ROBERT PINART (1927-2017), Maître de verre vitrail
We are saddened to report that our friend, stained and dalle de verre glass artist Robert Pinart, died on October 1.
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| Robert Pinart in Chartres, 1950s |
Robert had been in deteriorating health for some time, and after ninety years his body was laid to rest in Gethsemane Cemetery in Congers, New York. His spirit and art will live on, however, in the stained and dalle de verre glass windows he designed for synagogues, churches, schools and residences throughout the United States and Canada.
BITS AND PIECES
Every so often I receive a message about one of my blogs. Usually, someone has new information about a subject I’ve written about that significantly adds to that conversation. Below are two of these updates, and a third piece about a building that relates to a previous blog.
Jean Nison’s Fireplace Surround for Lever Brothers
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| (Photo taken and edited from: Jean Nison, "Fantasies in Tile", Craft Horizons, Vol. 13, No. 3, May-June 1953, p. 36+; edited by the author) |
In my article about the mid-century modern ceramic tile artist, Jean Nison, I mentioned that she was commissioned to create a tile installation in the Lever Brother’s Boardroom in New York City’s landmarked Lever Building. According to Nison, she visited decorators, left tiles with them and hoped they would call her. This was how, she believed, Raymond Lowey Associates, the industrial design firm, asked her to make a wall decoration for Lever House, at that time the headquarters of Lever Brothers Corporation (now Unilever). I contacted the curator of the Lever House Art Collection, Mr. Richard Marshall, but he had no information about the fate of Nison's tile installation. Unilever Corporation moved out of the building in the 1980s, and may have taken the tiles with them. A request to Unilever for information, however, went unanswered.
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After reading my article, the Chief Curator of the Mobile (AL) Museum of Art, Paul Richelson, contacted me. Two tiles from the Boardroom Fireplace in Lever House had been donated to the Mobile Museum by Eric M. and Joy Hart in 2005. Either these were extra tiles that were not used in the installation, or the installation was removed when Unilever moved from Lever House to Connecticut and tiles were boxed and given to some of the executives. In either case, tiles from this installation may still exist.
To prove my point, a recent ebay auction listed a “replica” boxed tile of one of the donated Lever Brothers' fireplace tiles. Nison must have made extras to sell at Lever House as the box indicates.
The Restoration of the Hartford Faience Tiles on the Kesner Building (695-709 Sixth Avenue)
The photos I used in my June 2015 blog were taken in 2000 and 2010, and many tiles were in poor condition--some even with holes drilled through them.
I again passed by the Kesner Building in 2014, and much of the street-level facade was obscured by ongoing construction. At that time I thought that whatever was happening would only further destroy the tilework on the facade. I was wrong!
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| The Sixth Avenue entrance to the Kesner Building with two pier columns of restored tiles. |
"A restoration team from Jablonski Building Conservation, Inc. [...restored] the facade of 105 W 22nd Street/695-709 Sixth Avenue. Xsusha Flandro, Senior Conservator, was kind enough to explain the process:
'The tiles are glazed ceramic tiles manufactured by the Hartford Faience Company... . The current building was erected in phases between 1889 and 1911. The tiles are ca. 1913 when Chicago business man J.L. Kesner (hence the 'K' on the tile columns) leased the building and submitted plans for alteration to the first floor store fronts. Oddly enough Kesner was never in the building as he backed out of the lease, but since the construction plans were already submitted the Ehrich Brothers (owners of the building) went through with the building plans and completed the tile columns. The building is a contributing member to the Ladies Mile Historic District.
'A lot of prep work goes into the restoration of tiles. The first thing we did were cleaning tests. We completed small cleaning test samples and then based on results proceeded with the most gentle and effective of the cleaners tested to clean all the tiles. We also tested paint strippers (all pH neutral – not acidic and not alkaline – because harsh strippers can damage the glazes) in the same manner as the cleaners because some columns had graffiti and general over paint. After cleaning and paint removal we moved into removing abandoned anchors (where signage and such had been attached over the years). Then we moved into patching. We utilized a repair system manufactured by Edison Coatings out of Connecticut. Edison Coatings provided us with custom colored patch repair material for each color of glaze, after the patching was complete the patches are sanded and shaped to the correct profile, and then in-painted (only painted where the patch is) using a polyurethane paint system (also by Edison Coatings) custom colored to the glazes on the tiles. This is where the artistry comes in and we blend the colors onsite to match the adjacent historic tile glazes. No coating is placed over the work after we are finished, as everything we use is specifically manufactured for outdoor use.
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| Three views of the cleaning and in-painting of the tile work. (Photos courtesy of Jablonski Building Conservation, Inc., http://jbconservation.com/index.html) |
'In this project we are conserving nine tile columns. All missing tiles or tiles which we could not successfully conserve are being replaced with custom tiles, manufactured by Shenfeld Studios, to match the existing. It took us approximately three weeks to complete all the conservation work on site. The replacement tiles are still a few months out.
'Ms. Flandro noted that the work requires extensive training.
'To be an architectural conservator you have to have a Master’s degree in Historic Preservation – and usually in the conservation sector of historic preservation, which is where you gain a lot of your materials knowledge. Similar to how art conservators go through school and then specialize in one material, we go through school and specialize in building materials. In our company in order to progress past junior conservator we are required to apply to be a Professional Associate with the American Institute of Conservation (of which I hold PA status and the owner of Jablonski Building Conservation, Mary Jablonski, is a Fellow.) AIC – Professional Associate requires at very least 3 years’ experience and your previous projects/works are peer reviewed and letters of recommendation are required.'”(1)
2116 Ditmas Avenue, Brooklyn
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| (Clockwise from UL) 2116 Ditmas Avenue facade; main entrance; painted tilework on both sides of entrance(2); from foyer looking into the lobby. (Photo credits: Michael Padwee) |
Recently, while on an errand in the East Flatbush and Ditmas Park sections of Brooklyn, I passed by an apartment house that caught my eye because of some architectural elements on its facade, parts of which had been painted over. On closer inspection of the entranceway I saw what looked like 12” x 12” tiles, which had also been partially obscured by paint. The building had been constructed in 1935 according to New York City records, but there was no indication of an architect.
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| Terra cotta ornamentation on the exterior facade of 2116 Ditmas Avenue, Brooklyn. (Photo credits: Michael Padwee) |
I entered the ground floor foyer and lobby, both of which had tile floors, as well as other wall decorations.
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| Five interior decorative wall elements in the building lobby. The column separating the two niches echoes the column and windows decoration on the facade. (Photos: Michael Padwee) |
The foyer and lobby floors were composed mainly of hexagonal tiles with square and rectangular border tiles. There were at least seven hexagonal designs interspersed throughout the floors.
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| Some of the hexagonal insert tiles above were previously identified as Batchelder tiles in my October 1, 2013 blog post, “Ernest Batchelder in Manhattan”. |
Ernest Batchelder's tile company in Pasadena, California, and later, Los Angeles, produced many craftsman-style tiles that were used in building construction throughout the country. I wrote of the use of Batchelder floor tiles in Manhattan apartment buildings, and published an article about the tiles in the RKO Keith's theater in Flushing, Queens in my October 2013 blog. I suspect there are many more such buildings throughout the city as Batchelder did have a showroom in Manhattan for architects and the construction industry, among others.
NOTES:
(1) http://www.newyorkitecture.com/restoration-in-progress/. Permission to reprint Ms. Flandro's remarks granted by Mary Jablonski, the president and founder of Jablonski Building Conservation, Inc.
(2) This 12” square tile is Stock #97, page 18 in Batchelder Tiles: A Catalog of Hand Made Tiles, Batchelder-Wilson Company, Los Angeles, California, Fourth Edition, 1923. (Reprinted by the Tile Heritage Foundation in the 1990s.)
Acknowledgements
My thanks to the following for their help with these articles: Paul Richelson, Chief Curator of the Mobile (AL) Museum of Art; Mary Jablonski, Executive Director of the Jablonski Building Conservation, Inc.; Robert Shenfeld of Shenfeld Studios.
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LINKS TO MY PAST BLOG ARTICLES
"The Commercial and Personal Art Tiles of Rafael Guastavino, Jr." (Part I)
read more...
"Art Deco Commercial Architecture: Montgomery Ward’s Mid-Size Department Stores"
read more...
"Tessellations: Islamic Tile Patterns and M.C. Escher"
read more...
"Grant's Tomb, the Community and the Gaudi-esque benches of Pedro Silva" AND A request for help
read more...
"A Factory As It Might Be" and the 2016 Ortner Preservation Awards
read more...
The Atlantic Terra Cotta Company and the Beginnings of Polychrome Terra Cotta Use
read more...
Bits and Pieces: The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and following up on the James N. Gamble House and the Charles Volkmar Overmantle Mural
read more...
"Art Deco Commercial Architecture: Montgomery Ward’s Mid-Size Department Stores"
read more...
"Tessellations: Islamic Tile Patterns and M.C. Escher"
read more...
"Grant's Tomb, the Community and the Gaudi-esque benches of Pedro Silva" AND A request for help
read more...
"A Factory As It Might Be" and the 2016 Ortner Preservation Awards
read more...
The Atlantic Terra Cotta Company and the Beginnings of Polychrome Terra Cotta Use
read more...
Bits and Pieces: The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and following up on the James N. Gamble House and the Charles Volkmar Overmantle Mural
Art Deco Buildings and Their Lobbies: the Chrysler Building, the Film Center Building and the Kent Garage/Sofia Brothers Storage Warehouse
ARCHITECTURAL MURALS OF LUMEN MARTIN WINTER and a REPORT ON THE EMPIRE STATE DAIRY BUILDING
The Heart of the Park: Bethesda Terrace and its suspended Minton Tile ceiling
A Landmarks hearing was held on July 19, 2016...
Two Restorations: The City Hall Subway Station and the Tweed Courthouse
Egyptian, Moorish and Middle Eastern Ornamentation Used In Art Deco Terra Cotta in New York City, and Empire State Dairy Update
Wall Murals in Brooklyn: A Mini Survey
Inside Prospect Park: The park's Rustic, Classical and other Internal Architecture
Herman Carl Mueller in Titusville and Trenton, New Jersey; A Charles Volkmar Discovery in Clifton, New Jersey
A Book Review and New Discoveries and Updates-II: Jean Nisan, Ceramic Tile Artist
Polychrome Terra Cotta Buildings in Newark, New Jersey
New Discoveries-I: The Tiled House of Jere T. Smith
Introducing the Stained and Dalle de Verre Glass Art of Robert Pinart
Bits and Pieces: Polychrome Terra Cotta- and Tile-Clad Buildings
Socialist and Labor Architecture and Iconography in New York City
Bits and Pieces: Two Mosaics--Hamden, CT and Manchester, NH
The Renaissance Casino and Ballroom Complex in Harlem: Another Tunisian Tile Installation Headed for Demolition
Clement J. Barnhorn and the Rookwood Pottery
The Woolworth Building
The Mosaic Art of Hildreth Meière
Lost Tile Installations: The Tunisian Tiles of the Chemla Family
The Grueby Children's Murals on East 104th Street
The Experimental Lustre Tiles of Rafael Guastavino, Jr.
Bits and Pieces: Two "E"s--Eltinge and Elks; and more about Jean Nison
The Ceramic Tiles and Murals of Jean Nison
Pleasant Days in Short Hills: A Rookwood Wonderland
Architectural Ceramics in the Queen City
Isaac Broome: Innovation and Design in the Tile Industry after the Centennial Exhibition
"Immigration on the Lower East Side": A Public Arts Mural Created by Richard Haas
Movie Palaces-Part 2: The Loews 175th Street Theatre
Béton-Coignet in New York: The New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company
Michelin House, London
Movie Palaces, Part 1: Loew's Valencia Theatre
An Architectural and Ceramic Tour of Istanbul - Part II
The Tiles of Fonthill Castle
An Architectural and Ceramic Tour of Istanbul - Part I
Tiled Facades in Madrid
Nineteenth Century Brooklyn Potteries
Ernest Batchelder in Manhattan
Leon Victor Solon: Color, Ceramics and Architecture
Architectural Art Tiles in Reading, Pennsylvania
Charles Lamb and Charles Volkmar
Kansas City Architecture - II
Kansas City Architecture - I
Westchester County--Atwood and Grueby
Modern Houses in New Caanan, Connecticut
PPG Place, Pittsburgh
Aluminum City Terrace, New Kensington, Pennsylvania
Newark's WPA Tile Murals: “Fine Art is an Important Part of Everyday Life”
Public Art Programs in New York City: The CETA Tile Murals at Clark Street
Concrete and Tiles-I: Moyer, Mercer, Murosa
The Café Savarin and the Rookwood Pottery; Chocolate Shoppe Rebounds
Architectural Ceramics of Henry Varnum Poor
Herman Carl Mueller and the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle
Meet Me at the Astor
The Mikvah Under 5 Allen Street; "Historic Hall" Apartments Revisited
London Post-3
Some Moravian Tile Sites in New York
London Post-2
London Post-1
Brooklyn's International Tile Company
Subway Tiles-Part III, the Squire Vickers Era
Subway Tiles-Part II, Heins and LaFarge
Subway Tiles--Part I, Guastavino tiles
Trent in New York-Part III, Historic Hall Apartment House
American Encaustic Tiling Company-Part II, Artists' Tiles
Trent in New York-Part II, a Dey Street Restaurant
American Encaustic Tiling Company-Part I, Tile Showrooms
Trent in New York-Part I, The Bronx Theatre
Fred Dana Marsh's Tiles
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