Project for an Oriental School House (elevation and plan)

Draftsman Alexander Jackson Davis American

1835–92

Not on view

Davis' most ambitious unrealized Oriental design. Its plan includes rooms for recitation and assembly grouped around a circular central stair. The facade is Moghul in character, dominated by a two-story arched entrance niche flanked by towers topped with pavilions. Davis must have derived these elements from prints of famous mosques since he never traveled outside the United States. Another Islamic touch is the use of pressed terracotta tiles to achieve surface texture, indicated with pen lines over brown washes.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Project for an Oriental School House (elevation and plan)
Draftsman: Alexander Jackson Davis (American, New York 1803–1892 West Orange, New Jersey)
Date: 1835–92
Medium: Graphite, ink and watercolor
Dimensions: 13 5/8 x 9 1/4 in. (34.6 x 23.5 cm)
Classifications: Drawings, Ornament & Architecture
Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1924
Object Number: 24.66.763
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Eastern Coast of Rügen with Shepherd, Caspar David Friedrich German, Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over graphite, with white opaque watercolor; partial framing lines in pen and brown-black ink — Eastern Coast of Rügen with Shepherd
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Side Chair, Alexander Jackson Davis American, Black walnut, modern upholstery, American — Side Chair
Designer Designed by Alexander Jackson Davis
Possibly by Burns and Brother
ca. 1857

Off to War (Henderson Ledger Artist B), Frank Henderson Native American, Pencil, colored pencil, and ink on paper, Arapaho — Off to War (Henderson Ledger Artist B)
Frank Henderson
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