Vanderbilt Cup Races

Thank you, Howard, for that insightful look at Peter Helck’s gift to George Robertson, showing how the Vanderbilt Cup Race of 1908 influenced Peter’s future art career! After Fred Wagner ‘started’ and waved in George Robertson at the 1908 race, three years later during summer vacation 1911, Helck had his “first formal art instruction at the Arts Students League on West 57th Street, a mere 70 yards from Broadway’s ‘Auto Row’.” In the vicinity of that high concentration of domestic and foreign auto dealerships with their “demonstrators” at the curb, Helck “on occasion” glimpsed “the great Ralph De Palma…” and recalled that “Around the corner was the U.S. Tire Building where observing eyes focused on others of the Row’s distinguished personages including Fred Wagner…” causing Helck to observe, “Art study in this environment left its mark.” During 1911-1912, Wagner moved from New Rochelle to Smithtown, commuting via the Motor Parkway to Auto Row, and building his, now National Register, home designed by Gustav Stickley. When Helck spotted him, Wagner was working in publishing and advertising, primarily for auto tires and inviting ‘Auto Row’ to Smithtown for his annual summer picnics, attended by De Palma, Robertson and many other notables. See “Peter Helck, American Artist (1893-1988), Memoirs Part 1,” 1911 [from Bulb Horn, July-Sept. 1981] at http://www.peterhelck.com/memoirs.php

Simply wonderful from all perspectives.

Francis @ http://www.motometercentral.com