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OSerCin CoCCege Observer Obirlin, Ohio ■^^^^■^■^^^^k OTifi|sd^y;:3|;;0<:tober1991; A rose for Finney Only 83 years late, Finney Chapel finally will be seen the way architect Cass Gilbert intended—with a stained-glass rose window. The in¬ stallation of a window designed by New York artist Robert Mangold— documented here in pictures by com¬ munications photographer Rick Sher¬ lock—was completed over fall break. Construction of the building was finished in the spring of 1908, just in time for commencement, but the rose window remained incomplete. Gil¬ bert feuded with Frederick Norton Finney—donor of funds for the chapel and son of Oberlin's second president, evangelist Charles Gran-dison Finney—about who should pick the designer for the window, says Danforth professor of history Geoffrey Blodgett. Before a resolution could be reached, money for the project ran out. The nine-foot-high opening stayed as a plain, translucent leaded-glass window. At that time Gilbert wrote: "I have only one suggestion to make [about a stained-glass design], and that is that the colors should be rich and impres¬ sive, that is to say, deep blues and full reds and yellows. Pale, thin color would not be in harmony with the vigorous architectural forms." Over the last few years, Jacob Mar¬ tin '42 and his wife, Leah Nelson Martin '41, committed funds for completion of the window. A special subcommittee of the architectural review committee was formed, and Mangold was invited to submit a design. The artist came to Oberlin, looked at the building, and decided to "get away from Finney's symme¬ try" and to "create some visual ten¬ sion" in the building's facade. He submitted a scale drawing, followed by a three-foot-high scale model. Mangold had done many prints, drawings, watercolors, and acrylics— working on canvas and paper—but the window was his first effort with stained glass. "With glass, you are really working with light," he says of the color-mixing process. "There's no palette." He went through racks of glass in warehouses and adjusted colors by layering. The red ne wanted, for example, was made with a red sheet of glass laid on top of a yellow. Not until the window was assembled, however, could he see how the light affected the colors. One panel had to be pulled out and a quick replacement found because the red wasn't quite right. Cleveland Heights fabricator Wil¬ liam Greenberg removed the old window and assembled the new one, erecting scaffolding inside and out¬ side Finney, hauling the new frame up the building face, and setting the glass in place piece by piece. He com¬ pleted the task in half a week, with Mangold supervising the final stages. Formal dedication will take place on commencement weekend, in con¬ junction with Jacob Martin's 50th reunion. The Martins paid almost all the $27,000 cost of the project, with the classes of 1958,1959, and 1960 picking up incidental costs as part of its 30th cluster reunion fund-raiser. On view at the Allen Memorial Art Museum during commencement weekend will be a small exhibition of Mangold's work, including the pre¬ liminary sketches, final drawing, and scale model for the rose window.
Object Description
Title | Oberlin Observer. 1991-10-31 |
Description | volume 13, number 05 |
Subject | Oberlin College--Periodicals |
Editor | Ganzel, Carol |
Contributors |
Gabrielli, Betty (au) MacKay, Alfred (au) Koppes, Clayton (au) |
Topics | Mosher's papers added to archives; Oberlin has to adapt to its changing students; Oberlin's future depends on program and students |
Date | 1991-10-31 |
Year | 1991 |
Month | October |
Day | 31 |
Type | text; image |
Format | |
Identifier | Oberlin_Observer_Vol_13_No_5.pdf |
Publisher | Oberlin College. Library |
Language | English |
Relation | http://www.oberlin.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/library/ref/index.php?db=observerindex |
Number of pages | 6 |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Transcript | OSerCin CoCCege Observer Obirlin, Ohio ■^^^^■^■^^^^k OTifi|sd^y;:3|;;0<:tober1991; A rose for Finney Only 83 years late, Finney Chapel finally will be seen the way architect Cass Gilbert intended—with a stained-glass rose window. The in¬ stallation of a window designed by New York artist Robert Mangold— documented here in pictures by com¬ munications photographer Rick Sher¬ lock—was completed over fall break. Construction of the building was finished in the spring of 1908, just in time for commencement, but the rose window remained incomplete. Gil¬ bert feuded with Frederick Norton Finney—donor of funds for the chapel and son of Oberlin's second president, evangelist Charles Gran-dison Finney—about who should pick the designer for the window, says Danforth professor of history Geoffrey Blodgett. Before a resolution could be reached, money for the project ran out. The nine-foot-high opening stayed as a plain, translucent leaded-glass window. At that time Gilbert wrote: "I have only one suggestion to make [about a stained-glass design], and that is that the colors should be rich and impres¬ sive, that is to say, deep blues and full reds and yellows. Pale, thin color would not be in harmony with the vigorous architectural forms." Over the last few years, Jacob Mar¬ tin '42 and his wife, Leah Nelson Martin '41, committed funds for completion of the window. A special subcommittee of the architectural review committee was formed, and Mangold was invited to submit a design. The artist came to Oberlin, looked at the building, and decided to "get away from Finney's symme¬ try" and to "create some visual ten¬ sion" in the building's facade. He submitted a scale drawing, followed by a three-foot-high scale model. Mangold had done many prints, drawings, watercolors, and acrylics— working on canvas and paper—but the window was his first effort with stained glass. "With glass, you are really working with light," he says of the color-mixing process. "There's no palette." He went through racks of glass in warehouses and adjusted colors by layering. The red ne wanted, for example, was made with a red sheet of glass laid on top of a yellow. Not until the window was assembled, however, could he see how the light affected the colors. One panel had to be pulled out and a quick replacement found because the red wasn't quite right. Cleveland Heights fabricator Wil¬ liam Greenberg removed the old window and assembled the new one, erecting scaffolding inside and out¬ side Finney, hauling the new frame up the building face, and setting the glass in place piece by piece. He com¬ pleted the task in half a week, with Mangold supervising the final stages. Formal dedication will take place on commencement weekend, in con¬ junction with Jacob Martin's 50th reunion. The Martins paid almost all the $27,000 cost of the project, with the classes of 1958,1959, and 1960 picking up incidental costs as part of its 30th cluster reunion fund-raiser. On view at the Allen Memorial Art Museum during commencement weekend will be a small exhibition of Mangold's work, including the pre¬ liminary sketches, final drawing, and scale model for the rose window. |
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