Emile Brunel Studio and Sculpture Garden
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Emile Brunel Studio and Sculpture Garden | |
 Natache (left), Moon Haw Haw and Great White Spirit, 2008 | |
   | |
| Location | Boiceville, New York |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Kingston |
| Coordinates | 41°59′59″N 74°15′50″W / 41.99972°N 74.26389°W |
| Area | 1.3 acres (5,300 m2)[1] |
| Built | 1918–47[1] |
| Architect | Emile Brunel |
| Architectural style | Arts and Crafts |
| NRHP reference No. | 99000909[2] |
| Added to NRHP | August 10, 1999 |
The Emile Brunel Sculpture Garden and Studio, also known as the Totem Indian Trading Post, Le Chalet Indien, and Brunel Park, is located on Da Silva Road, just off the NY 28 state highway, in Boiceville, Town of Olive, New York, United States. It consists of seven sculptures and three buildings.
Brunel was a French immigrant and artist who had become fascinated by the Native American tribes of the West during his travels there in the early 20th century. After a successful career as a photographer he bought a tract of land in the Catskills and built a studio residence and a resort on it, decorated with sculptures inspired by the Native American art he had seen. The resort closed and the statues were relocated soon thereafter when Route 28 was widened through it at the end of World War II, but the sculpture garden remained a popular roadside attraction afterwards.
In 1929 Brunel began construction of a studio residence on the site in the "neo-rustic" or French Arts and Craft style. His wife and daughter (both named Gladyse) kept the sculpture garden maintained after his death in 1944, operating a nearby souvenir shop until 1985. The artist's home and studio remain intact, and were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
Studio
The studio and sculpture garden are located on a 1.3-acre (5,300 m2) lot at the intersection of Da Silva and Route 28, approximately a half-mile (1 km) south of the small hamlet of Boiceville. The area is primarily wooded, with the land generally sloping westward towards Esopus Creek. There are some other houses on the former resort property uphill and to the east, and along Route 28 to the south. The land across the highway is undeveloped since it is owned by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection as a buffer for Ashokan Reservoir to the south.
There are nine resources on the property. Seven (the sculptures and totem poles) are art objects and three are buildings: the studio, a shed and a log cabin fronting on Da Silva. The latter was built in 1960 to serve as a souvenir store and is thus not old enough to be considered a contributing resource to the National Register listing.
The studio, on the west side of Da Silva, is a two-story frame building with exposed basement, sided in rough stucco with carved reliefs of Native American scenes and a profile of Brunel and his wife with the legend "Le don de Dieu" (French for "the gift of God"). Its gabled roof, with broad overhanging eaves, is pierced on the south (front) by two gabled dormer windows. Fenestration is irregular and asymmetrical.[1]
Inside it has a garage and storage room on the first story, a living room, kitchen and dining room on the second, and bedrooms in the attic. The first floor fireplace has a stucco surround with carvings of large birds, and birds are also painted on the windows. Finishes of fiberboard sheathing, simple moldings, beamed ceilings and built-in cabinetry are original.[1]
Sculpture garden
A short path west of the house climbs a gentle rise a short distance to the sculpture garden. It is dominated by three large sculptures created by shaped wire mesh filled with rocks and then covered in concrete. On the south of the garden is the 30-foot–tall (10 m) Moon Haw Haw, a male figure with a single feather at the rear of his head looking skywards towards the Burroughs Range to the west with both arms outstretched, palms facing upwards. It is complemented by Natache, a similarly attired seated female figure with one hand held aloft. On her back is a child in a papoose.[1]
The third sculpture, The Great White Spirit, is located in the north corner. It is a tree with spreading roots, of the same height as Moon Haw Haw. At its top are four faces representing Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. They are complemented by four faces at the base, representing the vices of jealousy, greed, hate and lust. Alternatively the four faces at the base represent the anti-thesis of those on top: Jesus and Satan; Moses and Pharaoh; Buddha and Mara, the king of Demons; and Mohammed and Bacchus, the god of wine. The work was Brunel's last and also serves as his monument, as his ashes are interred within it.[1]
There are also two large totem poles made by the same method. A third which collapsed and was partially buried was resurrected in 2002. Smaller sculptures, including a nesting pelican and seated chief, which serves as a bbq chimney are also located around the garden.[1]
