Classical New York: Discovering Greece and Rome in Gotham

Elizabeth Macaulay lewis|Matthew Mcgowan|Elizabeth Bartman|Maryl B. Gensheimer|Francis Morrone

ISBN 10: 0823288706 / ISBN 13: 9780823288700

Published by Fordham University Press, 2020

About this Item

This book examines the reception and appropriation of Classical (Greco-Roman) Art and Architecture in New York from 1830-1940, including Pennsylvania Station, Rockefeller Center, the Gould Memorial Library, the proposed Civic Center (Foley Square), Federal .

Seller Inventory # 342236677

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Classical New York: Discovering Greece and Rome in Gotham
• Publisher: Fordham University Press
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0823288706
• ISBN 13: 9780823288700
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

During the rise of New York from the capital of an upstart nation to a global metropolis, the visual language of Greek and Roman antiquity played a formative role in the development of the city’s art and architecture. This compilation of essays offers a survey of diverse reinterpretations of classical forms in some of New York’s most iconic buildings, public monuments, and civic spaces.
Classical New York examines the influence of Greco-Roman thought and design from the Greek Revival of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries through the late-nineteenth-century American Renaissance and Beaux Arts period and into the twentieth century’s Art Deco. At every juncture, New Yorkers looked to the classical past for knowledge and inspiration in seeking out new ways to cultivate a civic identity, to design their buildings and monuments, and to structure their public and private spaces.
Specialists from a range of disciplines―archaeology, architectural history, art history, classics, and history― focus on how classical art and architecture are repurposed to help shape many of New York City’s most evocative buildings and works of art. Federal Hall evoked the Parthenon as an architectural and democratic model; the Pantheon served as a model for the creation of Libraries at New York University and Columbia University; Pennsylvania Station derived its form from the Baths of Caracalla; and Atlas and Prometheus of Rockefeller Center recast ancient myths in a new light during the Great Depression.
Designed to add breadth and depth to the exchange of ideas about the place and meaning of ancient Greece and Rome in our experience of New York City today, this examination of post-Revolutionary art, politics, and philosophy enriches the conversation about how we shape space―be it civic, religious, academic, theatrical, or domestic―and how we make use of that space and the objects in it.

About the Authors

Elizabeth Macaulay-Lewis is Associate Professor of Liberal Studies and Middle Eastern Studies. She is also the Executive Officer of the MA Program in Liberal Studies at The Graduate Center, The City University of New York.

Matthew M. McGowan is Associate Professor and Chair of Classics at Fordham University.