Original framed antique advertisement print Powers' Art Gallery Rochester NY

Description: Matted and framed original antique print advertising the Powers Art Gallery in Rochester, NY. The outside dimensions of the frame are approximately 13 3/4 in x 10 1/2 in. The opening in the mat is approximately 11 1/8 in x 7 3/8 in. The Powers Building is a Rochester landmark designed by Andrew Jackson Warner and located at the Four Corners in downtown Rochester. Built in 1869, it then grew upwards by several iterations over the period 1873-1888 (it has three mansard roofs and is finally topped with an observation tower) as its owner, Daniel W. Powers, endeavored to maintain the building's standing as the tallest structure in Rochester. This original advertisement provides a flavor of Daniel Powers' moxie and showmanship ("Most Choice and Complete Collection of Works of Art in America," "Gathered from All Parts of the World," "Visited Daily by Hundreds of Artists and Art-loving Citizens.") The advertisement also highlights the "Fire-proof" nature of the building, a consideration that loomed large in an era of devastating urban fires. The following history of the Powers Art Gallery is found in Elizabeth Brayer, Magnum Opus: The Story of the Memorial Art Gallery, 14 (1988): "Daniel Powers' new gallery opened in 1875 in three spacious and sumptuous parlors on the fifth floor of the Powers Block, a prominent structure built at the City's important Four Corners as a monument to its owner. For the inaugural exhibition of the Powers Art Gallery, the owner himself went to Europe to choose sixteen watercolors and 121 paintings; many were copies of old masters, but Powers also owned a Delacroix, a Courbet, and dozens of Barbizon paintings. By 1877, Powers had added three more parlors, and orchestrion, and a stereopticon machine. Huge receptions accompanied each new feature, attracting hundreds of viewers and dwarfing all competition. . . . By 1884 no fewer than thirty rooms, including a Rotunda and Grand Salon measuring thirty by ninety feet, were devoted to art. The Powers catalog listed 996 paintings and seventeen items of statuary. 'Believing that the precious gem should have a beautiful setting,' the Powers brochure noted, 'his gallery is not a plain, somber, bare-floored tunnel or series of dismal chambers, but a suite of artistically and richly ornamented and luxurious parlors.' . . . When Daniel Powers died in 1897, his gallery died with him [and] the Powers family sold the thousand-plus items at auction in New York."

Price: 65 USD

Location: Rochester, New York

End Time: 2024-11-14T15:59:52.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD