#henry shrady

[blueiscoool]

Foundry Workers Melt Down Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee Statue

Eventually, an artist will be chosen to transform the bronze bars into a public art installation

The controversial bronze statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that stood for nearly a century in Charlottesville, Virginia, has been melted down so that it may someday be transformed into a public art installation.

On Saturday, at a foundry in an undisclosed location in the American South, workers cut the infamous figure into small pieces, then fed those pieces into a 2,250-degree furnace. They poured the metal into molds for ingots, or rectangular bars, imprinted with the words “Swords Into Plowshares.” That’s the name of the project that will transform the divisive monument into a new piece of public art.

Only a small group of people, including a handful of journalists, was allowed to watch the melting. They were invited on the condition that they didn’t disclose the name or location of the foundry—or the identities of its workers—over fears of retaliation.

“The risk is being targeted by people of hate, having my business damaged, having threats to family and friends,” says the foundry’s owner, a Black man, to the Washington Post’s Teo Armus and Hadley Green.

Even so, the man added, “When you are approached with such an honor, especially to destroy hate, you have to do it.”

One particularly poignant moment occurred when foundry workers removed the statue’s face from the rest of the head.

“A man in heat-resistant attire pulled down his gold-plated visor, turned on his plasma torch and sliced into the face of Robert E. Lee,” writes Erin Thompson, an art historian at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and author of Smashing Statues: The Rise and Fall of America’s Public Monuments, in a guest essay for the New York Times. “The hollow bronze head glowed green and purple as the flame burned through layers of patina and wax. Drops of molten red metal cascaded to the ground.”

The 21-foot-tall statue’s journey to this point was a long and complicated one. Commissioned in 1917 and installed in 1924, it loomed over a downtown Charlottesville park for decades.

In 2017, amid a broader national debate over Confederate monuments, white supremacists gathered in Charlottesville to protest the statue’s removal. During the “Unite the Right” rally, a man drove his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring many others.

After years of legal battles, the statue finally came down in July 2021. The city donated it to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, which has been responsible for it ever since and leads the Swords Into Plowshares project.

Organizers had wanted to melt down the statue sooner, but they waited until a judge dismissed a lawsuit against the plan.

Because of the statue’s size, the melting process will take weeks. Once that work is finished, project organizers will move on to the next phase of their plan: choosing an artist who will transform the metal into something new.

“Humpty Dumpty couldn’t be put back together again,” said Reverend Isaac Collins, a Methodist minister in Charlottesville who spoke at the melting ceremony, per NPR’s Debbie Elliott. “We still have a lot of work to do, but this statue that has cost us so much, so much violence, so much hurt, so much bloodshed—it’s gone. And it’s never going to be put back together the way it was.”

By Sarah Kuta.

[rabbitcruiser]

The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., at the time the world’s tallest building, officially opened to the general public on October 9, 1888.

[braidedgraphite]

Cat Marnell. Henry Merwin Shrady, 1899

[detroitlib]

Nighttime view of Major General Alpheus Starkey Williams statue, located on Belle Isle, by sculptor Henry Merwin Shrady. Stamped on back: "Manning Bros., commercial photographers, 504-505 Lincoln Building, corner State and Park Sts. Detroit, Mich."

Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library

[coltonwbrown]

United States President Ulysses S. Grant was as born #OTD 200 years ago on April 27, 1822.

The Grant Memorial (above)—on the west side of the US Capitol Building—was dedicated 100 years ago on his 100th birthday. The Memorial was created by sculptor Henry Merwin Shrady with the assistance of Edmond Amateis and architect Edward Pearce Casey.

[the-literata-letters]

reading list - 900: history & geography

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS MY OTHER READING LISTS.

✵ ACTIVELY UPDATING ✵

☐  901: FOUCAULT, Michel – Les mots et les choses ☐  901: GOULD, Stephen Jay – Questioning the Millenium ☐  901: McNEILL, William H. – The Rise of the West ☐  902: WEIR, Stephen – Encyclopedia Idiotica ☐  907: JONNES, Jill – Eiffel's Tower ☐  909: HARARI, Yuval Noah – Homo Deus ☐  909: ROGAN, Eugene – The Arabs ☐  909: TOYNBEE, Arnold J. – A Study of History ☐  910: POOLE, Robert M. – Explorers House ☐  911: BROTTON, Jerry – A History of the World in 12 Maps ☐  914: SHANAHAN, Brendan – In Turkey I Am Beautiful ☐  914: WEST, Rebecca – Black Lamb and Grey Falcon ☐  915: FLETCHER, David – Brian on the Brahmaputra ☐  918: SIMONS, Eric – Darwin Slept Here ☐  919: KAVENNA, Joanna – The Ice Museum ☐  920: COLLINS, Paul – Banvard's Folly ☐  920: STRACHEY, Lytton – Eminent Victorians ☐  933: PEROWNE, Stuart – The Life & Times of Herod the Great ☐  936: TACITUS – Agricola ☐  937: BEARD, Mary – SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome ☐  937: SUETONIUS – De vita Caesarum ☐  937: TACITUS, Publius Cornelius – Annals ☐  938: McKEOWN, J. C. – A Cabinet of Greek Curiosities ☐  938: THUCYDIDES – History of the Peloponnesian War ☐  939: CLAPP, Nicholas – The Road to Ubar ☐  940: CHURCHILL, Winston – The Second World War ☐  940: MARKS, Leo – Between Silk and Cyanide ☐  940: TUCHMAN, Barbara – The Guns of August ☐  942: FRASER, Antonia – Faith and Treason ☐  943: HETT, Benjamin Carter – Burning the Reichstag ☐  946: ORWELL, George – Homage to Catalonia ☐  946: SHRADY, Nicholas – The Last Day ☐  949: ROSEN, William – Justinian's Flea ☐  951: SCHELL, Orville & DELURY, John – Wealth and Power ☐  951: SPENCE, Jonathan D. – The Gate of Heavenly Peace ☐  955: AXWORTHY, Michael – Revolutionary Iran ☐  956: ROBERTS, Jo – Contested Land, Contested Memory ☐  960: MEREDITH, Martin – The Fate of Africa ☐  966: De VILLIERS, Marq & HIRTLE, Sheila – Timbuktu ☐  967: DINESEN, Isak – Out of Africa ☐  970: KING, Thomas – The Inconvenient Indian ☐  971: HELE, Karl S. – The Nature of Empires and the Empires of Nature ☐  972: GLASSMAN, Steve & ANAYA, Armando – Cities of the Maya in Seven Epochs ☐  973: CUMMINGS, Joseph – Ten Tea Parties ☐  973: DUBOIS, W. E. B. – The Souls of Black Folk ☐  973: FOOTE, Shelby – The Civil War ☐  973: HOFSTADTER, Richard – The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It ☐  973: McPHERSON, James M. – Battle Cry of Freedom ☐  973: TURNER, Frederick Jackson – The Frontier in American History ☐  973: WILLIAMS, William Carlos – In the American Grain ☐  974: CARO, Robert A. – The Power Broker ☐  974: SHORTO, Russell – The Island at the Center of the World ☐  978: DRURY, Bob & CLAVIN, TOm – The Heart of Everything That Is ☐  981: LÉVI-STRAUSS, Claude – Tristes Tropiques ☐  985: ADAMS, Mark – Turn Right at Machu Picchu ☐  996: ALEXANDER, Caroline – The Bounty ☐  998: MULVANEY, Kieran – At the Ends of the Earth ☐  999: LEMONICK, Michael D. – Other Worlds

BIOGRAPHY

☐  ADAMS, Henry Brooks – The Education of Henry Adams ☐  ANGELOU, Maya – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings ☐  BASCOM, Tom – Chameleon Days ☐  BATE, Walter Jackson – Samuel Johnson ☐  BETANCOURT, Ingrid – Even Silence Has an End ☐  BOYD, Julia – The Excellent Doctor Blackwell ☐  CAMPBELL, Olivia – Women in White Coats ☐  CHANG, Jung – Wild Swans ☐  CHENEY, Margaret – Tesla ☐  EVERITT, Anthony – Cicero ☐  FRANK, Anne – The Diary of a Young Girl ☐  FRANKLIN, Benjamin – The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin ☐  GILMOUR, David – Curzon ☐  GOWING, Lawrence – Vermeer ☐  HACKEL, Steven W. – Junipero Serra ☐  ISAACSON, Walter – The Code Breaker ☐  JAGER, Eric – Blood Royal ☐  JOHNSON, Paul – Mozart ☐  KALANITHI, Paul – When Breath Becomes Air ☐  KAPLAN, Fred – Thomas Carlyle ☐  KAY, Adam – This Is Going to Hurt ☐  LEKUTON, Joseph Lemosolai – Facing the Lion ☐  LEVI, Primo – Se questo è un uomo ☐  LOFTIS, Larry – The Princess Spy ☐  MALCOLM X – The Autobiography of Malcolm X ☐  MAN, John – Attila ☐  MAN, John – Gutenberg ☐  MARCHANT, Jo – The Shadow King ☐  MARKHAM, Beryl – West With the Night ☐  MEYER, G. J. – The Borgias ☐  MILTON, Giles – Samurai William ☐  MUKHERJEE, Siddhartha – The Emperor of All Maladies ☐  NABOKOV, Vladimir Vladimirovich – Insomniac Dreams ☐  NABOKOV, Vladimir Vladimirovich– Speak, Memory ☐  NIMURA, Janice P. – The Doctors Blackwell ☐  OLSZEWSKI, Erin Marie – Undercover Epicenter Nurse ☐  PARKER, Richard – The Improbable Return of Coco Chanel ☐  PAUSCH, Randy & ZASLOW, Jeffrey – The Last Lecture ☐  RANDALL, Margaret – Che on My Mind ☐  SCHILLACE, Brandy – Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher ☐  SINCLAIR, David – The Land That Never Was ☐  SKLOOT, Rebecca – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ☐  STEINEM, Gloria – Marilyn ☐  TWAIN, Mark – The Autobiography of Mark Twain ☐  WALLS, Jeannette – The Glass Castle ☐  WASHINGTON, Booker T. – Up From Slavery ☐  WEATHERFORD, Jack – Genghis Khan ☐  WELSH, Mary Sue – One Woman in a Hundred ☐  WESTOVER, Tara – Educated ☐  WHITAKER, Robert – The Mapmaker's Wife ☐  WOLFF, Tobias – This Boy's Life ☐  WOODHAM-SMITH, Cecil – Florence Nightingale ☐  WRIGHT, Richard – Black Boy ☐  XUE, Xinran – Sky Burial

[met-american-paintings]

Cavalry Charge, Henry Merwin Shrady, 1902–16, cast 1924, American Paintings and Sculpture

Gift of Mrs. Helen Fahnestock Campbell, 1925 Size: 53 1/2 x 102 x 44 in. (135.9 x 259.1 x 111.8 cm) Medium: Bronze

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/12589

[picturedetroit]

“Some Dude on a Horse” Major Gen. Alpheus Starkey Williams (aka “Old Pap” sits atop his favorite horse, “Plug Ugly” reviewing a map in the center of Belle Isle. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War and the value of the monument, by the time it was created, was approximately $55K ~ which would be over $1 M today. The memorial, designed by New York sculptor Henry Merwin Shrady, is bronze on a granite slab. There are two inscriptions: "The Michigan Commandery of the military order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and citizens of Detroit have erected this tribute to the valor and abilities of Alpheus S. Williams, lieut-colonel First Michigan Infantry volunteers in the war with Mexico Brig-general and brevet maj-general United States volunteers in the Civil War" and: "Hero of two wars Judge, editor Postmaster, diplomat Member of Congress An untiring servant of the people An honor to the City of Detroit" General Williams was born in CT in 1810 and died in Detroit, while a congressman, in 1878. Please check out Historic Detroit’s wonderful background description of this awe inspiring monument at: https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/alpheus-starkey-williams-monument ~ Thank you to @HistoricDetroit for more facts and info regarding this truly awesome Detroit monument. PHOTO: @picturedetroit | Christina SHOT: 8.30.16 (at Belle Isle (Michigan)) https://www.instagram.com/p/CE9FW1-j2T9/?igshid=1jfetaapf6mfw

[culturenlifestyle]

Magical & Historic Cottage Amidst NYC’s Concrete Jungle Is Finally Up For Sale

Topic: Architecture, Interiors ||  by STAFF

Enchanting cottage, nestled on top of a roof of a building in New York will surely take you back to the tales of Hansel and Gretel. And the unusual urban cottage is up for sale now, waiting to be just yours!

Valued at a handsome $3.5 million, this lovely cottage comes with a long line of rich history of its own. 

A well known landowner had bought the building from the Dutch East India Company, dating back to 1868.

But it was in 1980 when sculptor, painter, film production designer Henry Merwin Shrady III bought the vacant and derelict building, renovating it and keeping the top two floors as his family home.

After Shrady’s demise in 2015, his wife became the proud owner of the property who told the New York Post that their son had been residing in the fairytale cottage during his college years. 

After that tenants have been occupying it. Now that the cottage is up for sale, investing your money here could make you its next proud owner! 

So check out the photos here or pay it a visit at 72 E. First St.

h/t: [Messy Nessy Chic & My Modern ]

[the-met-art]

Bull Moose by Henry Merwin Shrady, American Paintings and Sculpture

Medium: Bronze

Bequest of George D. Pratt, 1935 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/12588

[clairity-org]

Henry Merwin Shrady, Monarch of the Plains, bronze, c. 1901 8/6/19 #gilcreasemuseum #artmuseum #tulsa #sculpture

[rabbitcruiser]

The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., at the time the world’s tallest building, officially opened to the general public on October 9, 1888.

[burninginwaterart]

The Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville was produced decades after the civil war. It was designed by the New York sculptor Henry Shrady, cast in Brooklyn and not unveiled until 1924. #charlottesville #monuments @itsbensutton #bendavis @hyperallergic @art_net_news

[nyhistory]

George Washington at Valley Forge is the name of the sculpture by Henry Shrady that stands in Brooklyn near the approach to the Williamsburg Bridge. It commemorates the months Washington and his army spent in a camp northwest of Philadelphia over the course of a deadly winter. Washington did, of course, also spend some time in Brooklyn during the Revolutionary War, although Shrady opted, perhaps understandably, not to memorialize Washington escaping capture following his defeat in the Battle of Brooklyn. Although it might not have seemed like a statue-worthy moment, that escape, made possible by dense fog and strong winds over the East River, is what allowed Washington to continue to lead the Continental Army to eventual victory.

George P. Hall & Son. Brooklyn: statue of George Washington, Continental Army Plaza, Williamsburg. circa 1906-1914. glass negative. New-York Historical Society.

[coltonwbrown]

This Grant Memorial in Washington, D.C. has been the focus of a meticulous conservation effort. The restoration work on the bronze components and marble pedestals allows viewers to once again see the subtle details of the original sculpture.