The Music Room Portrait by Everett Raymond Kinstler
The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC
by navema
The mission of the National Arts Club is to stimulate, foster and promote public interest in the arts and educate the American people in the fine arts. The club offers a variety of shows, educational programs, and awards in areas including theater, visual arts, film, literature and music. It is noted for allowing members access to a Gramercy Park key.
The National Arts Club was founded in 1898 by Charles de Kay. Charles de Kay was the literary and art critic for The New York Times for 18 years. He and a group of distinguished artists and patrons conceived of a gathering place for artists, patrons and audiences in all the arts. American art at the turn of the century had begun to look inward for inspiration, rather than to Europe, and the American art world was alive with energy. As The National Arts Club moved into its first home in a townhouse on 34th Street, American art had found a new home.
The National Arts Club is located in the historic Tilden Mansion. 15 Gramercy Park was built in the 1840's and its original flat-front, iron-grilled appearance matched the style of the houses still maintained on the west side of Gramercy Park, a landmark Gothic Revival brownstone, immediately next door and West of the Players Club, with similar interests. Samuel Tilden acquired 15 Gramercy Park in the 1860's, and in the 1870's gave the house a massive overhaul. Tilden hired Calvert Vaux, a famed architect and one of the designers of Central Park to "victorianize" the facade with sandstone, bay windows and Gothic Ornamentation. John LaFarge created stained glass ceilings for the inside of the mansion, and Italian wood carvers made the fireplaces. Glass master Donald MacDonald wrought a unique stained glass dome for the building. All of this prompted architect Philip Johnson to call the mansion, "among the most beautiful in New York." Spencer Trask and the Board of Governors acquired the Tilden Mansion in 1906 as the new home for the National Arts Club.
The Tilden Mansion is both a designated New York Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. In the 1960's, New York declared 15 Gramercy Park South a New York Landmark, and in 1976, the Federal government declared it a National Historic Landmark. The Tilden Mansion continues to inspire artists from around the world. NAC member Albinus Elskus undertook a restoration of the MacDonald dome in the 1970's, and recently, in 2000, Danish sculptor Tycho Flore created a piece inspired by and from the same material as the Calvert Vaux facade.
The National Arts Club admitted women on a full and equal basis from its inception. The National Arts Club has a long history of exclusivity through inclusivity. Charles Spencer Trask, Charles Rollison Lamb, Charles de Kay and the other co-founders recognized the importance of many female artists and saw no reason to treat them differently from male artists. The National Arts Club continues its tradition of inclusivity by welcoming minority artists and fighting for the rights of minority students.
The Club's Membership has included three presidents, and some of the most important artists and arts patrons in America. Three Presidents of the United States were Members: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Among the distinguished painters who have been Members are Robert Henri, Edward Charles Volkert, Frederic Remington, William Merritt Chase and Cecilia Beaux. Sculptors have included Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Anna Hyatt Huntington and Paul Manship. Many renowned literary figures have also been members, including W. H. Auden, Mark Twain and Frank McCourt. The National Arts Club is proud of its early recognition of new media artforms, like photography, film and digital media, and counts Alfred Stieglitz as one of its early Members. Musicians Victor Herbert and Walter Damrosch were Members, as were architects Stanford White and George B. Post. The Dramatic Arts are currently represented by Members Martin Scorcese, Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, Robert Redford and Uma Thurman.
The National Arts Club fosters young artists with a number of awards and scholarships. Many of the committees award scholarships to young artists, writers and singers. The National Arts Club Opera Competition attracts international applications. The Club is as committed to nurturing young talent as it is to recognizing established artists.
The National Arts Club is run by volunteers. The National Arts Club hosts some of the most exciting events in New York—art unveilings, award dinners, film screenings, lectures, dances and anything else you can think of. All of these programs, as well as the scholarship competitions, exhibitions and other activities are coordinated by the Membership as volunteers who act out of their love for the arts and the Club, and thus broaden the public's understanding of our broad cultural community.
---------------------------------------------------------
EVERETT RAYMOND KINSTLER:
A native New Yorker who began his career at age 16, drawing comic books and hundreds of book and magazine illustrations, as well as covers for paper back books. As one of the "golden age" era of comic book artists, his illustrations for magazines, including The Shadow and Doc Savage, have influenced the pop art school.
He joined the National Arts Club in 1947 and got a studio there in 1949 under the auspices of his friend and teacher, Frank Vincent DuMond. He moved into a larger studio in 1953 and lived there for nearly 50 years. He still maintains the studio and paints there regularly.
He studied at the Art Students League, where he later taught from 1969 to 1974. Kinstler ultimately made the transition to portraitist, and soon established himself as one of the nation's foremost portrait painters. For over four decades, Kinstler also has devoted time to painting landscapes and watercolors.
Among Kinstler's more than 1200 portraits are such well-known personalities as Tony Bennett, Carol Burnett, James Cagney, Betty Ford, Gene Hackman, Katharine Hepburn, Lady Bird Johnson, Paul Newman, Peter O'Toole, Gregory Peck, and John Wayne. Others include authors Arthur Miller, Ayn Rand, Tennessee Williams, and Tom Wolfe; Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Harry Blackmun; business and government leaders such as John D. Rockefeller lll, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, 6 U.S. Governors, four US Secretaries of State, and the presidents of universities and colleges including Brown, Harvard, Oklahoma, Princeton, Smith, Wellesley, Williams, and Yale.
Kinstler has painted more than 50 cabinet officers, more than any artist in the country's history. Six Presidents--Richard Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton have posed for him. His portraits of Ford and Reagan are the official White House portraits.
He was awarded honorary doctorates by Rollins College in 1983 and the Lyme Academy College of Art in 2002. The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., has acquired 75 of his original works for its permanent collection. He is also represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Butler Institute of American Art, Brooklyn Museum, etc.
Memberships include: National Academy of Design (N.A.), Allied Artists of America, American Watercolor Society, Pastel Society of America (Hall of Fame), Audubon Artists, Copley Society of Boston (life), National Arts Club.
In 1999, Kinstler received the Copley Medal from the Smithsonian, National Portrait Gallery, its highest honor.
The Music Room Portrait by Everett Raymond Kinstler
The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC
by navema
The mission of the National Arts Club is to stimulate, foster and promote public interest in the arts and educate the American people in the fine arts. The club offers a variety of shows, educational programs, and awards in areas including theater, visual arts, film, literature and music. It is noted for allowing members access to a Gramercy Park key.
The National Arts Club was founded in 1898 by Charles de Kay. Charles de Kay was the literary and art critic for The New York Times for 18 years. He and a group of distinguished artists and patrons conceived of a gathering place for artists, patrons and audiences in all the arts. American art at the turn of the century had begun to look inward for inspiration, rather than to Europe, and the American art world was alive with energy. As The National Arts Club moved into its first home in a townhouse on 34th Street, American art had found a new home.
The National Arts Club is located in the historic Tilden Mansion. 15 Gramercy Park was built in the 1840's and its original flat-front, iron-grilled appearance matched the style of the houses still maintained on the west side of Gramercy Park, a landmark Gothic Revival brownstone, immediately next door and West of the Players Club, with similar interests. Samuel Tilden acquired 15 Gramercy Park in the 1860's, and in the 1870's gave the house a massive overhaul. Tilden hired Calvert Vaux, a famed architect and one of the designers of Central Park to "victorianize" the facade with sandstone, bay windows and Gothic Ornamentation. John LaFarge created stained glass ceilings for the inside of the mansion, and Italian wood carvers made the fireplaces. Glass master Donald MacDonald wrought a unique stained glass dome for the building. All of this prompted architect Philip Johnson to call the mansion, "among the most beautiful in New York." Spencer Trask and the Board of Governors acquired the Tilden Mansion in 1906 as the new home for the National Arts Club.
The Tilden Mansion is both a designated New York Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. In the 1960's, New York declared 15 Gramercy Park South a New York Landmark, and in 1976, the Federal government declared it a National Historic Landmark. The Tilden Mansion continues to inspire artists from around the world. NAC member Albinus Elskus undertook a restoration of the MacDonald dome in the 1970's, and recently, in 2000, Danish sculptor Tycho Flore created a piece inspired by and from the same material as the Calvert Vaux facade.
The National Arts Club admitted women on a full and equal basis from its inception. The National Arts Club has a long history of exclusivity through inclusivity. Charles Spencer Trask, Charles Rollison Lamb, Charles de Kay and the other co-founders recognized the importance of many female artists and saw no reason to treat them differently from male artists. The National Arts Club continues its tradition of inclusivity by welcoming minority artists and fighting for the rights of minority students.
The Club's Membership has included three presidents, and some of the most important artists and arts patrons in America. Three Presidents of the United States were Members: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Among the distinguished painters who have been Members are Robert Henri, Edward Charles Volkert, Frederic Remington, William Merritt Chase and Cecilia Beaux. Sculptors have included Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Anna Hyatt Huntington and Paul Manship. Many renowned literary figures have also been members, including W. H. Auden, Mark Twain and Frank McCourt. The National Arts Club is proud of its early recognition of new media artforms, like photography, film and digital media, and counts Alfred Stieglitz as one of its early Members. Musicians Victor Herbert and Walter Damrosch were Members, as were architects Stanford White and George B. Post. The Dramatic Arts are currently represented by Members Martin Scorcese, Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, Robert Redford and Uma Thurman.
The National Arts Club fosters young artists with a number of awards and scholarships. Many of the committees award scholarships to young artists, writers and singers. The National Arts Club Opera Competition attracts international applications. The Club is as committed to nurturing young talent as it is to recognizing established artists.
The National Arts Club is run by volunteers. The National Arts Club hosts some of the most exciting events in New York—art unveilings, award dinners, film screenings, lectures, dances and anything else you can think of. All of these programs, as well as the scholarship competitions, exhibitions and other activities are coordinated by the Membership as volunteers who act out of their love for the arts and the Club, and thus broaden the public's understanding of our broad cultural community.
---------------------------------------------------------
EVERETT RAYMOND KINSTLER:
A native New Yorker who began his career at age 16, drawing comic books and hundreds of book and magazine illustrations, as well as covers for paper back books. As one of the "golden age" era of comic book artists, his illustrations for magazines, including The Shadow and Doc Savage, have influenced the pop art school.
He joined the National Arts Club in 1947 and got a studio there in 1949 under the auspices of his friend and teacher, Frank Vincent DuMond. He moved into a larger studio in 1953 and lived there for nearly 50 years. He still maintains the studio and paints there regularly.
He studied at the Art Students League, where he later taught from 1969 to 1974. Kinstler ultimately made the transition to portraitist, and soon established himself as one of the nation's foremost portrait painters. For over four decades, Kinstler also has devoted time to painting landscapes and watercolors.
Among Kinstler's more than 1200 portraits are such well-known personalities as Tony Bennett, Carol Burnett, James Cagney, Betty Ford, Gene Hackman, Katharine Hepburn, Lady Bird Johnson, Paul Newman, Peter O'Toole, Gregory Peck, and John Wayne. Others include authors Arthur Miller, Ayn Rand, Tennessee Williams, and Tom Wolfe; Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Harry Blackmun; business and government leaders such as John D. Rockefeller lll, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, 6 U.S. Governors, four US Secretaries of State, and the presidents of universities and colleges including Brown, Harvard, Oklahoma, Princeton, Smith, Wellesley, Williams, and Yale.
Kinstler has painted more than 50 cabinet officers, more than any artist in the country's history. Six Presidents--Richard Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton have posed for him. His portraits of Ford and Reagan are the official White House portraits.
He was awarded honorary doctorates by Rollins College in 1983 and the Lyme Academy College of Art in 2002. The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., has acquired 75 of his original works for its permanent collection. He is also represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Butler Institute of American Art, Brooklyn Museum, etc.
Memberships include: National Academy of Design (N.A.), Allied Artists of America, American Watercolor Society, Pastel Society of America (Hall of Fame), Audubon Artists, Copley Society of Boston (life), National Arts Club.
In 1999, Kinstler received the Copley Medal from the Smithsonian, National Portrait Gallery, its highest honor.