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Scully's centennial

By Mark Alden Branch ’86 | 7:52am August 21 2020

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vincent Scully Jr. ’40, ’49PhD, the renowned Yale professor and art historian, who died in 2017. Shown here is a mural portrait of Scully painted by the artist Gaia on a wall in Seaside, Florida, a “new urbanism” town inspired by Scully’s ideas. Read our 2008 cover story on Scully here. What are your memories of Vincent Scully?

Filed under Vincent Scully, Seaside

4 comments

  • James Hotaling
    James Hotaling, 11:52am August 21 2020 | Ico flag Flag as inappropriate

    Why was the frame painted ? To make it more 'formal' or is it a reproduction of an actual frame ?

  • Alissa Ardito
    Alissa Ardito, 12:24pm August 21 2020 | Ico flag Flag as inappropriate

    To attend even a single lecture by Professor Scully was to venture on journey to the past through its buildings, which abide with us. His glorious eloquence rested upon an exquisite attention to detail, explained so that we might learn to see - and the better to appreciate - the interplay between space and masonry of Roman architecture, for instance; the ceilings and corners of Johnson’s glass house; the severity of seventeenth century French gardens that recall the Jansenism of Port Royale. Professor Scully combined visual acuity with an unparalleled richness of reference, along with great kindness, and for so many of us his lectures are cherished memories of what it meant to attend Yale.

  • Rob Steuteville
    Rob Steuteville, 10:11am August 22 2020 | Ico flag Flag as inappropriate

    I like the frame. It gives the work a third dimension, because it seems to pop out of the side of the building. It also gives the work boundaries, rather than just letting it bleed into the side of the building with odd shapes and various size windows. My guess is that this is not a copy of a painting, but just the decision of the muralist.

  • George Huthsteiner '74 TD
    George Huthsteiner '74 TD, 6:01pm September 08 2020 | Ico flag Flag as inappropriate

    Professor Scully was my "section leader" for his legendary Modern Architecture course. I was a freshman pre-med biology major. He was very kind to me and found my ideas about Beinecke Library to be "...very..uh,..twentieth-century!." His passion and precision on stage at the Law School auditorium were worthy of a great actor who really knew how to improvise great monologues. I believe Scully started as an Yale English Dept grad student, then transferred to the Art History dept.

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