Salmagundi Club | |
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| Location | 47 Fifth Avenue,New York, New York |
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| Coordinates | 40°44′3.4″N73°59′40.5″W / 40.734278°N 73.994583°W /40.734278; -73.994583 |
| Built | 1853 |
| Architectural style | Italianate |
| NRHP reference No. | 74001275[1] |
| NYCL No. | 0009 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | July 25, 1974 |
| Designated NYCL | September 9, 1969 |
TheSalmagundi Club, sometimes referred to as theSalmagundi Art Club, is a fine arts center founded in 1871 in theGreenwich Village section ofManhattan,New York City. Since 1917, it has been located at 47Fifth Avenue. As of 2021[update], its membership roster totaled roughly 1,250 members.[2]
The Salmagundi Club has served as a center forfine arts,artists and collectors, withart exhibitions, art classes, artist demonstrations,art auctions and many other types of events. It is also a sponsor of theUnited States Coast Guard Art Program (COGAP).[3]
It was founded in 1871. Originally called theNew York Sketch Class,[4] and later theNew York Sketch Club,[5] the Salmagundi Club had its beginnings at the eastern edge ofGreenwich Village in sculptorJonathan Scott Hartley'sBroadway studio, where a group of artists, students, and friends at theNational Academy of Design, which at the time was located atFourth Avenue andTwenty-third Street,[6] gathered weekly on Saturday evenings.
The club formally changed its name to The Salmagundi Sketch Club in January 1877.[4] The name has variously been attributed to theSalmagundi Stew, which the group has long served,[7] or toWashington Irving'sSalmagundi Papers.[8]
Growing rapidly, the organization was housed in a series of rented properties including 121 Fifth Avenue, 49 West 22nd Street, 40 West 22nd Street and finally 14 West Twelfth Street, where it remained for 22 years.[8] In April 1917, following a three-year search, the club purchased Irad and Sarah Hawley's 1853 Italianate-stylebrownstone townhouse at 47Fifth Avenue between East Eleventh and East Twelfth Streets from the estate of William G. Park for $75,000.00 and erected a two-story annex in the rear at an additional cost of $20,000.00 to house its primary art gallery and a billiard room. A housewarming event on February 5, 1918 was attended by more than 500 persons.[4][5][8] In 1918, the club spearheaded a national effort to producerange-finder paintings used to train military gunners for World War I. The club provided the canvas and painting materials for these special-purpose paintings.[9]
In 1969 the building wasdesignated a city landmark by theNew York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.[2] In 1975 it was added to theNational Register of Historic Places.[10]
The Salmagundi Club was a male-only club for its first century, although artworks by women were accepted and praised.[11] A sister club for women artists, thePen and Brush Club, was formed around the corner from Salmagundi in 1894.[12] Salmagundi began admitting women members in 1973.[11][13][12]
Members of the Salmagundi Club have includedTore Asplund,Thomas P. Barnett,William Richardson Belknap,Alon Bement,[14]Ralph Blakelock,A. J. Bogdanove,Charles Bosseron Chambers,James Wells Champney,William Merritt Chase,C.K. Chatterton,Frederick Stuart Church,Jay Hall Connaway,Francis S. Dixon,John Henry Dolph,Charles Dana Gibson,William W. Gilchrist Jr.,Gordon H. Grant,Walter Granville-Smith,Edmund Greacen,Charles P. Gruppé,[15]Emile Gruppe,[16]William Hart,Childe Hassam,Ernest Martin Hennings,Harry Hoffman,Alexander Pope Humphrey,George Inness Jr.,Lajos "Louis" Jambor,[17]John LaFarge,David Wu Ject-key,Ernest Lawson,Austin W. Lord,Frank Mason,Leopold Matzal,Samizu Matsuki,John Francis Murphy,Spencer Baird Nichols,Richard C. Pionk,Howard Pyle,Will J. Quinlan,Norman Rockwell,Harry Roseland,Augustus Saint-Gaudens,R. F. Schabelitz,Leopold Seyffert,Channel Pickering Townsley,[18]Louis Comfort Tiffany,Edward Charles Volkert,Ernest William Watson,J. Alden Weir,Jack Wemp,Stanford White,William Wilson (physicist),Stuart Williamson, JosephMortimer Lichtenauer andN.C. Wyeth.
Honorary members[8] have includedPaul Cadmus,Schuyler Chapin,Winston Churchill,Buckminster Fuller,Al Hirschfeld, andThomas Hoving.
In 1894, to raise money for the growing club'slibrary,[4][19] artist members were invited to decorateceramicmugs, which were then fired by Charles Volkmar, the clubpotter. The club would host a dinner followed by an auction of the finished mugs ... Over the years, many decorated mugs have been returned to the club and are on exhibit in the library along with the largest collection of used artists'palettes in America.[2]
Salmagundi curatorial committee is responsible for maintaining Salmagundi’s permanent representational art collection of approximately 1,800 works from the 1840s to today, including: paintings, sculpture, objects and works on paper by its past and present artist members.
The collection consists of exhibition purchase prizes, competition purchase prizes, artist donations, and estate bequests.
The works are rotated on a continual basis throughout the townhouse and are featured in live shows and online exhibitions throughout the year.
Past Chairs of the Board have been
In 1917, with the support of its members, a Fifth Avenue brownstone was purchased and became their permanent home ... and in 1957 was cited for its architectural distinction by both theSociety of Architectural Historians and theMunicipal Art Society. It is a fitting home for the oldest art club in America.
Lemuel Wilmarth was appointed the first full-time instructor in January 1870, by which time the school was located atFourth Avenue and23rd Street. Under Wilmarth's leadership, the number of classes and the enrollment increased, and new techniques, such as the quick-sketch, were introduced in response to changing esthetic criteria.
{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (Downloading may be slow.)the Salmagundi was still a men's club (only opening to women in 1973), works by women were accepted and praised.
Pen and Brush, a sister arts club around the corner from Salmagundi, which opened in 1894 after female artists got tired being excluded. (Salmagundi admitted women in 1973.)
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