are decorated with panels of paired anthemia centered by an egg-and-dart wreath. As the late 1830s approach, the newels are formed with a spiraling railing, often resting on a square or round brownstone pedestal. By the early 1840s, variations appear, including the use of large scrolls of wrought iron forming the entirety of the top landing railings or alternatively, the lower portions of the railing. In the mid-1840s, cast iron elements dominate, often with a band of Greek key motifs under the handrail and a Grecian fret along the base. Additionally, more Gothic elements appear during this period, often interspersed with Greek, resulting in an eclectic Greco-Gothic style.
Cobble Hill Sunset
Architecture provides a vocabulary of patterns and repetition, yet I think a painting with undifferentiated repetition and pattern risks becoming a mere design. Fortunately, the irregularities created by perspective and atmospheric and lighting conditions transform the patterns of architecture into subjects of visual interest. In paintings of stoops, the juxtaposition of a railing with its counterpart immediately behind brings the architecture to life. Shadows further enhance the architecture. Acting almost as a reflection, shadows re-interpret the subject, bending and twisting it across a new surface, forming a three-dimensional construct to be contemplated continually.
Bethune Street Shadows
Just as the portrayal of ruins reveals and evokes an era past, my oeuvre
constitutes a historical record. As
Edward Hopper and Berenice Abbott captured the Village of the 1920s, my works
captures a specific time. While historic buildings continue to be altered or
demolished, this work represents both important documentation as well as a
dynamic evocation of this specific time
and its continuing capacity to engage us. Despite the formalities of landmark preservation,
many of the subjects of these paintings have been recently altered or have
sometimes vanished from sight. My goal
is not just to record these treasures before they are lost but to speak
currency, to enlist a joyful appreciation that connects us with the skill of
those who came before us. My task is to
buld a bridge to the future resting on a foundation of contemporary acuity for excellence
in the classical tradition.
- Andrew Jones
To Visit: The George Billis Gallery is located at 511 West 25th Street in the Chelsea Arts District. Tel: (212) 645-2621. Website: www.georgebillis.com.
Email: [email protected]. Gallery hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11 – 6.