Our Lady of the World's Fair (eBook)

Bringing Michelangelo's "Pietà" to Queens in 1964

Ruth D. Nelson (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024
264 Seiten
Three Hills (Verlag)
978-1-5017-7692-2 (ISBN)

Infos

Our Lady of the World's Fair reveals the remarkable story of how two of New York's most influential leaders persuaded the Vatican to allow one of the world's greatest works of art to leave Europe for the first and only time. Driven by different motives, Robert Moses and Francis Cardinal Spellman had the same vision: to display Michelangelo's masterpiece, the Pietà, in the Vatican's pavilion at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City.

As Ruth D. Nelson gracefully showcases, Moses believed this blockbuster would guarantee the fair's financial success. At the same time, Spellman, Cardinal of New York and the spiritual leader of Cold War America's Catholic community, hoped that at a time of domestic strife and global conflict, the Pietà's presence would have a positive spiritual impact on the nation. Although the fair did not turn out to be the financial bonanza that Moses expected, the Pietà drew record crowds of the faithful, art lovers, and the curious.

Nelson's fascinating uncovering of the intensive planning that went into designing the pavilion, transporting the art piece across the Atlantic, and coordinating Pope Paul VI's visit to New York in 1965—the first papal visit to the Western Hemisphere—demonstrates the sheer scale and opportunity of the two men's endeavors. Our Lady of the World's Fair depicts the skepticism and fierce criticism that faced the two New York power brokers. Rather than letting the negative weigh them down, they united and called on every resource at their disposal to make this unlikely cultural coup possible.

Autor

Ruth D. Nelson is an instructor in art history at the College of DuPage, and the author of Searching for Marquette. Nelson was selected as a State of Illinois Humanities Council Road Scholar, and she is a recipient of the Rakow Grant for Glass Research from the Corning Museum of Glass.

Inhalt

Introduction
1. The Vision: Robert Moses and the Valley of Ashes
2. Francis Cardinal Spellman: Faithful Son of America and Rome
3. Moses and Spellman: The Big Favor
4. The Coup: Moses Gets His Blockbuster
5. Spellman's Dream Team: The Men Who Made It Happen
6. Moving Marble: Sacred Cargo
7. On Stage: Mielziner's Magnum Opus
8. Moses Delivers: The Fair Opens
9. The Vatican Pavilion: Heaven on This Side of the Earth
10. The Agony and the Ecstasy: Michelangelo Meets Hollywood
11. City's EmCity's Embrace: The Pope's Visit
12. Ciao, New York: The Fair Closes
Epilogue: End of an Era

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 15.9.2024
• Zusatzinfo: 21 b&w halftones, 1 b&w line drawing
• Verlagsort: Ithaca
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 150 x 150 mm
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Kunstgeschichte / Kunststile
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► 20. Jahrhundert bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Schlagworte: The Vatican Pavilion, Pope Paul VI, Jo Mielziner, Broadway set designer, World's Fair 1964-1965, Papal diplomacy, Packaging and transport of art, Michelangelo, Renaissance sculpture
• ISBN-10: 1-5017-7692-4 / 1501776924
• ISBN-13: 978-1-5017-7692-2 / 9781501776922