NEW ORLEANS Artist ARTHUR H. FEITEL 1910s Pen & Ink Drawing ARTS AND CRAFTS CLUB

Description: Antique pen and ink on paperboard by leading New Orleans 'Arts and Crafts Movement' artist Arthur Henry Feitel (Am., 1891-1982). Sight or mat opening size: approx. 8 3/8 x 14 3/4 inches; artwork paperboard size: approx. 8 3/4 x 14 7/8 inches; overall size with mat: approx. 11 5/8 x 17 3/4 inches. Signed "A. Feitel" and located lower right. Writing on back. Unframed. It's generally thought that the Arts & Crafts Movement in America lasted from the 1890's-1920's. After that, we're into the Art Deco period. This 1910's artwork by NOLA native Arthur Feitel just screams "Arts & Crafts". It's a very rare type of artwork to find today. What we usually see on the market are examples of the “courtyard” genre of painting — widely copied scenes of the picturesque interior green spaces common in the Spanish-colonial buildings of the Vieux Carré. The best of them look like good American Impressionist paintings while the worst just look like tourist art. It's a different 'look' than what we have here by Arthur Feitel. While still architectural in subject matter, Feitel's scene has an Arts & Crafts style backdrop with trees reminding me of Newcomb Pottery motifs, plus artistic flourishes in the foliage that are both Whistler-esque and Art Nouveau. Being a graduate of Tulane University in 1911, Arthur Feitel was of the the Newcomb-Tulane community. H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, or Newcomb College, was the coordinate women's college of Tulane University. That's where the famous Arts & Crafts Newcomb Pottery was. After Tulane, Mr. Feitel spent time traveling and sketching in Europe. He ended up attending the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, earning his Diploma there in 1920. In art training back then, the goal was mastery of drawing. It didn't matter if you wanted to be a painter, architect, sculptor, etc. - you had to master drawing. Arthur Feitel did become a leading architect in NOLA, designing churches (such as the Incarnate Word Church), in particular. In the 1910's, 20's and 30's, Feitel exhibited his drawings and watercolors with the New Orleans Art Association and the New Orleans Arts and Crafts Club. In 1919, New Orleans artist Alberta Kinsey formed the Artists Guild, which was the forerunner of the New Orleans Arts & Crafts Club. Kinsey's Artist Guild which became the New Orleans Arts & Crafts Club was "spurred into action as a consequence of architectural destruction in the French Quarter". The organization initially was located at the Jackson House and subsequently relocated to the Old Mortgage Building, both in New Orleans' French Quarter. The club maintained a close relationship with the nearby Newcomb College School of Art. In 1891, the Italian style villa, James Robb’s grand palazzo called “Robb’s Folly” in The Garden District of NOLA became home to Newcomb College. The property was described as "Appearing as if lifted from the Roman countryside thanks to its Italianate style and Mediterranean landscaping". Being a great admirer of this style found in NOLA, Arthur Feitel traveled to the Roman countryside to see and sketch the original villas that the NOLA villas were inspired by. Also in New Orleans, the French Quarter is a grid system, a geometric 14-block grid with a town square and a main avenue that runs directly through the city. The New Orleans grid system was designed after the Roman grid systems. Even though it's called the French Quarter and we also think of the Spanish influences there, those cultures were influenced by the Romans, for example, the Ancient Regime in France was modeled after the Romans. Depicted in the artwork offered here is a view of the The staircase leading to the lake at Villa Falconieri, Frascati, Lazio, Italy. Today, we just know it as Italy, but in the Arts & Crafts era, it was the Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) and before that it was part of the French Empire. But, Lazio was one of the Papal States. It was part of the short-lived Roman Republic, after which it became a puppet state of the First French Republic under the forces of Napoleon Bonaparte. Lazio was returned to the Papal States in October 1799. In 1809, it was annexed to the French Empire under the name of the Department of Tibre, but returned to the Pope's control in 1815. On 20 September 1870 the capture of Rome, during the reign of Pope Pius IX, and France's defeat at Sedan, completed Italian unification, and Lazio was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. So, even though Lazio (where Frascati is in Italy) was obviously in Italy, at various times until 1870 the rule of the land in that region was overseen by either the Pope (who could be born of any nationality; there were 16 different Popes who were French) or the French. This kind of rule seems unusual because we're used to just thinking of a country as ruling all parts of that country. From 1274 to 1791, the Comtat Venaissin in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southern France was also a part of the Papal States. Villa Falconieri is a 16th-century Tuscolane Villa in the Castelli Romani area. The villa, also known as "The Rufina" or Villa Rufina, was the first to be built at Frascati (1540 – 1550) by the will of Alessandro Rufini, Bishop of Melfi. It was erected over the remains of a rectangular shaped Roman villa. Later it was enlarged thanks to Pope Paul III. In 1628 Orazio Falconieri purchased the villa and commissioned Francesco Borromini to oversee its renovation. Important architects such as Antonio da Sangallo the Younger worked on the design. The interior houses frescoes by Pier Leone Ghezzi, Giacinto Calandrucci, Ciro Ferri, Niccolò Berrettoni, and others. The park is a splendid Italian garden enlarged in the 17th century, with a small lake bordered by cypresses created in the 18th century. In 1809, Frascati was annexed to the French Empire, and selected as the capital of the Roman canton. In autumn 1837, there was a plague epidemic in Rome, and 5,000 people left Rome. Frascati was the only city that opened its doors to them. Since then Frascati's flag has been the same as Rome's, yellow and red. In 1840 the "Accademia Tuscolana" was founded in the city by Cardinal-Bishop Ludovico Micara. In 1856 the city was chosen as the terminus of the Rome–Frascati railway, the first railway to be built by the Papal State. The last section of the railway line was opened in 1884, 14 years after the city became part of the new Kingdom of Italy. In 1905, Villa Falconieri was bought by the German banker Ernst von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy of Berlin, a nephew of the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. In 1907, he gave it as a gift to emperor Wilhelm II. On April 6, 1911 the Crown Prince William and Princess Cecilie visited the villa and decided on some restorations. Today, the Academy Vivarium Novum is based in the Villa Falconieri. The Academy is an international study center inspired by the teaching methodologies of Renaissance schools, where students from all over the world are provided with a solid preparation in the humanities, arts and sciences, and are formed in the values of dignity and humanitas. Arthur Feitel brought his experience, in firsthand study of European architecture and study in France (at the the Ecole des Beaux-Arts) back to NOLA and taught art students there based on what he'd learned. Early in its history, the New Orleans Arts & Crafts Club established the New Orleans School of Art for local artists. Its courses included painting, sculpture, ceramics and architecture. The instruction in architecture used methods developed at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, which extended methods of classical art into architecture. In June 1921, the Club/School moved to the Old Brulatour Court at 520 Royal Street, which proprietor William Ratcliffe Irby generously renovated to accommodate an exhibition gallery, classrooms, and a sales room. Artist-teachers of the 1920's at the New Orleans School of Art included Arthur Feitel and Alberta Kinsey. Arthur Feitel was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the New Orleans Arts & Crafts Club in the mid 1930's. Other early artist-teachers at the Club/School were Caroline Wogan Durieux, Harry Nolan, Achille Peretti, Louis Andrews (Fischer), Ronald Hargrave, Fannie Hampton Craig, Clarence Millet, William Philip Spratling, Albert Rieker, Daniel Webster Whitney, Knute Heldner, and Charles Bein. “Nightowlseye View of the French Quarter” was an article written in 1938 by Arthur Feitel for 'THE OCTAGON, A Journal of The American Institute of Architects'. He was a member of the Louisiana Chapter of The American Institute of Architects. In 1887, the Art Association of New Orleans had been established. Many years later, the Art Association of New Orleans and Delgado Museum merged, now known as the New Orleans Art Association. In 1971, The Delgado Museum of Art in New Orleans, Louisiana was renamed 'The New Orleans Museum of Art' (NOMA). It's located at: One Collins C. Diboll Circle, City Park, New Orleans, Louisiana 70124. Arthur Feitel was Director of the Delgado Museum of Art and also President of the Art Association of New Orleans. "In 1925 Ellsworth Woodward took over as acting director at the Museum on an unpaid basis. Ellsworth Woodward was one of the founders of the Art Association of New Orleans; he also was a popular professor and dean at the School of Art at Newcomb College". "Arthur Feitel took over for the late Ellsworth Woodward. He became the second and last unpaid director of the Museum" (until the late 1940's). Otherwise, it's been written that Feitel was the President of the Art Association in 1929 and was elected to the board of the museum in 1933. The original NOMA building, completed in 1911, bears similarities to Roman-style museums in London, Berlin, Washington, and Paris. Early in his career, in the 1910's, Arhtur Feitel traveled Europe, painting and sketching the European architecture that his hometown buildings of NOLA was drawn from. Until the end of the 15th century, the Holy Roman Empire was in composed of three major blocs – Italy, Germany and Burgundy. Until the late 1940's, Arthur Feitel was Director of the Delgado Museum of Art. It was an unpaid position. He did it because he loved the museum and loved New Orleans. Feitel wanted to see the museum succeed, and he had the passion to make that happen. Under the guidance of Feitel the Museum saw a number of long overdue changes, particularly in the way objects were displayed. None of the changes were drastic; however, the changes were a step in the right direction. Feitel was looking for someone trained to be a museum director and found that person in Alonzo Lansford. Lansford became the paid Director in 1948. Under his directorship, the museum acquired works by the emerging abstract expressionist group and the surrealists. In doing so The Delgado became one of the first museums to begin collecting in these areas. Biography of Arthur Henry FEITEL (1891-1982). Birth place: New Orleans, LA. Death place: New Orleans, LA. Addresses: New Orleans, LA. Profession: Museum president, painter, teacher, architect. Studied: Tulane Univ., B.Arch.; Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France, A.D.G.F. Exhibited: NOAA, 1915-16; New Orleans A. & Crafts Cl., 1924, 1938. Member: Palmes Academiques; AIA; BAID; Louisiana Arch. Assn.; NOAA, ca.1915-1951 (var. exec. positions); New Orleans A. & Crafts Cl., 1935-36 (chairman , exec. committee). Comments: Primarily an architect, who traveled, studied and sketched in Europe (1911-14) and worked as a draftsman with several U.S. government agencies. He exhibited architectural drawings. Contributor to: Pencil Points & AIA Journal. Position: Former Pres., Delgado Mus. A. & New Orleans AA, and Acting Dir., Delgado Mus. A., 1938-46; Bd. memb. of the Museum; Former Bd. Memb., La. State Mus.; Former Chm. Vieux Carre Comm.; Member, City Park Comm., New Orleans, La. Sources: WW66; WW47; Encyclopedia of New Orleans Artists, 131-32. The New Orleans Museum of Art's building has the typical Beaux-Arts museum plan of gallery rooms set around a central two-story skylit sculpture hall, surrounded on three sides by a balcony supported on Ionic columns. In 1971, August Perez and Associates with Arthur Feitel added three wings to the museum. Arthur Feitel lived in the Lower Pontalba Apartments, on Jackson Square in the French Quarter. The building was constructed by the Baroness Michaela Almonester de Pontalba between 1849–1851. She was the wealthiest woman in New Orleans and in many ways set the standard for the French Quarter architecture. Arthur Feitel was a bachelor, so every night he ate at Antoine's, in the French Quarter, at 713 Saint Louis Street. Antoine's, established in 1840, is America's oldest family run restaurant. They're famous for their Oyster Rockefeller. During WWII, Arthur Feitel was well known for his USO parties that he threw for the soldiers visiting NOLA. Due to his active involvement with so many organizations, I can't think of another 20th century artist who was as important to NOLA as Arthur Feitel. However, I cannot find that any of his artworks are in any collections in New Orleans. I'm fairly sure that's due to Feitel's drawings being rare to find today. Since Feitel studied architecture at Tulane, he was certainly a pupil of William Woodward (1859-1939), who taught architectural drawing there and also helped establish Newcomb College. William's brother, Ellsworth Woodward (1861–1939), was the Director of the Delgado Museum, then the next Director was Arthur Feitel. William Woodward had retired from teaching in the early 1920's and moved. In different ways, I see Arthur Feitel as picking up where the Woodward brothers left off. The brothers' works of art range from academic or traditional looking to impressionistic. I think Feitel's work was traditional and also Arts & Crafts style (which is what William Woodward taught). I could picture this Arthur Feitel artwork looking very nice if displayed along with certain works by the Woodwards and also with better-end Newcomb pottery vases. The high point of Newcomb Pottery is generally considered to be from 1897 to 1917. Just as the Arts & Crafts Movement was ending (1920's), the New Orleans Arts & Crafts Club / New Orleans School of Art was beginning. But, tastes and styles were changing. Because of this, I don't think many artworks coming out of the Club/School looked particularly "Arts and Crafts". It seems like a limited time window, maybe 1895-1925. A big part of NOLA's art history was the area-specific Arts and Crafts Movement there. Just like with American Impressionism, the heyday was over by the 20's. Modernism had been slowly taking hold since the 1913 Armory Show. By the 1930's WPA era, an artist just wasn't relevant if they were working in an outdated style. 30 years of Arts & Crafts was a long run, for any style.

Price: 895 USD

Location: Pitman, New Jersey

End Time: 2024-12-07T00:24:08.000Z

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