Stan and Gus : art, ardor, and the friendship that built the Gilded Age / Henry Wiencek.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wiencek, Henry, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

New York (N.Y.)--History--1865-1898.

New York (N.Y.).

New York (State)--New York.

New York (State).

Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 1848-1907.

Saint-Gaudens, Augustus.

White, Stanford, 1853-1906.

White, Stanford.

Sculptors--United States--Biography.

Sculptors.

Architects--United States--Biography.

Architects.

Artists and architects--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.

Artists and architects.

Public art--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.

Public art.

Public art--History.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

viii, 304 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), portraits ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025.

Summary:

"A joint biography of the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and the architect Stanford White"-- Provided by publisher.

"How the architect Stanford White and the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens transcended scandal to enrich their times. Stanford White was a louche man-about-town and a canny cultural entrepreneur--the creator of landmark buildings that elevated American architecture to new heights. Augustus Saint-Gaudens was the son of an immigrant shoemaker, a moody introvert, and a committed procrastinator whose painstaking work brought emotional depth to American sculpture. They met when Stan was walking down the street and heard Gus whistling Mozart in his studio. They pursued their own careers in Italy and France, then came together again in New York, where they maintained an intimate friendship and partnership that defined the art of the Gilded Age. Over the course of decades, White would help sustain his friend's troubled spirits and vouch for Saint-Gaudens when he failed to complete projects. Meanwhile, Saint-Gaudens would challenge White to take his artistic gifts seriously--and so it went amid brilliant commissions and sordid debaucheries all the way to White's sensational murder by an enraged husband in 1906. In Stan and Gus, the acclaimed historian Henry Wiencek sets the two men's relationship within the larger story of the American Renaissance, where millionaires' commissions and delusions of grandeur collided with secret upper-class clubs, new aesthetic ideas, and two ambitious young men to yield work of lasting beauty." -- Publisher's description

Contents:

"Make an artist of yourself"

"A heroic task"

"Those were great days"

Honeymooning in Paris

The Farragut arises

"Our light, our island, our town"

A hothouse of talent

"It's rotten, Gus, isn't it?"

"A sculptor's dream... my adored love"

Married life

The pleasure palace

"The subject is silence itself"

Life and death in the studio

Dazzling the metropolis

The king of Europe goes broke

Stan's descent

Prodigal days

After the fall.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-288) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Albert M. Greenfield Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780374162498

0374162492

OCLC:

1452442869