Portrait of Gerald Stanley Lee
Image ID: ART069
oil portrait of Gerald Stanley Lee, standing.
oil on canvas signed l.l., undated
Displayed in the Hampshire Room for Local History
Stanislav Rembski
This imposing, full-length portrait of Northampton resident Gerald Stanley Lee, minister, author, magazine editor, columnist, teacher, and popular philosopher of the early twentieth century, was painted by Polish-born portrait artist Rembski (1896-1944), who also resided in Northampton. It was given to the Forbes library in 1951 by David Merrick Howland, a longtime benefactor of the Library. Howland was a descendant of Charles Starkweather, one of twenty-one prominent Northampton citizens who journeyed to California in 1849 to seek gold.
Lee, who made his home on Dryads Green, lived from 1862 to 1944. Known as the philosopher of "towering hopefulness," he was renowned as a prolific writer and also as an inventor of "exercise techniques." He is referred to affectionately by some current library patrons as "father of aerobics." But he is certainly not portrayed by artist Rembski in an exercise mode; the portrait (cleaned in 1982) shows him in serious full-suited pose, befitting his stature as a minister and author. One of his books, Crowds: A Moving Picture of Democracy, was a 1913 best-seller. in 1945, Mrs. Lee gave her husband's extensive private library to Forbes. His papers, letters, and manuscripts are also deposited at the Library.
The date of the painting is unrecorded. Judging from the assumed age of the subject at the time of the sitting, it likely was done in the late 1920's, when the athletic Reverend Lee was in his mid-sixties.
oil on canvas signed l.l., undated
Displayed in the Hampshire Room for Local History
Stanislav Rembski
This imposing, full-length portrait of Northampton resident Gerald Stanley Lee, minister, author, magazine editor, columnist, teacher, and popular philosopher of the early twentieth century, was painted by Polish-born portrait artist Rembski (1896-1944), who also resided in Northampton. It was given to the Forbes library in 1951 by David Merrick Howland, a longtime benefactor of the Library. Howland was a descendant of Charles Starkweather, one of twenty-one prominent Northampton citizens who journeyed to California in 1849 to seek gold.
Lee, who made his home on Dryads Green, lived from 1862 to 1944. Known as the philosopher of "towering hopefulness," he was renowned as a prolific writer and also as an inventor of "exercise techniques." He is referred to affectionately by some current library patrons as "father of aerobics." But he is certainly not portrayed by artist Rembski in an exercise mode; the portrait (cleaned in 1982) shows him in serious full-suited pose, befitting his stature as a minister and author. One of his books, Crowds: A Moving Picture of Democracy, was a 1913 best-seller. in 1945, Mrs. Lee gave her husband's extensive private library to Forbes. His papers, letters, and manuscripts are also deposited at the Library.
The date of the painting is unrecorded. Judging from the assumed age of the subject at the time of the sitting, it likely was done in the late 1920's, when the athletic Reverend Lee was in his mid-sixties.
Image Details
| Dublin Core | |
|---|---|
| Title |
Portrait of Gerald Stanley Lee
|
| Subject |
Gerald Stanley Lee
Oil paintings
Portrait paintings
|
| Description |
oil portrait of Gerald Stanley Lee, standing.
oil on canvas signed l.l., undated Displayed in the Hampshire Room for Local History Stanislav Rembski This imposing, full-length portrait of Northampton resident Gerald Stanley Lee, minister, author, magazine editor, columnist, teacher, and popular philosopher of the early twentieth century, was painted by Polish-born portrait artist Rembski (1896-1944), who also resided in Northampton. It was given to the Forbes library in 1951 by David Merrick Howland, a longtime benefactor of the Library. Howland was a descendant of Charles Starkweather, one of twenty-one prominent Northampton citizens who journeyed to California in 1849 to seek gold. Lee, who made his home on Dryads Green, lived from 1862 to 1944. Known as the philosopher of "towering hopefulness," he was renowned as a prolific writer and also as an inventor of "exercise techniques." He is referred to affectionately by some current library patrons as "father of aerobics." But he is certainly not portrayed by artist Rembski in an exercise mode; the portrait (cleaned in 1982) shows him in serious full-suited pose, befitting his stature as a minister and author. One of his books, Crowds: A Moving Picture of Democracy, was a 1913 best-seller. in 1945, Mrs. Lee gave her husband's extensive private library to Forbes. His papers, letters, and manuscripts are also deposited at the Library. The date of the painting is unrecorded. Judging from the assumed age of the subject at the time of the sitting, it likely was done in the late 1920's, when the athletic Reverend Lee was in his mid-sixties. |
| Creator |
Stanislav Rembski
|
| Date |
l.l. signed
|
| Format |
Oil on canvas
|
| Identifier |
ART069
|
| Still Image Item Type Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Original Format |
painting
|
| Physical Dimensions |
Frame size: 69.5" x 38.75" x 1.25"
63.5 x 32.75"
|
Citation
Stanislav Rembski, “Portrait of Gerald Stanley Lee,” Forbes Library Images from the Archives (Legacy site: Pre-2022), accessed May 20, 2024, https://images.forbeslibrary.org/items/show/809.