The incomparable beauty of European architecture witnessed
before one’s eyes gives a remarkable sense of preexisting in another period of
history. The Gothic buildings that
are ancient to the soul incite a time where one’s imagination can roam in the
Renaissance. There are cities where the sense of wonder gives a distinct feeling
that one had strolled down that street in a previous time. Whether it be the magnificence of the Vatican,
the Louvre, Notre Dame, the colors and stunning beauty of Old Town Square in
Prague, Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria all built centuries ago. The divine inspired creative
people. Their art was preserved in
these buildings. The artistic achievement transcended time. The rich
visualization and history by the artists and architects caring and taking pride
in their work always remain etched in one’s memory after a European tour.
Manhattan, once a jewel of an island that Indians and
settlers had to walk through a hilly green forest in Spring, and the foliage of
the Fall had transformed to an industrial mecca for business people. The architecture of Manhattan buildings
had facets of European character with Roman columns and art deco like the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Public Library. The Empire State Building, for example,
is New York’s dominant skyscraper, a practical, efficient and a powerful
structure for large firms.
The turn of the 20th century was a time for
retail in Manhattan. In 1907, Paul
Bonwit and Edmund D, Teller established Bonwit Teller Department Store in
midtown. Affectionately called
Bonwit’s, the store was known for its stylish higher quality women’s apparel
from Europe and domestic origins.
The boom of retail trade in New York City moved uptown and in 1930 Bonwit’s
relocated to Fifth Avenue and 56th Street, which became the company's flagship store for 50 years.
Bonwit Teller, Fifth
Avenue, New York City, circa 1940
In 1939, the fancy department store commissioned a series of
shocking window displays by the quirky surrealist, Salvador Dali, known for his
outlandish flair through his stirring expressive eyes and his signature
mustache. Dali based his unusual designs
on the Narcissus complex, and he created display windows awakening and arousing
the concept of “Day” and “Night.”
Salvador Dali, Bonwit
Teller, Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1939
The display windows offered a profound interpretation of
life that was worthy of a museum exhibition. "A showing of the beast of vanity,
an act of vengeance that goes beyond the logical comprehension of the shallow,
materialistic, phoniness of shoppers was daring. The Day window featured a tub lined with black Persian
lamb and filled with water, Narcissi floating on the surface, three wax hands
reached out from under the water holding mirrors, and a mannequin just wearing
green feathers stepping into the tub. The Night featured a bed standing on four buffalo
legs, with a canopy made of a buffalo’s head clenching a bloody pigeon in its
jaw. Another wax model lounged over a bed of hot coals. Dali described the work
as the decapitated head and the savage hoofs of a great somnambulist buffalo
extenuated by a thousand years of sleep.”
The windows from a marketing standpoint did not appeal to
the clientele. The store tried to
censor the display by putting regular mannequins in suits. Dali in a rage went into the store
window, tried to pull the bathtub off the floor, but he took a spill. The artist and the bathtub went
crashing through the front window.
Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg as aspiring artists had
day jobs as dressers of the Bonwit Teller windows in the 1950’s. Under the pseudonym “Matson Jones,” their
collaborative work included cyanotype photography. A print called the “Blue Ceiling” served as a backdrop in
the Bonwit Teller window in 1955.
Johns exhibited his first flag painting “White Flag” and Rauschenberg’s Untitled
(Red Combine Painting) were also shown in the store windows in 1957. The widely
seen works at Bonwit’s helped launch the careers of Johns and Rauschenberg in
the galleries. Robert
Rauschenberg also helped commercial artist James Rosenquist acquire a sideline
designing the window displays at Bonwit’s. The day job of painting billboards and designing store
windows helped further his career as a Pop Artist.
Andy Warhol
also worked as a commercial artist for many years. He was hired by Bonwit
Teller 1951 to give an added touch to his appealing commercial art for the store
windows.
Andy Warhol, Bonwit Teller,
Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1955
Warhol’s work in an avant-garde pop art was not taken critically
in New York during the 50’s. His
breakthrough came in 1961. Warhol hung five paintings based on comic book and
newspaper advertisements in the store window behind stylishly dressed
mannequins. He played openly with
the idea of art as advertising, which became a cornerstone of his work.
Andy Warhol, Bonwit Teller,
Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1961
The many artists and photographers at Bonwit’s not only
had imagination, but the store had a rich artistic history with the finest
talent contributing to a cultural New York Renaissance from the 1930’s through
the 1970’s.
Bonwit Teller, Fifth Avenue,
New York City, 1973
Due to a steady decline from several changes in ownership,
the flagship store was sold to Donald J. Trump in 1979, who demolished the
building in 1980 to construct Trump Tower. He reneged on a deal to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to
preserve the exterior Art Deco limestone bas-relief sculptures of a semi-nude
goddess, and the majestic storefront ornate grill. Trump Tower, a self-worship, grandiose, contemporary
building to glorify materialism and the beast of excess took its place. Trump
had little regard for the cultural history that Bonwit Teller provided for New
Yorkers and tourists.
Art Deco limestone bas-relief Goddess
sculpture, Bonwit Teller, Fifth Avenue,
New York City, 1929-1980
Bonwit Teller, Fifth Avenue,
New York City
The cutting edge art and the fashion history of Bonwit
Teller department store on Fifth Avenue left a stunning imprint etched in the
mind that gave that feeling of walking down a New York City block from a
different era. Character, sophistication
and intellectualism were once vogue in New York of remembering Bonwit’s.
Morris Huberland, Bonwit
Teller, Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1950
