Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Diana of the tower

The Saint-Gaudens is a good excuse to see the revised American Wing, where the heroic age of American sculpure looks damn fine on a sunny afternoon. In the gift shop, they're selling a small golden Diana for $800, but I want the unpainted version, pure bronze, and about five feet high, for the Back 40. The original 18-footer topped the old Madison Square Garden, but it was soon replaced by a slightly smaller version that proved more stable in the wind. She would have been a witness to millionaire psychopath Henry K. Thaw's assassination of architect Stanford White in 1906 in the rooftop garden. Supposedly while "I could love a million girls" was being sung. Thaw, the OJ of his day, was judged insane; he lived until 1947. White's wife Bessie lived to 1950. Evelyn Nesbit -- Mrs Thaw, White's former lover -- beat them all and made it to 1967, but, sadly, not too floradorariffically.

2 comments:

amarilla said...

Florawha? Anyway, she's lovely. Here's another lovely work I hope you enjoy.
http://aivakhiv.blog.uvm.edu/2009/07/spinoza_in_amsterdam.html

Matthew said...

It's Florodora, actually. Hit musical of a century ago, introducing the "Florodora Girls," vivacious chorines.