Marion Sims Wyeth: Architect & Artist

QUIET, SUBDUED, RATIONAL

GOLFVIEW ROAD

WYETH IN EUROPE

[Above] Frederic Rhinelander King, Eleanor Orr Wyeth, Edith Morgan King at the Beaux-Arts Ball in New York City

Upon completing his undergraduate studies at Princeton in 1910, Wyeth traveled to Paris, France, to attend the world-renowned architecture school at the École des Beaux Arts. In 1912 Wyeth was admitted to the École through the rigorous entrance competition and studied under Henri Delgane, one of the architects of the Grand Palais des Champs Élysées. The École was an influential institution that educated other notable architects such as Charles McKim of McKim, Mead & White, and Carrère and Hastings—for whom Wyeth later worked as a draftsman. Wyeth’s education in classical proportions and geometry prepared him for the many great works he would design.

In 1914 Wyeth traveled to Rome where he served as private secretary to Thomas Nelson Page, the American ambassador in Italy. The position allowed Wyeth to study classical architecture in the field. During his time in Europe, he also visited his aunt, who had a villa in Rapallo near Genoa, Italy, where he painted watercolor studies of the countryside. These studies are a direct connection to the architect as a young man and artist, and they demonstrate how his travels influenced his later designs.

[Right] École des Beaux Arts. “The École developed the most precise and rigid approach of any system of architecture education ever conceived.”—Jean Paul Carlhian

[Above] Wyeth won second prize in the Rougevin competition for his tapestry painting The Triumph of French Art, 1914

[Left] Excerpt from Wyeth’s journal while in Italy.

Artwork • Avezzano Earthquake Study, circa 1915. Watercolor on paper.

An Earthquake hit Avezzano in central Italy on January 13, 1915. Wyeth was sent to the town to provide disaster aid. While there, he made sketches and wrote down architectural proportions of what remained. This watercolor depicts his impression of the devastation.

• Italian countryside study, 1912-1915. Watercolor on paper.

• Italian structure study, 1912-1915. Perspective View from the Bay. Watercolor on paper.

• Italian countryside study, 1912-1915. Watercolor on paper.

SOUTHWOOD The spacious lakefront estate known as Southwood was designed by Marion Sims Wyeth in 1934. The spare-noexpense estate was commissioned by Dr. John A. Vietor and his wife, Eleanor Woodward Vietor, a Jell-O heiress, at the cost $190,000—or about $2.4 million adjusted for inflation. Wyeth incorporated Monterey and Southern Colonial details, which was a departure from the prevailing Mediterranean Revival style that was popular prior to the Great Depression.

[Right] Bernard Boutet de Monvel portrait of Eleanor Emily Woodward Vietor

The U-shaped layout of the home provides not only expansive views of the lakefront but also allows the outdoors to come inside. Wyeth is even quoted as saying, “Climate is important here. I try to make the outside part of the house.”

[Below] Southwood Entryway, Brantley Photography

[Above] Detail of Etched Mirror Design, architectural drawing by Wyeth [Left] Detail of Entryway, architectural drawing by Wyeth

[Above] Etched Mirror, Brantley Photography

Art Captions • Aerial Image of Southwood Estate, 1937. Photograph

by Samuel H. Gottscho.

• Wyeth and King Architects. Plot Plan of Southwood, 1934. Print.

SHANGRI LA Evoking the fabled city, the Shangri La designed

by Marion Sims Wyeth for newlyweds Doris Duke and James Cromwell merges Wyeth’s distinctive architectural style and Duke’s love of Islamic art.

Originally, Duke was inspired to recreate the Taj Mahal in Palm Beach, but once they stopped in Honolulu, Hawaii, their plans changed. Shangri La would be the first home that Doris Duke commissioned to be built.

[Above] Construction of the dining room, circa 1937

Her familiarity with Wyeth’s work led her to choose him to design her new estate. Its dramatic location on the island of Oahu provided a picturesque backdrop for Wyeth’s design. Wyeth utilized a subdued courtyard design, allowing Duke to showcase her ever-expanding Islamic art collection. Early descriptions of the house stated there would only be three bedrooms and one guest room, though in actuality the final space is approximately fourteen thousand square feet of connected indoor and outdoor spaces.

[Above] Doris Duke, 1939. Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Archives [Right] Marion Sims Wyeth (third from left), 1937, with Hawaiian coworkers during construction, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Archives Artwork • Early south elevation of Shangri La, circa 1936. Print • Early aerial perspective of Shangri La, circa 1936. Print.

NORTON MUSEUM OF ART

[Above] Ralph and Elizabeth Norton, Norton Museum of Art archives

Marion Sims Wyeth first worked with Ralph and Elizabeth Norton in 1935, when he transformed their Mediterranean Revival house on Barcelona Road in West Palm Beach into a Monterey style home (now the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens). A few years later in 1940, Norton commissioned Wyeth & King to design the Norton Gallery and School of Art (now known as the Norton Museum of Art). The Gallery and School was the first of its kind in South Florida, and Wyeth worked closely with Norton to create a building to house his art collection and educate the community.

It was designed in the modern version of the Beaux Arts style: Art Deco. Wyeth’s design remains an integral part of the museum, which underwent a major expansion in 2019 by Foster + Partners.

Sculpture Study The original entrance of the building faced South Olive Avenue with a tripartite, symmetrical façade. Wyeth recommended Paul Manship, one of the leading Art Deco sculptors in the United States, to design the sculptures that would reside in the niches on either side of the entrance.

William Johnson, an architect who worked for Wyeth and later became a partner, was tasked with creating studies of the mythological figures Diana and Actaeon to determine what scale they would be cast in. Wyeth and Manship also explored different concepts for the bas-reliefs that would be placed above the statues. In this study of Diana, an alternate bas-relief representing sculpture as an artform was used. Note that “Inscription here” was a placeholder for the passage from Henry Austin Dobson’s Ars Victrix: “All passes.

Art alone enduring / stays to us. The bust outlasts / the throne. The coin Tiberius.”

Artwork • Wyeth and King Architects, circa 1940. Study of Diana.

Graphite with collaged elements.

• Wyeth and King Architects, circa 1940. Olive Street Elevation. Graphite on paper.

• Manship’s Diana with the bas-relief Interpretation, 1941.

Photograph by Frank Turgeon.

• Original entrance facade on South Olive Avenue, 1941.

Photograph by Frank Turgeon.

[Above] One of the American painting galleries with a Jessup designed bench [Left] Polly Jessup, a friend to both Norton and Wyeth, designed furniture for the galleries, Norton Museum of Art archives

[Left & Above] Correspondence between Wyeth and Norton, Norton Museum of Art Archives