'1 MEMORIAL MEETING IN HONOR OF J 1 STANFORD WHITE HELD AT THE LIBRARY OF NEW YORK UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEDICATION OF THE STANFORD WHITE MEMORIAL DOORS K.IJ DECEMBER 10, 1921 'VJ *fl^ PRIVATELY PRINTED NEW YORK CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES ITHACA. N.-Y. 14853 Fine Arts Library Sibley Hall w, Cornell University Library The original of tinis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924016066270 MEMORIAL MEETING IN HONOR OF THE LATE STANFORD WHITE HELD AT THE LIBRARY OF NEW YORK UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEDICATION OF THE STANFORD WHITE MEMORIAL DOORS DECEMBER 10, 1 92 1 PRIVATELY PRINTED NEW YORK MA 737 M53 STANFORD WHITE MEMORIAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Thomas Hastings, Chairman Frederick MacMonnies Thomas W. Dewing W. Francklyn Paris, Secretary 53 West 39th Street, New York COMMITTEE James Barnes James L. Breese WiNTHROP ChANLER Thomas B. Clarke Royal Cortissoz Devereux Emmet Allen W. Evarts Henry W. de Forest Robert W. de Forest C. Dana Gibson Cass Gilbert F. L. V. HoppiN Charles B. Macdonald Clarence H. Mackay William R. MeAd WlLLARD L. MeTCALF De Lancey Nicoll Charles A. Platt Frank K. Sturgis Lloyd Warren Whitney Warren Arthur Weekes INTRODUCTORY NOTE A GROUP of friends and admirers of the late Stanford White, wishing to erect a memorial in his honor, decided at a meeting held at the Century Club on December first, 1919, to place a pair of bronze doors at the entrance to the Library Building of New York University. This form of memorial was considered particularly appro- priate, as he was the architect of the building, and' received an honorary degree from the University, of which his father, Richard Grant White, was a distin- guished graduate. A committee was formed with Mr. Thomas Hastings as chairman. The Trustees of the University accepted the offer of the memorial, and approved the design pre- pared by Mr. White's son> Lawrence Grant White. As soon as the subscriptions to the fund were sufficient, work was begun on the doors. The whole undertaking was a labor of love to perpetuate the memory of one whose influence on American architecture was great, and who endeared himself to many by his kindness and generosity. The design and the models for the sculpture and ornament were contributed, and the various manufacturers did their work at cost or, in some in- stances, without cost. The doors are subdivided into small panels, eight of which are enriched with symbolical figures in relief. The models were generously contributed by sculptors who had collaborated with Stanford White. The two upper figures are by Andrew O'Connor, typifying t33 "Inspiration" and "Generosity." They are winged, and in higher relief than the others, in order to obtain an accent of shadow. The next two lower panels are by Philip Martiny, representing "Architecture" and "Deco- ration," the two principal activities of Stanford White's career. Below these are "Painting" and "Sculpture," by Herbert Adams, and "Music" and "Drama," by A. A. Weinman, typifying the allied arts in which Mr. White took an especial interest. The lions' heads are the work of Ulysses Ricci, and the inscription was modelled by Janet Scudder. It is somewhat unusual for so many artists to col- laborate on a single pair of doors, and the successful combination of their work was a difficult problem; but the result shows a harmonious composition, in which each part is studied in its relation to the whole. In their construction, these doors are a departure from the usual modern practice of casting each door in a single piece. They are, instead, like the mediasval doors at Trani and Monreale, built up of plates of bronze, each panel, stile, and rail being cast separately. The rosettes are structurally significant, as they form the heads to the bolts which fasten the bronze to the wooden doors. The doors were dedicated at a memorial meeting held in the Rotunda of the Library of New York University on Saturday afternoon, December tenth, 1921. After an address by Chancellor Brown, of the University, Mr. Thomas Hastings presented the doors in the name of the committee, and Mr. Royal Cortissoz spoke most fittingly of Stanford White. The doors were then un- veiled by Stanford White's grandchild. C43 CHANCELLOR ELMER ELLSWORTH BROWN The fine arts are born anew with each new generation of men — sometimes a sturdy infant and sometimes feeble and ailing and requiring all manner of fostering care. All true art is new ; it is everlastingly young, for he who does merely what has been done before is no artist at all, but merely an artisan, copying what others before him have invented, perpetuating some tradition, even though it be the great tradition of masters who rule the thought of the ages. The arts are new in each generation, but they are immeasurably indebted to the past. The best of all the centuries is their inheritance, not only the best in achieve- ment, but also the best in interpretation, in criticism, in ordered and coherent thought. More than one-half of every great new work of art is old, so old that it never could be new. It has come down from the makers of other days. It could not be buried in their graves. They had the crowning glory of life, to live for that which should outlive them. From their unburied treas- ure, the latest makers gather materials, tools, their in- forming spirit, the stern example of their self-restraint, through which they are, themselves, to give expression to a life the world has never known before. In so doing, they are to enable that new life to find and form itself, free and whole-hearted, untrammelled by the bonds of spiritual ineptitude and spiritual poverty. We are met today in a building designed by one of the master architects of our America of the generation now passing into history. The friends of that great architect are here, artists themselves, master-workers of this living generation, lovers and fostering friends of the arts. They have come to us bringing a new work of art to be a votive offering in his memory. We are met to receive their sacred memorial, to hear their words concerning it, to enjoy its beauty and the lofty sentiment which it embodies. We welcome them, and the spirit of this place gives them a welcome beyond what any words of mine can express. For here, in this masterpiece of Stanford White's, we have begun to assemble memorials of other artists of his generation. Here are George Inness and Carroll Beckwith and Clinton Ogilvie, looking out upon the scene. Their remembered lineaments have been shaped in living bronze by sculptors who are with us still. Here, on the way, are Walter Shirlaw, Duveneck, Chase, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, George B. Post, John Welborn Root, and others of that goodly company. The memory of Stanford White meets here the memory of fellow workers whom he loved and honored in his time ; while near at hand, the impressive colonnade which his genius created is now the Hall of Fame for Great Ameri- cans of all the generations. This spot shall be a place of pilgrimage for those who care deeply for our American tradition, as enshrined in fitting forms of American art. You come to us, friends of Stanford White, today on such a pilgrimage. You will leave behind you that which shall add immeasurably to this treasure-house of lofty memories. We are glad that you have come, glad for the fine thought carried into fine execution, and glad that we are now to hear the message that you bring. 1^1 MR. THOMAS HASTINGS Mr. Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen: Stanford White was a man of strong convictions. It is remarkable that in his early life after having been apprenticed to H. H. Richardson, a man reputed for his brilliant personality, he showed such strength and cour- age of his convictions in resisting this dominating char- acter and in building for his time upon a more lasting foundation, an influence which so materially raised the standard of art in this country. Indeed, in these two men the truth is vividly illustrated that the direction in which a man works and his in- fluence upon his following are of far greater importance to the artistic world than are the comparatively few executed examples of his own individual undertaking. Stanford White always consistently adhered to classic principles and saw no logical or historic reason for a revival of the mediaevalism of his predecessor. With these strong convictions his work was always personal with a most unusual inborn sense of beauty. He was a man of vision, a true artist, because he realized that to meet the physical problems of modern conditions he should avoid the shallow appeal of mere superficial, misapplied association and build rather upon the lasting foundations of those never-failing traditions of our im- mediate ancestors. In handing you this key and in behalf of the com- mittee representing a large number of friends of Stanford White, I have the honor to present to this University 1:73 the completed memorial. The readiness of his friends to give and the eagerness and enthusiasm of the artists to freely, and without recompense, contribute their work in order to realize this most successful outcome, is indeed a tribute not only to his genius but also to his lovable and generous character, in remembrance of all he has done to uplift and to encourage and help the artists of his time. CS] MR. ROYAL CORTISSOZ It is always a privilege to pay tribute to a brilliant man. It is doubly a privilege thus to speak of him when you have known him and hold him in affectionate remembrance. I think of Stanford White as a bright flame, a guiding light to his fellows in the arts, a flame at which those who were his friends warmed their hands and their hearts. The temptation is strong on an oc- casion like this to speak at length of his works, but it is obviously impossible today to survey them all. I will allude to only two of them and to those because they are symbolical. They stand near to one another in Fifth Avenue, the Tiffany Building and the Gorham Building, beautiful buildings, both, and the symbolical thing about them is that where they are placed, where the tide of our city life runs high, they lift up a noble standard of architecture by which everyone is bound sooner or later to be touched. The best tribute that we can pay to White, I think, is recognition of the influence of his artistic standard not only upon New York but upon the whole country. You have a clearer sense of what we owe- to him if you recall the state of American taste in architecture when he began. We, too, have had our "Mid- Victorian" era, the era of brown stone and black walnut. It lasted down into the eighties. White had an enormous share in making it over and he had it in a dual sense. In the first place he had architectural genius and erected beau- tiful buildings for all men to see. In the next place he 1:9: was an extraordinary driving force, an extraordinary source of enthusiasm for good art. You've only half reckoned with White when you've reckoned with the designer of this or that work. You have also to reckon with the man, the personality that stirred other artists. Every now and then you will hear some one trying to determine the functions of the different members of the partnership to which White belonged, trying to parcel out the individual achievements of McKim, or Mead, or the man we are thinking of today. I won't tackle that problem, though I can't refrain from observing that there were really four in that famous company, the late Joseph M. Wells their "head man," a genius if ever there was one. It simply isn't possible to talk about Stanford White without recalling his coadjutor, Wells, whom he loved. They had the same high artistic prin- ciples. There was perfect artistic sympathy between them. That particularly is what I would signalize in White, his stirring o^ great artistic sympathies. He built buildings and he inspired men, inspired others to feel the same ardor for good taste that he had himself. In that earlier period in which he did so much to change the direction of American architecture there were men younger than White who were enlisting in the same war. He was a tower of strength to them. I don't think Mr. Hastings would deny me the pleasure of re- ferring to the days in which he and John Carrere, un- timely lost, launched out for themselves on their first great commission. It was in the old back room, at 57 Broadway and they had White at their elbow, to give them friendly counsel and the most precious kind of stimulus. And Cass Gilbert, with his Woolworth Tower long ahead of him — was he not glad of Stanford White's cheering companionship when he made his start ? There are many of our architects who faced the world more confidently because of White's advice and encouragement. Moreover, he had the same helpful influence upon the other arts. When the portal of St. Bartholomew's was to be reconstructed, White called in French, Martiny, Adams and O'Connor to do the sculpture. When there was a sanctuary lamp to be made for the Church of the Paulist Fathers he gave it to Martiny to model. When La Farge erected his great "Ascension" in the church of that name it was White who designed the frame for it and made over the whole chancel, with the aid of Louis Saint-Gaudens and Maitland Armstrong. His pedestals for the sculptures of Augustus Saint-Gaudens contribute richly to the beauty and dignity of those famous monuments. We are accustomed now to mural decorations in our public buildings. The idea was new and strange when White commissioned T. W. Dewing and Edwin A. Abbey to paint important decorations for the old Imperial Hotel. But again I would emphasize not so much the character of the specific design that he produced or caused to be produced. It is the spirit in which he went about the thing that I would seek first to interpret. It was the spirit of glowing comradeship. He put heart into the men with whom he worked. Merely to have White with him was, for an artist, half the battle. There is something peculiarly fitting in the erection of these doors as his memorial. They, too, are deeply symbolical. He was always opening doors for others, doors in the world of art. There never was a happier DO collaboration than that which has given us the present work. It was designed by his son, Lawrence White, who won't quarrel with me, I imagine, for saying that no matter what he does in architecture in the future, he cannot do anything of which he will be prouder than of these doors. The reliefs were modelled by old friends of White's, Herbert Adams, Philip Martiny, Andrew O'Connor and Adolf Weinman. Miss Janet Scudder has made the inscription. These artists have joined together to revive the happy atmosphere of old times, the atmosphere in which they worked with White and profited, as I have said, by the light of his leadership. For us all the doors are a kind of rnodest contribution to an unpayable debt. The debt will go on renewing, itself. White opened doors for others, doors opening on long vistas of ambition and achievement. They will never be closed. The youths who pass here will receive every time they come and go an impression of beauty. This will have had its roots in the genius of Stanford White. One word more, for an episode that belongs amongst my personal memories. If I speak of myself you will understand, of course, that it is only in order that I may speak of White. Some thirty-odd years ago I in my turn wanted a door opened, a door that led into the world of music. I could not turn the key without the good will of one of those inaccessible potentates who live camouflaged behind flocks of adamantine secretaries. To make matters worse he was at the moment on the high seas and I needed to have my key turned on the Saturday next in view. White saw no difficulty what- ever. The great man was an old friend of his. "Meet me at the pier Saturday morning, when the ship comes in," he said. I did so and as the traveller came down the gangplank we were there to greet him. With one breath White gave him a shout of welcome and with the next he told his friend what he was to do to oblige me. The poor man was fairly dazed. As he took my hand he looked at me as if I were some mysterious being dropped from the skies. But he did exactly what White told him to do, he wrote on the spot the note that was to turn my key, and he kept the eager emissaries from his own office, dancing about with pressing business, waiting until the thing was accomplished. Now that was White all over. And do you see why he moved in the matter? Partly because he was my friend. Partly because, as I've said, my door was to open into the world of music, of one of the arts. That was enough for White. I wish I could bring back to you a living, breathing impression of Stanford White when the musical mood was on him ; I wish I could help you to see how inspiring he then was, how endearing. I have heard the symphonies of Beethoven played by many great orchestras, but when I think of them there is no memory that returns more poignantly than the mem- ory of White, whistling the slow movement from the Pastoral. He knew all the symphonies, he knew the tremendous quartettes, and in his whistling you felt the very genius of the music. Sometimes, though, whistling would fail him, and, as though in despair of expressing all he felt, he would burst into a kind of song. It was as though beauty possessed him. Beauty did possess him. That is why those of us who loved him are proud to stand up and be counted in devotion to his name. SUBSCRIBERS TO THE STANFORD WHITE FUND Lewis Colt Albro Mrs. Richard Aldrich H. M. Atkinson Henry Bacon Commander Baker James Barnes Mrs. Charles T. Barney Edward Bement Watson F. Blair William A. Boring Welles Bosworth James L. Breese James Brite Lawrence Smith Butler J. Armstrong Chaloner WiNTHROP ChANLER Miss Anne W. Cheney Miss Louise Cheney Robert Cheney Percy Chubb Thomas B. Clarke William D. Crow Charles Deering James Deering Henry W. deForest Robert W. deForest Delano & Aldrich Thomas W. Dewing John Drew F. P. Dunne Devereux Emmet Allen W. Evarts William B. Faville Stuyvesant Fish Amos Tuck French Charles Dana Gibson Cass Gilbert Robert W. Goelet T. E. Gooch John P. Grier A. L. Harmon Thomas Hastings Mrs. Thomas Hastings Helmle & Corbett Thomas G. Holyoke John Mead Howells Harry Davis Ives Thomas M. Kellogg Louis Kemper E. G. Kennedy Elijah R. Kennedy Thomas F. Kirby Mrs. Barent Lefferts Luther H. Lewis Harrie T. Lindeberg Herbert Lucas Clarence H. Mackay Charles Blair Macdonald Frederick MacMonnies ChH Dr.& Mrs. Wm. J. Maloney Mrs. J. Markoe George F. Martin William J. Matheson Wm. Rutherford Mead Gari Melchers WiLLARD L. MeTCALF A. Milton Napier Thomas Newbold Mrs. E. L. Breese Norre Mr. & Mrs. Stephen C. Olin Ernest S. Osborne W. Francklyn Paris James C. Parrish Mrs. Elsie Clews Parsons Charles A. Platt R. Burnside Potter Rev. W. S. Rainsford Chas. a. W. Rinschede Mrs. Thomas Ryan John S. Sargent Philip Sawyer James Speyer Benjamin Steckler Frank K. Sturgis Mrs. J. Frederic Tams Louis C. Tiffany Edward L. Tilton Lloyd Warren Warren & Wetmore H. HOBART WeEKES Charles C. Wetmore Wilder & White Edward P. York The following contributed their work: McKim^ Mead & White M. Reid & Company James Armstrong Adolf Alexander Weinman Philip Martiny Andrew O'Connor Herbert Adams Janet Scudder Ulysses S. Ricci Ricci, Ardolino & Di Lorenzo PicciRiLLi Brothers Edward F. Caldwell & Company The following did their work at cost : GoRHAM Manufacturing Company T. D. Wadelton Traitel Marble Company John Williams 05l