![Augustus Saint Gaudens, Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer (Mariana Griswold), bronze relief, 1888. [In the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art]](https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/um/umfjcd4j9qnghg3w.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat "Augustus Saint Gaudens, Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer (Mariana Griswold), bronze relief, 1888. [In the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art]")
Whatever you want, then, go to an architect for it; not to a carpenter, or a mason, or your own still more profound incompetence. Tell him all your practical, material desires, and insist that they shall be respected... Settle your practical desires and state them clearly; and, if you will, pour out your vague aesthetic wishes; try to explain those crude artistic preferences, those misty, formless visions which you are pleased to call “my own ideas.” — Places Journal
Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer, though little known today, was not only a leading architecture critic of her day but also one of the pioneers of the field in the late 19th century. On Places, Alexandra Lange analyzes her writings and her influence. As she writes, "Mariana Van Rensselaer worked out the ground rules of the fledgling profession, struggling to be a critic of greater conscientiousness, while calling upon her players — architects, clients, public — to do their jobs properly."
In a related features, Places has republished Van Rensselaer's 1890 essay, "Client and Architect."
1 Comment
This woman is an amazing writter and architectural critic. It would be amazing to see her get her due.
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