Login
Login

Samuel Yellin

{{short description|American master blacksmith and metal designer}}

{{Infobox artist

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Samuel Yellin

| honorific_suffix =

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth year|1884}}

| birth_place = Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)

| death_date = {{Death year and age|1940|1884}}

| death_place =

| resting_place =

| resting_place_coordinates =

| nationality = American

| education = Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art

| alma_mater =

| known_for = Master blacksmith, metal designer

| notable_works =

| style =

| movement =

| spouse =

| awards =

| elected =

| patrons =

| memorials =

| website =

| module =

}}

File:CathedralofLearningLampDetail.jpg in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]]

Samuel Yellin (1884–1940) was an American master blacksmith and metal designer.

Early life and education

File:Yellin Shop T-Square Catalogue 1922 p.27.jpg

Samuel Yellin was born to a Jewish family in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Ukraine in the Russian Empire in 1884. At the age of eleven, he was apprenticed to a master ironsmith. In 1900, at the age of sixteen, he completed his apprenticeship. Shortly afterwards he left Ukraine and traveled through Europe. In about 1905, he arrived in Philadelphia, in the United States, where his mother and two sisters were already living. His brother arrived in Philadelphia at about the same time. In early 1906, Yellin took classes at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art and within several months was teaching classes there, a position he maintained until 1919.[https://library.uarts.edu/archives/notablealumni.html#yellin "Notable Alumni - UArts"], University of the Arts, Retrieved 30 May 2020.

Career

In 1909, Yellin opened his own metalsmith shop.[http://www.samuelyellin.com/history/ "Samuel Yellin Metalworkers - History"], Samuel Yellin Metalworkers, Inc., Retrieved 30 May 2020. In 1915, the firm of Mellor, Meigs & Howe, for whom he designed and created many commissions, designed a new studio for Samuel Yellin Metalworkers at 5520 Arch Street in Philadelphia. Yellin died in 1940, but the firm remained there for decades under the direction of Yellin's son, Harvey. Following Harvey's death, the business moved forward under the ownership and guidance of Samuel Yellin's granddaughter, Clare Yellin. The firm has now been in operation for over 110 years as of this writing (2022).

During the building boom of the 1920s, Samuel Yellin Metalworkers employed as many as 250 workers, many of them European artisans. Although Yellin was highly knowledgeable about traditional craftsmanship and design, he also championed creativity and the development of new designs. Samuel Yellin's works can be found in some of the finest buildings in America.

=Honors=

Yellin received awards from the Art Institute of Chicago (1919), the American Institute of Architects (1920), the Architectural League of New York (1922), and the Bok Civic Award from the City of Philadelphia (1925).[https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/23067 Samuel Yellin – Biography], from Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. He was a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the T Square Club, the Philadelphia Sketch Club, and the Architectural League of New York.[https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/23067 "Yellin, Samuel (1885-1940)"], Philadelphia Architects and Buildings, Retrieved 30 May 2020.

=Selected works=

==Universities, colleges and schools==

File:Yellin T-Square Club Catalogue 1922 p.242.jpg

{{Div col}}

{{div col end}}

File:Warren E. Robinson Gateway at Bowdoin College, ME IMG 1947.JPG|Robinson Memorial Gateway (1922–23), Bowdoin College

File:Yellin.jpg|Entrance gates (1924), Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia

File:Great Hall Bryn Mawr College PA.jpg|Great Hall, Bryn Mawr College

File:Cathedral of learning lights.jpg|Cathedral of Learning (1926), University of Pittsburgh

File:StphFostMemShrine.jpg|Stephen Foster Memorial (1937), University of Pittsburgh

==Institutional and commercial==

(Alphabetical by state)

{{Div col}}

{{div col end}}

File:Bok Tower door.JPG|Great Brass Door, Bok Singing Tower, Lake Wales, Florida

File:Interrior view, Art Institute of Chicago.jpg|Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

File:DIAhall2.jpg|Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, Michigan

=Ecclesiastical=

{{Div col}}

{{div col end}}

File:Yellin Gates 1920 Yearbook NY Arch League p246.jpg|Harrison Memorial Gates (1918), Washington Memorial Chapel, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

File:St Marks door, Locust St, Philly.JPG|Fiske Portal (1922–23), St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia

File:Altar 02 - Resurrection Chapel - National Cathedral - DC.JPG|Cross & candlesticks (1925), Resurrection Chapel, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C.

File:Fleisher Art Memorial.JPG|Entrance grille (1934), Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia

File:Thistle ironwork - Joseph of Arimathea Chapel - National Cathedral - DC.JPG|Screen (1938), St. Joseph of Arimathea Chapel, Washington National Cathedral

File:Iron gates designed by Samuel Yellin at Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Pennsylvania, USA.jpg|Chancel iron gates (ca. 1912) at Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, Pennsylvania

=Residential=

File:Interior view, detail view of iron railing and signature of Samuel Yellin with date (1923) (Duplicate view of HABS DC-825-16) - Dumbarton Oaks, 3101 R Street, Northwest, HABS DC,GEO,234-33 (CT).tif, including Yellin's name and year]]

File:Spider fly screen by Samuel Yellin.jpg

(Alphabetical by state)

{{Div col}}

{{div col end}}

Architects whose names appear in Yellin's job book

{{Div col}}

{{div col end}}

References

= Citations =

{{reflist}}

=Sources=

  • Andrews, Jack, Samuel Yellin: Metalsmith, Skipjack Press, Ocean Pines Maryland, 2000
  • Andrews, Jack, Samuel Yellin, Metalworker, Anvil's Ring, Summer, 1982
  • Architecture magazine, April 1929
  • Bach, Penny Balkin, Public Art in Philadelphia, Temple University Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992
  • Bedford, Steven McLeod, John Russell Pope: Architect of Empire, Rizzoli International Publications, New York City, 1998
  • Bok, Edward W., America's Taj Mahal: The Singing Tower of Florida, The Georgia Marble Company, Tate, Georgia, c. 1929
  • Davis, Myra T., Sketches in Iron, no publishing information
  • Detroit Institute of Arts: The Architecture, The Detroit Institute of Arts 1928
  • Fariello, Anna, "Samuel Yellin: Sketching in Iron," Metalsmith Magazine, Fall 2003, http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/samuel-yellin.htm
  • Federman, Peter, The Detroit Public Library, Classical America IV, Classical America 1977
  • Gallery, John A., Editor, Philadelphia Architecture: A Guide to the City, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1984
  • Harrington, Ty, "The Wizardry of Samuel Yellin, Artist in Metals", Smithsonian, vol. 12, no. 12 (March 1982), pp. 65–75
  • Heilbrun, Margaret, The Architecture of Cass Gilbert, Inventing the Skyline, Columbia University Press, New York City, 2000
  • Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Architectural Sculpture of America, unpublished manuscript
  • Teitelman, Edward & Richard W. Longstreth, Architecture in Philadelphia: A Guide, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts 1981
  • Wattenmaker, Richard J., Samuel Yellin in Context, Flint Museum of Arts, Flint, Michigan 1985
  • Wister, Cret, Gilchrist et al., Melor Meigs & Howe, Graybooks, Boulder Colorado 1991 (reprint of 1923 work)

External links

{{commons category}}

  • [https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/23067 Samuel Yellin, Iron Worker], at Philadelphia Architects and Buildings

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yellin, Samuel}}

Category:1884 births

Category:1940 deaths

Category:People from Mohyliv-Podilskyi

Category:Jewish American sculptors

Category:Jewish Ukrainian sculptors

Category:American blacksmiths

Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent

Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent

Category:Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe)

Category:Polish emigrants to the United States

Category:Ukrainian emigrants to the United States

Category:University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni

Category:University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty