Grille
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Object Label
Samuel Yellin was one of the most important American metalworkers of the early twentieth century. He executed metalwork for the National Cathedral in Washington, D. C., and the New York Athletic Club and Temple Emanuel in New York. Unlike the other metal pieces exhibited here, this one was never installed in a building. Rather, it was a maquette (or study) and may have been the presentation piece shown to the architects of the Federal Reserve Bank in lower Manhattan (see illustration below) to help Yellin secure the commission. The final designs of the actual metalwork in the bank, which Yellin, in the Arts and Crafts tradition, executed by hand, are closely related. Yellin was not an architect as were the designers of the other metal pieces here; rather, the Renaissance Revival style of this grille was dictated by the bold Italian Renaissance style of the bank.
Caption
Samuel Yellin American, born Mogilev (or Mogolov), Russia, 1884–1940. Grille, ca. 1922. Iron, 43 1/4 x 22 13/16 x 1 9/16 in. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation in honor of Barry R. Harwood , 2008.86. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Photo by Irving Underhill, courtesy of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, CUR.2008.86_documentation_Federal_Reserve_Bank_New_York_Irving_Underhill_photograph.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Grille
Date
ca. 1922
Geography
Place made: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Medium
Iron
Classification
Dimensions
43 1/4 x 22 13/16 x 1 9/16 in.
Markings
The proper right lower front corner is impressed: “SAMUEL YELLIN”.
Credit Line
Gift of American Decorative Art 1900 Foundation in honor of Barry R. Harwood
Accession Number
2008.86
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
Tell me more.
This grille, made itself for demonstration purposes, shows the natural and floral influences characteristic of the Art Nouveau movement here made more geometric in the 1920s.Notice how Samuel Yellin, the designer, managed to make a metal grille appear light and airy by his use of negative space. Walking around New York City you may notice many buildings from the early part of the 20th century with similar design elements.
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