Gallery & New Fountain [signed photograph] [Matted but unframed]

New York: Eggers & Higgins. A signed original, the number of signed originals is unknown. Photograph [Matted but unframed]. Outer dimensions are 11.75 inches by 10.75 inches. Inner dimensions are 9 inches by 7 inches. The photograph is approximately 10 inches by 8.5 inches and is taped all around at the back. This is a black and white photograph, with the signature of Otto R. Eggers in the lower right corner. Minor matt soiling. Ink note on back. The image is of the fountain in front of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Otto R. Eggers was one of the architects of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington and a co founder of Eggers and Higgins, architects in New York. Mr. Eggers, received his training at Cooper Union. He had spent more than 65 years in architecture, starting as a draftsman and designer. In 1911, as the first winner of the LeBrun Scholarship, he spent a year in Europe sketching and studying monuments. Mr. Eggers and Daniel Paul Higgins were associated for years with the noted architect John Russell Pope. After Mr. Pope's death in 1937, Mr. Higgins and Mr. Eggers completed work on the Jefferson Memorial and the National Art Gallery in Washington. Mr. Eggers was known as a perfectionist in the quality of material for his work, and he personally selected each of the 35 foot columns on the National Gallery from 15 quarries in Tennessee. He helped design include the Payne Whitney Gymnasium at Yale University; Browning Library at Baylor University; the Theodore Roosevelt Wing at the Museum of Natural History and the Moorehead Planetarium at the University of North Carolina. He helped design the interiors of several luxury liners, including the United States and the Santa Rosa. Eggers & Higgins was a New York architectural firm partnered by Otto Reinhold Eggers (August 4, 1882 – April 6, 1964) and Daniel Paul Higgins (September 12, 1886 – December 26, 1953). The architects were responsible for the construction phase of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial beginning in 1939, two years after the death of its original architect, John Russell Pope, despite protests that their appointment had been undemocratic and therefore "un-Jeffersonian". Critics argued a competition should have been held to choose Pope's successor. In 1941, they also completed construction of Pope's other famous design, the West Building of the National Gallery of Art, also in Washington, D.C. The pair were longtime associates of Pope in the firm he founded in 1903 as the Office of John Russell Pope, Architect. Eggers was a brilliant designer and renderer who served as Pope's right hand for almost thirty years. They changed the name of the firm to Eggers & Higgins in 1937, soon after Pope's death. The firm was renamed The Eggers Partnership in 1970, and then as The Eggers Group, PC when it became a professional corporation in 1976. Eggers & Higgins also designed the Brooklyn War Memorial, a classical stone building in Cadman Plaza dedicated to Brooklynites who fought in World War II. At the same time, they also designed the Vanderbilt Law School Building, now Vanderbilt Hall of the New York University School of Law. For the 1939 New York World's Fair they designed the Railroads Building, the largest at the Fair, and the Schaefer center, a restaurant seating 1600 with a long open-air bar. In Lincoln Center the firm developed Damrosch Park, an outdoor amphitheater with a bowl-style stage known as the Guggenheim Band Shell. In addition to their planning role with New York University on the redevelopment of Washington Square, the firm was also engaged with Indiana University as their primary architects for more than 30 years. They designed all the major buildings on the Bloomington campus from the Indiana University Auditorium completed in 1941, until they were replaced on the musical arts center project in 1962. Their major campus building designs included the Fine Arts Building, Lilly Library, the Stadium and Assembly Hall. They were also tapped for the development of the Indiana University School of Medicine campus including the Indiana University Hospital building. In 1948, Eggers was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1951. Condition: Very good.

Keywords: National Art Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Eggers & Higgins, Architecture, Fountain, Photograph, Design, Architect, Otto Reinhold Eggers

[Book #83188]

Price: $250.00

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