IMAGERYSMITH | Photography

1933 MarineAir Poster

Restored c.1933 MarineAir Transport Company Poster. ©IMAGERYSMITH 2019

**Unframed ($35 plus tax) or custom framed for an additional charge.**

*A portion of the proceeds helps maintain the Archives of the Lake Mohawk Reservation.*

Serving Chatham, Madison, Florham Park, Morristown, Morris Township, New Providence, Berkeley Heights, Summit and more — Available at Rose City Framemakers, 19 Main street, Sparta, NJ.

Commuter service, departing off the surface of Lake Mohawk promptly at 0815, take-off run of 2000 feet in 18 seconds. Service to the New York City area by way of Jersey City. Return flight at 1645, arriving just offshore the Boardwalk Promenade. Maximum 20 Passengers.

For your consideration: a carefully restored advertising piece from the golden age of seaplanes. This restoration is press-printed on 11.25″ x 17″ thick (.35mm) pearlescent paper. Water stains, tears, surface imperfections, and inking errors have been corrected for this 2019 limited release.

The story…

Edwin R. Closs, an important personality in the Lake Mohawk Reservation development (Sparta, New Jersey, United States), helped set the aesthetic tone of the Reservation. In addition, he tried a few complementary ventures during his most active period with the Arthur D. Crane company. One idea was a commuter and vacation seaplane providing service off the surface of the newly-constructed Lake Mohawk.

Selecting one of the more unique workhorses of the day, a Savoia-Marchetti model S.55P, Closs modified it for maximum commuter capacity and had it inspected and certified for commuter service. Unfortunately, while anchored ~1,000 feet off the Boardwalk, the plane caught fire and sank to the bottom of the Lake.

During the 1990s, an expedition funded by the Italian government was undertaken to locate the wreck within the waters of Lake Mohawk. If located, it would have been restored and served as one of the few examples of an extremely rare “push-pull” seaplane model produced by the storied Savoia-Marchetti firm. Unfortunately, the expedition leaders were looking in the wrong place…

Central Park Papal Procession

Silk Clock

Location: 470 Park Avenue South (Between 31st and 32nd Streets), New York, New York, U.S.A.

Built: 1926, March – William Zorach (Artist), Seth Thomas Clock Company, Thomaston, Connecticut (clock movement), and the Kunst Art Bronze Foundry (bronze casting)

Description: Referred to as the Silk Clock, this clock is easy to miss in midtown. It is perched above the entrance to the Schwarzenbach Building and is constructed of bronze. The bronze skin is skillfully wrought to show, among other things, Mulberry leaves around the face (a favorite food of the silkworm). Above the clock face and surround, there is a grouping of figures. The figure that looks like a wizard is Zoroaster, “the mastermind and doer of all things” and he is adorned with Zoroastrian symbols. At his feet, lies a cocoon and past that, a “slave” who is meant to represent the “primitive forces and instincts of man” where he appears as a blacksmith, hard at work with hammer on anvil.

When the clock strikes the hour (or near enough as the works are intricate,

Closeup of the Detail on the Clock Surround (Source: Imagerysmith)

mechanical, and stymied by the city’s filth), Zoroaster waves his wand, the blacksmith rises and hammers upon the cocoon, and the elegant “Queen of Silk” emerges from the cocoon holding a tulip until the hour has passed.

The symbology of this amazing clock, combined with the terra-cotta figural moth surrounds (designed by the clock artist’s wife-Marguerite Thompson Zorach) point to the importance of silk for this building’s original occupants. Beginning in 1888, New York City was a major center for the international Schwarzenbach silk house.

Following are the artist’s words in designing this clock for Schwarzenbach

“He [Schwarzenbach] was Swiss and had a Swiss’s love of wood carving and trick figures. He wanted a carved clock for the front of his building on Fourth Avenue with the figure of a man and a girl, ‘The Spirit of Silk,’ to appear on the hour. He had McKim, Mead and White design this clock for him and he hated it. Then he asked me to design it. It was a terrible ordeal. He drove me crazy fussing over these designs. That summer in Maine I had a model made full size in plywood and painted it to look like bronze, shipped it down, and hung it on his building. Schwarzenbach came down from his office, took one look, and said, ‘That’s not what I want,’ and disappeared. I felt utterly defeated. But I went ahead and carved the little figures in wood anyway. I took them to Noské’s office, and when Schwarzenbach came in he seemed rather pleased with them. He said, ‘I’ve got to leave for South America tomorrow; so go ahead with the figures and the clock.” from Art is My Life: the Autobiography of William Zorach (1967)

Sources: http://forgotten-ny.com/2008/12/manhattan-clock-sampler/, http://www.14to42.net/32street2.3.html, Art is My Life: the Autobiography of William Zorach (1967)

Historic Penn Station

“A Historic Act of Vandalism”

Historic Colgate University

Cleopatra’s Needle

Location: Upon Graywacke Knoll, Central Park, NY, NY (near the Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Built: Nearly 3,500 years ago from Red Aswan granite.

Description: Cleopatra’s Needle in New York City was originally hewn out of a granite quarry in Aswan, Egypt around 1443 BC. A matching set of these obelisks was prepared for Pharaoh Thutmosis III’s Heb Sed and set in front of the Temple of the Sun, Lunu, Egypt (Place of Pillars). Each obelisk weighs about 220 tons, stands over 69 feet tall, with an 8-foot base and is set upon a 50-ton pedestal.

Around 13 BC, the pair of obelisks was moved to Cleopatra’s Caesareum in Alexandria, Egypt by Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus. The damaged corners of these obelisks were “held up” (shimmed) by four specially-cast bronze crabs inscribed in Greek and Roman text that name the architect and builder who re-erected the obelisks and that they were done so on behalf of Emperor Augustus.

Recast bronze copies of the original crabs inscribed with William H. Vanderbilt’s Name (keeping the tradition of naming those responsible for the re-placement of the obelisk) (Source: ImagerySmith)

Detail of Crab Claws (Source: ImagerySmith)

In 1301, a huge earthquake rattled the area, resulting in the casing stones of the Great Pyramid of Khufu to crumble and one of the obelisks to collapse. Five centuries later, in 1801, the Egyptian government offered this fallen obelisk to England as a gesture of thanks for defeating Napolean’s Armée d’Orient during the Battle of the Nile. In 1877, England finally took ownership of their obelisk and it was raised in London in 1878.

London’s sister “Cleopatra’s Needle” obelisk (Source: Wikipedia)

On May 18th, 1879, Egypt officially gifted the other obelisk to the United States for recognition of increased trade between the two countries.

Obelisk in Alexandria, Egypt (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York)

Excavated Base of Obelisk in Alexandria, Egypt (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York)

The United States wasted little time in arranging transport for their treasure from Egypt (financed by a generous donation from William H. Vanderbilt of $100,000).

Obelisk removed from base in Alexandria, Egypt On December 6, 1879 (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York)

After moving the obelisk along a seven-mile trip from the Caesareum site in Alexandria to the shipyard, the steamship SS Dessoug finally departed Alexandria Egypt with the obelisk onboard on July 12, 1880.

The Dessoug was heavily modified with a large hole cut into the starboard side of its bow. The obelisk was loaded through this, where it was rolled upon cannonballs to somewhat ease this arduous task.

Drawing showing the steamship Dessoug’s precious cargo (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York)

Despite a few setbacks during the voyage, not the least of which was a broken propeller, the SS Dessoug landed at Staten Island on July 20th 1880 from Egypt.

Unloading the Obelisk from within the SS Dessough in New York City (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York)

The Obelisk beginning its overland journey from the Hudson River and 96th Street (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York)

From July 1880 through January 1881, the obelisk was slowly transported through the streets of New York City. In typical New York City fashion, the city’s occupants took the opportunity to throw a perpetual six-month long block party which followed the slow route of the obelisk.

A hand-drawn map of the obelisk’s route through New York City (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York)

The last section leading to Graywacke Knoll was accomplished along a trestle, upon which the obelisk was pushed by steam engine across the unfavorable terrain to its final destination.

The Obelisk along a trestle bridge leading to Graywacke Knoll, New York, New York

On January 1881, the obelisk was set upon its base by way of an engineering structure built by Henry Honychurch Gorringe. This structure flipped the obelisk from horizontal to vertical, seating it upon its base in Central Park.

Obelisk on Henry Honychurch Gorringe’s Turning Structure (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York)

Sources: Livingston Masonic Library Collection, Wikipedia, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Bufo americanus

It’s that time of year, here is what our evenings are sounding like…

Canstruction

From the team that brought you NepTUNA [ link ]…

…Check out their latest Canstruction entitled “CAN on the Moon”!

If you believed they put a CAN on the moon, CAN on the moon. If you believe there’s something FISHY, then here’s something for you.
Who said tuna CAN only swim?
That’s one small step for a CAN, one giant leap against Hunger.

This structure’s 4,200 cans will feed 1,544 New Yorkers.

If you are in NYC, show your support and check it out at 245 Park Avenue, NY, NY:

Learn more at Canstruction.org or Canstruction New York