Resorts at Sea: Bill King's ss United States Smoking Room

Not bad as far as drafts go. Definitely need to find better images! Enjoy!

 

To see images of King's latest exhibition at the Algus Greenspon Gallery, go here.

 

To learn more about Bill King, go here.

 



 

An illustration from the Lester Beall designed United States Lines brochure. The overall color scheme

is representative, but the mural colors, except for the bronze, are way off. Instead of the beige

shown here, it was actually rendered in shades of blue-green.

 

Dorothy Marckwald and Anne Urquhart contacted the dean of Cooper Union in early 1951 asking if there were any “rising stars” they should be aware of. The dean gave them William King.¹

“It was a jet assisted boost to my career,” King said. “Heady days.”

Born in 1925, in Jacksonville, Florida, King originally wanted to be an architect, but after two years at the University of Florida, something was lacking. In a story King is fond of telling, his mother told him, “Here’s a hundred dollars. Now get out of this state and don’t come back till you’re 65. There’s nothing here for you.” ²

Two years at Cooper Union were followed by a stint at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, where, in addition to his studies, he was an assistant instructor in sculpture. A Fulbright grant in 1949-1950 took him to Italy, during which he spent time at the Accademia dei Belle Arti in Rome.

Group shows include those at the RoKo Gallery in New York, the Cooper Union Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art’s “New Talent” exhibit of 1950. King was commissioned to do a fresco in South Solon, Maine in 1951. His works are in the collections of Nelson Rockefeller and John Hay Whitney, and others. ³

X marks the spot of King's mural.

 

Which brings us to this mural. Almost born to sculpt, this piece for the smoking room is definitely a departure. Wanting something of the oceans and time, King drew out the Mercator projection on a piece of cardboard for Marckwald and Urquhart. “They liked it,” King remembers, dryly. (But he also wondered if the ladies were in over their heads.) By fall 1951, the commission was officially his.

On December 1, 1951, King joined Charles Gilbert, Gwen Lux, Hildreth Meiere, Peter Ostuni, Austin Purves, Jr., Louis Ross, Charles Lin Tissot, and Raymond Wendell for a tour of United States, hosted by designer William Francis Gibbs. Though the ship looked practically complete on the outside, much work was going on inside. King remembers standing in the forward part of the ship and feeling he could see clear to the stern.

The artists at the shipyard. From left to right: Austin Purves, Jr., Charles Lin Tissot, Louis Ross,

William King (highlighted), Hildreth Meiere, Charles Gilbert, Gwen Lux, Raymond Wendell, and Peter Ostuni.

(image courtesy of David Hendrickson)

 

It took King almost six weeks to work up the full size sample in the cold water flat he shared with his wife, painter Lois Dodd⁴, on East 29^th Street, New York; full size being approximately 25 feet wide and 10 feet high. Drawn figuratively, the continents are dotted with bronze plaques labeling important cities. A frieze of clocks marking time zones graces the top. Finishing touches are a few decorative waves, and bands indicating the equator, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, and 40 degrees north latitude.⁵ The blue greens of the mural are in striking contrast to the browns and coppers of the room. You cannot help but notice it.

Through spring 1952, there were “beaucoup meets” with Rambusch Decorators during the fabrication process, which turned King’s sketches into five slightly curved panels of 1/8-inch thick aluminum.

1. Direct quotes, unless otherwise noted, are from conversations and correspondence between Bill King and Wayne Yanda.

2. This story has been phrased in a variety of ways in a variety of interviews.

3. Selected exhibit and collection data are from the William King papers, 1910-2007. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, reels 487, 488.
4. King and Dodd were soon to separate and divorce.
5. In a letter dated January 31, 1952, Anne Urquhart wrote Austin Purves, Jr. telling him she saw some of King’s metal work, thinking “it is very swell.” Austin Purves papers, 1939-1961. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, reels 112, 113.