Sep 17, 2015 - Sale 2391

Sale 2391 - Lot 63

Price Realized: $ 2,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
(ART.) Papers of landscape architect and artist Charles Downing Lay. More than 350 items, including 237 letters (most addressed to Lay), 6 landscape architecture designs by Lay's firm, 4 lectures or essays on landscape architecture, 39 watercolors and engravings by Lay, 15 photographs, and more; condition generally strong. Vp, 1913-66
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Additional Details

Charles Downing Lay (1877-1956) was an important landscape architect in the early 20th century. He was based in Stratford, CT but was best known for his work on several New York City parks. This collection includes his original landscape or planting plans for Lordship Community Church Stratford, CT, 1950; Krider Nurseries Rock Garden, Horticultural Exhibition, New York World's Fair, [1939?]; and a set of 4 for a Bendix Aviation plant in Sidney, NY, 1940. It also includes some professional correspondence, most notably two long letters from master planner Robert Moses on park development in the metropolitan area. Lay was also a committed amateur artist, and much of the much of the correspondence is with artists, often in the context of his membership in New York's exclusive Century Association. Correspondents include fellow landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and John C. Olmsted, noteworthy artists Charles Dana Gibson, Charles Hopkinson, Thornton Oakley, and Rudolf Ruzicka, as well as patrons of the arts Royal Cortissoz and Harrison Tweed. The last of the four Gibson letters was written a week before his death in 1944. A large file is dedicated to letters from and related to architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue,1919-29. Several letters are to or from August Vincent Tack, including some from artist Joseph Lindon Smith to Tack. Also includes are two sign-in sheets for Allen Tucker memorial exhibitions, 1961 and 1966, signed by Edward Hopper (twice), Louis Auchincloss, and Mrs. Charles D. Lay.
The lot also includes a large group of Lay's artwork, including 31 watercolors (mostly landscapes and still-lifes with a few portraits) and 8 small-format engravings, 1925-34. Provenance: sold by the estate of Lay's business partner Jeannette Minturn (1908-circa 1991) to the consignor. A more detailed inventory is available upon request.