There is a cast of fascinating characters in “The Grandest Madison Square Garden: Art, Scandal and Architecture in Gilded Age New York.” Art historian Prof. Suzanne Hinman will tell all when she presents her remarkable story here at the mansion. She will autograph copies of her new book of the same title at a following Victoria tea.
Hinman will center on the most beautiful of New York City’s Gardens or Palaces of Pleasure (1890 – 1925) and the controversial 18-foot nude sculpture of Diana, Virgin Goddess of the Hunt that crowned it. The prominent players were pals, architect Stanford White and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, both of whom gave American vitality to European architectural styles amid the elegant but scandal-ridden Gilded Age. The speaker will also present her new theory regarding a sexual motive behind the famous murder of Stanford White.
Architect, co-author of Stanford White, Architect and great-grandson Samuel G. White says about Hinman’s book, “Using the building as an armature Suzanne Hinman narrates a detailed and wide-ranging account of the Gilded Age from its picaresque characters, social choreography, and cultural preferences to its volatile economy, favorite restaurants, and even construction technology…That armature can support a great deal of information and Hinman uses it to full and entertaining advantage.”
Hinman holds a Ph.D in American art history ands has been a curator, gallerist, museum director, professor and an art model. She owned an art gallery in Santa Fe and then served as director of galleries at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her interest in the artists and architects of the Gilded Age and the famed Cornish Art Colony in New Hampshire, where Augustus Saint- Gaudens had a studio and summer home, developed while associate director of the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College.
The Summer 2019 series of fourteen Tea & Talks presented every Tuesday until September 10 are sponsored by Ventfort Hall board member Lucille Landa and William Landa.
Cost to attend is $28 with advance reservation; $32 day of. Reservations are recommended as seating is limited. Call us at (413) 637-3206 for reservations.
