May 2, 1930: The Brooklyn Museum announces the last large exhibition of its season, to continue through the summer, the most comprehensive sculpture show that has been seen in Greater New York. It will be composed almost entirely of the work of living sculptors working in the United States and will include all schools. It opens to the public May 17th and will continue until October 1st.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 04-06_1930, 090.
May 7, 1930: In keeping with its policy of giving a full opportunity to living artists the Brooklyn Museum is arranging one of the art comprehensive sculptors exhibitions which have been seen in this part of the country for some time. The Museum is famous for its policy in this respect in regard to painting. Now it is giving sculptors the opportunity.
The exhibition will comprise the work of over one hundred artists who have sent more than five hundred examples of work. Two special features of this exhibition will be large groups which will constitute memorial showings of the work of Charles Cary Rumsey and Charles Grafly. These works will be the only sculpture by artists who are no longer living. There will also be examples of the work of Grafly's distinguished pupils.
Although the exhibition will be made up of sculptors living in the United States it is by no means a purely American show, as it will have strongly international element as many of the artists are foreigners who came to this country only recently. Some of the nationalities represented will be Hungarian, Russian, Italian, Mexican and French.
Nearly every sculptural medium will be re represented including ceramics.
The bulk of the show will be held in the Museum's large Sculpture Court and will mark the first large showing of its kind in this beautiful new gallery. The exhibition will overflow to the terraces in front of the Museum where plaster cast of Charles Gary Rumsey's large equestrian statue of Pizarro, the conqueror of Peru, and Bryant Baker's prize-winning sculpture of the Pioneer Woman which was recently erected in Oklahoma, will be shown.
There will also be three other pieces by Rumsey shown out-doors.
There will be a private view on Friday afternoon May 16th and the exhibition will be opened to the public on May 17th, and will continue during the summer months.
Last Minute Addendum
Ne. Henry Hesterburg, the newly appointed President of the Borough of Brooklyn, will make his first appearance at a public event at the private opening of the large sculpture exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum on May 16th when he will be the principal figure of the brief program in which he will declare the exhibition officially and formally open.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 04-06_1930, 091-2.
May 10, 1930: To the Art Editor:
The Sculpture Exhibition at the Museum will be in shape to be reviewed by Wednesday morning, May 14th. The private view is on Friday afternoon, May 16th, and due to the size and scope of the exhibition it will be continued through the summer.
Either catalogue proofs or gallery proofs of the catalogue will be available in Miss Sparks's office on the fifth floor, where photographs may also be obtained.
Very truly yours,
(Signature: Arthur H. Torrey)
for the BROOKLYN MUSEUM
AHT:FS
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 04-06_1930, 094.
May 14, 1930: Dear Sir:
Hon. Henry Hesterberg, President of the Borough of Brooklyn, and officials of the Museum will open a large exhibition of sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum on Friday afternoon. If you wish to send a photographer to cover this event, we would like to wake this suggestion:
As the official party arrives at the Museum about three o'clock, a photographer would have his best opportunity of taking a picture outside of the Museum were part of the exhibition is arranged. It is always inconvenient to try to take such a picture after the exhibition is open on account of the crowds, so if you send a man, please have him inquire for me and I will see that the situation is properly explained to him.
Very truly yours,
ARTHUR H. TORREY
for the Brooklyn Museum
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 04-06_1930, 095.
May 15, 1930: Yesterday afternoon the large two-floor sculpture court of the Brooklyn Museum was for the first time put to the use for which it was designed, when Hon. Henry Hesterberg, President of the Borough of Brooklyn, in the presence of Hon. John H. McCooey, Hon. George E. Brower, Hon. James J. Browne, Museum officials and several hundred specially invited guests opened an exhibition of work by distinguished living sculptors which will continue until October 1. The occasion demonstrated that the sculpture court is admirably adapted to large exhibitions of this kind and shows that undoubtedly in the future some of
the largest and most important sculpture shows in Greater New York will have to be shown in the Brooklyn Museum, due to its splendid facilities, as well as the large painting exhibitions which naturally gravitate now to its large galleries.
On his arrival at the Museum Mr. Hesterberg was conducted to the southwest corner of the court where he stood in the tall archway on the low steps leading into the court and gave his brief address in which he declared the exhibition formally open. The guests stood in the court and in the large loggias on each side with the fountain in the center surrounded by plants harboring for the first time a school of gold fish who are now permanent inhabitants of the Museum. During the afternoon the guests were served with tea following the usual custom of the Museum's important private openings. (The hostesses, etc., are listed on an attached sheet).
The exhibition is an invitation affair organized entirely by the Museum. Altogether 135 artists sent work. These artists, both men and women, were picked from those living and working in the United States at present, regardless of school or nationality. The two exceptions to living men are Charles Cary Rumsey and Charles Grafly. They are both represented by large memorial sections. Grafly, who died a year ago, is considered by many America's greatest portrait sculptor.
The installation of the exhibition is a particularly fine one. It was in charge of Mr. Hebert B. Tschudy, Curator of Paintings and Sculpture, who invited the sculptors and arranged the exhibition. When asked to characterize the exhibition, Mr. Tschudy said that he considered it collection of fine quality with the emphasis put on quality rather than on monumental pieces, which is sometimes the fault of large sculpture shows. The central sculpture court has only 30 large pieces in it, which allows of unusually excellent display. The work shown in the in the four loggias is roughly classified into the romantic and conservative work on the north side, modern on the east side, both modern and conservative on south side which included the work of the Chicago and other out-of-town artists and Mr. Grafly's and Mr. Rumsey's work on the west side.
Probably the most important item of interest that occurred on the opening day was the announcement that, at the request made by the Museum authorities that something should be done, about acquiring "The Dying Indian", a large bronze on the front steps of the Museum done by Mr. Rumsey generously offered the piece as a gift to the Museum. The offer will undoubtedly be accepted but it must still go through official channels. The first sketch for this piece was done by Mr. Rumsey when he was 22Ji which places it in 1901, while he was attending the Beaux Arts School in Paris. A replica of the piece was acquired by the Luxembourg.
There are four monumental Rumsey pieces and one by Bryant Baker shown on the lawn and the steps in front of the Museum. The Rumseys are "The Dying Indian", "Pizarro", "Smithtown Bull" and "Centaur. Two are plaster casts but the Indian and Centaur are in bronze. The finished "Pizarro" was dedicated last June by the King of Spain and Primo de Rivera at Trujillo, Spain, the birthplace of Pizarro. The "Smithtown Bull" was inspired by the myth that Captain Smith was allowed by the Indians to acquire all the land that a wild bull could walk around in a certain length of time. To perpetuate the myth, the Smith family ordered this piece executed.
The figure of the "Centaur" is actually a a man on horseback but is viewed from on angle it seems to be a man's body growing out from a horse's shoulder. Mr. Rumsey did this to show his theory of how the center myth arose. He believed the southern peoples when invaded by the horsemen from the north, at first though that they were half man and half beast. Mr. Baker's "Pioneer Woman" is an exact-size replica of the piece recently dedicated in Oklahoma and chosen by a nation-wide vote in the competition arranged by Mr. Marland.
Mrs. Rumsey also made an announcement cf considerable interest to the art world. She is having bronze replicas made of Mr. Rumsey's small sketches for many of his works, some of which are in the exhibition. These are to be placed in a memorial room in the Museum in Buffalo where his aunt Mrs. Charles Cary, who became a Rumsey, has founded and endowed a school which is to be known as the Rumsey School of Art.
Another piece of special importance is the "Tristram and Iseult" by Andrew O'Connor, who is now working in Paris. It is shown here because it represents the work of a living American and further because it has just been acquired by the Museum announcement of which was made for the first time yesterday. This piece received the gold medal at the Salon des Artists Francais in 1928, which was noteworthy as it was the first time this award was given to a foreigner.
Those invited to act as hosts and hostesses at the reception were members and wives of members of the Museum Governing Committee and members and wives of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. They are as follows:
Mr. Frank L. Babbott
Mr. & Mrs. Edward C. Blum
Mr. Walter H. Crittenden
Mrs. Mary Childs Draper
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Frazier
Mr. & Mrs. William H. Good
Mrs. A. Augustus Healy
Mr. Alfred W. Jenkins
Mr. & Mrs. Luke Vincent Lockwood
Mr. & Mrs. John Hill Morgan
Mr. & Mrs. Frederic B. Pratt
Mr. & Mrs. William A. Putnam
Mr. & Mrs. John T. Underwood
Mr. & Mrs. Frank Bailey
Mr. & Mrs. E. LeGrand Beers
Mr. & Mrs. Henry H. Benedict
Hon. & Mrs. James J. Browne
Mr. & Mrs. R. R. Bowker
Dr. & Mrs. S. Parkes Cadman
Mr. & Mrs. William H. Cary
Judge & Mrs. Frederick E. Crane
Mr. John J. Curtin
Dr. John J. Denbigh
Hon. Jacob G. Dettmer
Mr. Gates D. Fahnestock
Mr. & Mrs. Julian P. Fairchild
Mr. & Mrs. James A Farrell
Mr. & Mrs. Summer Ford
Mr. & Mrs. Lewis W. Francis
Mr. & Mrs. John W. Frothingham
Hon. & Mrs. Henry Hesterberg
Mr. & Mrs. William T. Hunter
Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Jones
Mr. Adolph Lewisohn
Mr. & Mrs. William J Matheson
Mr. & Mrs. Edwin P Maynard
Mr. & Mrs. George V. McLaughlin
Mr. & Mrs. Horace J. Morse
Mr. & Mrs. James H. Post
Mr. & Mrs. Charles Pratt
Mr. Robert Alfred Shaw
Mr. & Mrs. C. Foster Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Herman Stutzer
Mr. & Mrs. Adrian Van Sinderen
Prof. & Mrs. Edwin G. Warner
Rt. Rev. Msgr. John C. York
Among those invited as hosts and hostesses are:
Mrs. R. Ross Appleton
Dr. & Mrs. Frank L Babbott, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. Robert E. Blum
Mrs. Walter Shaw Brewster
Mr. & Mrs. George E. Brower
Mrs. Glentworth Reeve Butler
Mr. & Mrs. William H. Calder
Miss Elizabeth Luther Cary
Mrs. William Hamlin Childe
Mr. & Mrs. Harris N. Crist
Mr. & Mrs. H. Edward Dreier
Mr. & Mrs. William P. Earle, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. Joseph J. Early
Mr. & Mrs. William F. Eastman
Mr. & Mrs. Morris Upham Ely
Dr. & Mrs. William Henry Fox
Mr. & Mrs. George S. Frank
Judge & Mrs. Edwin J. Garvin
Mr. & Mrs. Hebert F. Gunnison
Mr. & Mrs. Walter Hammitt
Miss Cornelia G. Henshaw
Mr. Herbert Henshaw
Mr. & Mrs. Henry A. Ingraham
Mr. & Mrs. H.V. Kaltenborn
Mr. & Mrs. B. Meredith Langstaff
Dr. & Mrs. John H. Lathrop
Mrs. John Leech
Dr. & Mrs. Edwin P. Maynard, Jr.
Mr. & Mrs. John H. McCooey
Judge & Mrs. Frederick D. McKay
Miss Alice Morse
Mrs. Henry F. Noyes
Mr. & Mrs. Dean C. Osborne
Mr. & Mrs. Frement C. Peck
Miss Juila J. Pierrepont
Miss Anna J. Pierrepont
Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Potts
Mr. & Mrs. Richardson Pratt
Hon. & Mrs. William C. Redfield
Mr. & Mrs. Matthew S. Sloan
Mr. & Mrs. Winthrop M. Tuttle
Mr. & Mrs. John Van Buren Thayer
Mrs. Edwin C. Ward
Miss Frances K. White
Miss Harriet H. White
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 04-06_1930, 096-101.
October 22, 1930: The large exhibition of sculpture which has been on view at the Brooklyn Museum all summer and was scheduled to close early in the fall has been extended until December 1st. This extension was arranged for because the show opened so late in the summer that many people who wished to see it had left the city. By the present arrangement this large public will be able to view the collection which is one of the most comprehensive of its kind which has been seen in Greater New York for the last few years.
A few of the pieces which were on exhibition during the summer have been taken away but others have been added. The Rumsey section is undisturbed. One of the interesting additions is a cast with a terra cotta color of the prize-winner in the Exhibition of the Art Alliance of Philadelphia. The piece is called "Resignation" and was done by Oronzio Maldarelli. Another addition to the exhibition are two examples of wood carving by Waldemar Rannus.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1916 - 1930. 10-12_1930, 133.
