Henry Rutgers Marshall

Background

Henry Rutgers Marshall was the son of Henry Perry and Cornelia (Conrad) Marshall. He was born on July 22, 1852 in New York City, a descendant of Edward Marshall who came thither from Barbados in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and of his son John, who married Elsie, daughter of the well-known brewer, Harman Rutgers 2nd. Henry Rutgers Marshall was therefore related to the famous Rutgers family of New York City and New Jersey.

Education

He was educated at private schools in New York, and then at Columbia College, where he received the degree of B. A. in 1873 and that of M. A. in 1876. After a year in business, he turned to architecture.

Career

His practice, begun in 1878, was widely scattered and included Rudyard Kipling's house in Brattleboro, Vt. , the Storm King Club at Cornwall, N. Y. , a Congregational church at Colorado Springs, Colo. , and the old building (since destroyed) of the Brearley School in New York. After the premature death of his wife in 1888 his interest turned more and more toward psychology, philosophy, and aesthetics. He published "The Field of Aesthetics Psychologically Considered" (Mind, July, October 1892), Pain, Pleasure, and Aesthetics in 1894, and a year later, Aesthetic Principles. He was a member of the American Psychological Association and its president in 1907, and a member of the American Philosophical Association. He lectured an aesthetics at several universities and gave the principal address on aesthetics before the St. Louis International Congress of Arts and Sciences in 1904. With all his philosophic interests, Marshall never forgot his original profession. During his later years he lived almost entirely at the Columbia University Club and at his summer home in Woodbury, Connecticut, spending his leisure hours at the Century Association, of which he was a much loved member. He was buried in Woodbury, Connecticut.

Achievements

• He was a fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and president of the New York Chapter from 1902 to 1904. He was also one of the committee of the Fine Arts Federation which elaborated the idea of a municipal art commission and procured its inclusion in the New York city charter. He was the architect member of that commission from 1902 to 1905, and from 1914 till his death he was its executive secretary, giving to it the greater part of his time and energy.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Last Episode of the French Revolution: Being a History of Gracchus Babeuf and the Conspiracy of the Equals, by Ernest Belfort Bax

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Pain, pleasure, and aesthetics : an essay concerning the psychology of pain and pleasure, with speci

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • Aesthetic Principles

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • War and the Ideal of Peace: A Study of Those Characteristics of Man that Result in War, and of the M

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • Instinct and Reason: An Essay Concerning the Relation of Instinct to Reason, With Some Special Study, of the Nature of Religion (Classic Reprint)

    (Religion, which will be found below. In attempting to mak...)

  • Sthetic Principles (1901 1895 )

    (Originally published in 1895. This volume from the Cornel...)

Views

Marshall's aesthetic ideas were further clarified in The Relation of Aesthetics to Psychology and Philosophy (1905), and in The Beautiful (London, 1924). Marshall's aesthetic theory is mainly the result of the application of common sense to aesthetic speculation; he makes a sharp distinction between the aesthetic processes of the creator and those of the observer; and his psychological study led him to be suspicious of easy generalities like those of Bernard Bosanquet. He also lays great stress on the pleasure and pain factors of aesthetics. His philosophical interests widened continually. To academic psychology and philosophy he brought a refreshing and unconventional directness of speculation; Instinct and Reason (1898) and Mind and Conduct (1919) show the breadth and the basic simplicity of his approach. The more daring type of metaphysical speculation (yet governed by his typical persuasive common sense) is well illustrated in Human and Other Types of Consciousness (1905). Obviously humanistic in the broad sense, his philosophy led him to generally conservative ideals.

Membership

a member of the American Psychological Association, a member of the American Philosophical Association, a fellow of the American Institute of Architects

Personality

Marshall was an idealistic pacifist, and in War and the Ideal of Peace (1915) his hatred of war found expression. Yet, as the World War drew on his war hatred gradually yielded to fear of German victory. When the United States finally entered the war, therefore, he, like so many other pacifists of his age and background, became enthusiastically patriotic, and in The Atlantic Monthly for May 1918, he published an article, "The Pacifist at War, " which was perhaps the most forceful apologia for what was at best an illogical stand.

Connections

On May 18, 1881, he married Julia Robbins Gilman, but in 1888 she died. His only child, a daughter, predeceased him.

Father:

Henry Perry Marshall

17 February 1814 - 16 November 1888

Mother:

Cornelia E. Conrad Marshall

1 October 1815 - 7 September 1887

Brother:

John Henry Marshall

28 August 1841 - 9 August 1850

Sister:

Cornelia Ellsworth Marshall

6 January 1856 - 2 September 1934

Sister:

Blandina Tappan Marshall

25 January 1847 - 28 April 1923

Sister:

Julia Perry Marshall

7 November 1845 - 28 March 1928

Wife:

Julia R Gilman Marshall

6 May 1850 - 1 Jan 1888