Thursday, September 25, 2008

Caryatids

Too many people in New York City walk around with their eyes glued to the sidewalk. Granted, such a viewpoint can help one avoid some of the nastier bits of the jetsam tossed by pedestrians. But one misses so much that makes New York a fun place to live. Of course, I'm usually looking around - or up - for potential photographs.

Earlier this week I was walking in the East Village and spotted this great building on Bond St., between Lafayette and Broadway. I don't really know anything about the building itself - although it's typical of the late 19th century. But the caryatids . . . they are incredible, among the most elaborate I've seen in the city. (What's a caryatid? It's a sculpted female figure used as a column, usually supporting an entablature.) Unfortunately, this building is quite tall (at least ten stories), so even the puny zoom on my digital camera made this a less than ideal object for photos. Still, I couldn't resist.



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4 comments:

Barbara Butler McCoy said...

What I didn't get to say about your paintings is that I love your use of BLUES ... These pics .... Wow. Wow. Such blues! I think caryatids might be a nice subject for a poem ...

One Wink at a Time said...

These photos and buildings are wonderful, Brian. :-)
Thanks for not making us look up "caryatids"... not so much for "entablature" ;-)

Kitty said...

this is a gorgeous building. Wow.
Good point, how delicately ornate it is, while so tall. Who is seeing that detail?

My guess is that it was designed completely in elevation, and the designer neglected to think about perception. I'm sure the design made for gorgeous watercolors.

It reminds me of Otto Wagner and those Viennese architects. Really wonderful.

One Wink at a Time said...

I looked for examples of this on that site that I sent you. I keep going back, it's addicting :-)