Jonathan Cohen's photos with the keyword: mosaic

The Marshall Field and Company Building, which now houses Macy’s at State Street in Chicago, Illinois, was built in two stages – north end in 1901-02 (including a columned entrance) and south end in 1905-06, and was the flagship location of the Marshall Field and Company and Marshall Field’s chain of department stores. Since 2006, it is the main Chicago mid-western location of the Macy’s department stores. Visitors to the Macy’s store can’t help but look up when walking through the building’s first-floor cosmetics department – it provides a distant view of a shimmering vaulted ceiling that covers 6,000 square feet and comprises 1.6 million pieces of iridescent glass. The 5th floor provides an up-close view and it’s simply jaw-dropping. The dome ceiling was designed by renowned glass artist Louis Comfort Tiffany (it’s the largest Tiffany mosaic in existence) and crafted by a group of 50 artisans who worked atop scaffolds for over 18 months to complete the project.

The exterior of the west facade of the basilica is divided in three registers: lower, upper, and domes. In the lower register of the façade, five round-arched portals, enveloped by polychrome marble columns, open into the narthex through bronze-fashioned doors. The upper level of mosaics in the lunettes of the lateral ogee arches has scenes from the Life of Christ (all post-Renaissance replacements) culminating in a 19th-century replacement Last Judgment lower down over the main portal that replaced a damaged one with the same subject. (During the centuries many mosaics had to be replaced inside and outside the basilica, but subjects were rarely changed). Above the Logia, commencing on the left hand of the spectator, 1. The Deposition from the Cross 2. The Descent of Christ into Hades. 3. The Resurrection of Christ 4. The Ascension of Christ into Heaven.

The exterior of the west facade of the basilica is divided in three registers: lower, upper, and domes. In the lower register of the façade, five round-arched portals, enveloped by polychrome marble columns, open into the narthex through bronze-fashioned doors. The lower level of mosaics in the lunettes of the lateral ogee arches has scenes showing the history of the relics of Saint Mark from right to left fill the lunettes of the lateral portals. The Mosaics in the five bays of the lower part. Commencing with the last bay on the spectator’s right. 1. The conveying of the Body of Saint Mark from the city of Alexandria in Egypt. 2. Its arrival in Venice. 3. In the spandrel above the central doorway: The Last Judgement 4. The Doge and Senators in the act of receiving the Body of Saint Mark 5. The body of the saint carried in procession into the church built in his honour

Developed in Italy during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the micromosaic technique made use of minute tesserae of colored glass that were arranged to create painterly effects. These tesserae were cut from thin opaque glass rods, of which there were more than 20,000 different tints. This may be the largest Venetian micromosaic in existence. It measures five by seven feet, and it weighs one ton. As a rule, micromosaics are small works that emphasize detail; rarely do they exceed the size of a modest painting. This panel depicts Venice’s Piazza San Marco and its basilica. It provides an almost photographic record of the mosaic decoration on the basilica’s facade as it existed at the start of the 20th century. The panel is signed by the mosaicist E. Cerato, and it was on display in the store of the glass company Pauly & C. at the Piazza San Marco until the late 1950s.

It’s been said that if you stand long enough in Times Square, you will meet everyone you’ve ever known. Long known as the crossroads of the world, Times Square is famous for many things, but mostly for its crowds, particularly the spirited celebration each New Year’s Eve when hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and visitors-joined by television viewers around the world, gather to watch the ball drop to usher in the New Year. Sharing hopes for the future, the huge crowds are televised against a neon background. Artist and educator Jane Dickson was born in Chicago, educated in Paris, Boston and Cambridge, and now lives and works in New York City. In Revelers, Dickson celebrates this age-old impulse to gather. Her mosaic artwork consists of approximately 70 expressive life-size figures. Each is in motion, walking, gesturing, linking arms, or dancing; all enjoying themselves and each other’s company. Some wear funny hats, blow toy horns and wield noise makers; some seem to be stumbling from apparent intoxication. The central frieze of figures are presaged by a scattering of figures in groups of two or three walking in both directions along the corridors that lead to the central open space of the station complex, near the stairs to the 1, 2, 3 lines. These smaller groups share the space with commuters traveling through the passageways that connect the subway stations at Seventh and Eighth Avenues.

The Delancey Street subway station houses two large wall-sized pieces of artwork, one on each wall where the staircase exits and transfers are located. Both glass mosaics are the work of artist Ming Fay. The artwork on the downtown side is titled Shad Crossing and details two giant shad fish swimming, along with another wall mosaic of blue waters. In the late 19th century, shad were found along the Hudson River when new immigrants came to New York, many of whom settled on the Lower East Side. Ming Fay is a Shanghai-born and New York City-based sculptor and professor. His work focuses on the concept of the garden as a symbol of utopia and the relationship between man and nature. Drawing upon an extensive knowledge of plants both Eastern and Western, real and mythical, Fay creates his own calligraphic floating forest of reeds, branches and surreal species. Ming Fay was born in Shanghai in 1943 and raised in Hong Kong. His mother was an artist, and his father worked in the then-burgeoning Hong Kong movie industry as an art director. Both were students of Shanghai-based sculptor Zhang Chongren, who had studied Western sculpture in Europe. Ming came to the United States in 1961 to study at the Columbus College of Art and Design and later at the Kansas City Institute of Art. Subsequently, Fay earned a graduate degree in sculpture at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1975. He currently teaches sculpture at William Paterson University in Wayne, New Jersey.

The Jacob Reed’s and Sons clothing store, 1424 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is an early reinforced concrete structure. It was designed in 1903 by William Lightfoot Price, an influential American architect, for the clothing store that emphasized custom service in an era when impersonal department stores were becoming popular. The building’s design reflects Reed’s preference for individualism. Price, one of the region’s proponents of the Arts & Crafts movement, utilized reinforced concrete, concrete columns, and a high concrete barrel over the first floor. He borrowed from the urban palaces of northern Italy, explains John Gallery in his book, "Philadelphia Architecture," for the third-story loggia, red tile roof and arched entrance. He decorated the building with mosaic tile work created by Henry Mercer, who ran the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Mercer’s handcrafted decorative tiles were laid in different interlocking designs to complement individual buildings. In the Jacob Reed building, the tiles depicted crafts associated with the garment industry. In 1983, Jacob Reed’s closed its doors after nearly 160 years in business and the building stood vacant. A controversy erupted over the property late that same year when Rite-Aid Corp. arranged a nine-year lease on the property. Philadelphia’s architectural community as well as other civic groups were upset that a chain store was moving into the historical building. Rite-Aid ended up selling its interest in that lease. In October of that year, Willard Rouse III, in a civic gesture to save an architecturally significant property, bought the building for $2.3 million with plans to put Boyd’s Mens Store in the street level retail space. Rouse’s plans also included renovating the upper floors for office space. As then-chairman of the Foundation for Architecture, Rouse also intended to donate the building to the organization. Under Rouse’s ownership, a Barnes & Noble bookstore moved in and office tenants began to occupy the upper floors. Rouse sold the property in 1986 to Pima Savings & Loan Association of Arizona for $7.85 million. The ground floor space is now occupied by a CVS pharmacy.

The Rotunda, dedicated in honour of Ernest and Elizabeth Samuel, is the Royal Ontario Museum’s ceremonial entrance hall. It features one of the Museum’s most magnificent architectural treasures – a spectacular mosaic dome that has fascinated generations of staff and visitors. Charles T. Currelly, the first director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, conceived of this mosaic introduction for the 1933 addition. The mosaic ceiling was designed to reflect the breadth of the collections, being adorned with patterns and symbols representing cultures throughout the ages and around the world. The ceiling is made from thousands of sheets of imported Venetian glass, cut into more than a million tiny coloured squares. A team of skilled workers laboured for eight months to install the ceiling. Its sparkling gold, rust and bronze background is inset with red, blue and turquoise patterns, recalling the magnificent mosaics of the Byzantine world and Eastern Europe. Worked out on the golden field are geometrical borders and panels which frame decorative floral designs. The central panel is inscribed with a passage from the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible: "That all men may know his work." Each of the sixteen pictorial images on the ceiling and adjacent niches symbolizes a different culture throughout history. In this photo, we see a magical elephant representing India; a three-clawed dragon, representing China; a heraldic griffin of Gothic art; and a Mesopotamian ziggurat. The ceiling is complemented by a stained glass window with 18 panels. Each panel has a red or blue bird in the center surrounded by concentric geometric shapes most of which are a light blue-green hue.

The Rotunda, dedicated in honour of Ernest and Elizabeth Samuel, is the Royal Ontario Museum’s ceremonial entrance hall. It features one of the Museum’s most magnificent architectural treasures – a spectacular mosaic dome that has fascinated generations of staff and visitors. Charles T. Currelly, the first director of the Royal Ontario Museum of Archaeology, conceived of this mosaic introduction for the 1933 addition. The mosaic ceiling was designed to reflect the breadth of the collections, being adorned with patterns and symbols representing cultures throughout the ages and around the world. The ceiling is made from thousands of sheets of imported Venetian glass, cut into more than a million tiny coloured squares. A team of skilled workers laboured for eight months to install the ceiling. Its sparkling gold, rust and bronze background is inset with red, blue and turquoise patterns, recalling the magnificent mosaics of the Byzantine world and Eastern Europe. Worked out on the golden field are geometrical borders and panels which frame decorative floral designs. The central panel is inscribed with a passage from the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible: "That all men may know his work." Each of the sixteen pictorial images on the ceiling and adjacent niches symbolizes a different culture throughout history. In this photo, we see the winged lion of St. Mark, emblem of Venice; an ancient Egyptian falcon-god; a bison from a prehistoric cave painting; and an ancient Assyrian winged bull.

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"Art Under Foot" is a mosaic project which was begun in 2005 by the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association. The Mosaic Art Tile Project has embedded 18 colourful mosaics into the sidewalks of downtown Vancouver. This mosaic depicts a number of different animals which could be found in the environs, including an eagle, beaver and seal. This particular artwork is one of four commissioned as part of the 'cultural olympiad" which took place in Vancouver as part of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Artist Bruce Walther also works in stained glass. On these street projects he is often assisted by art students and other artists through a program called CETA (Creating Employment Through Art).

A mini park on the corner of Filbert and South 12th Streets that features three dimensional shapes covered with mosaics.In particular, there is a baseball-shaped object about 6 feet in diameter – a segment of which is shown above – and a huge, gold upturned cone.