The Irish American artist Andrew O’Connor was commissioned to execute much of the Library’s exterior relief sculpture, but his contract was scaled back when he failed to work quickly enough to satisfy McKim and Morgan. This telegram (sent from Paris, where O’Connor kept a studio) conveys the sculptor’s own frustration.
After O’Connor was relieved of his commission for the rectangular reliefs, Adolph Weinman stepped in to design them. O’Connor ultimately completed the dedicatory panel supported by winged angels and the tympanum featuring the mark of the Aldine Press.
Andrew O’Connor (1874–1941)
Telegram to Charles Follen McKim, Paris, 21 November 1904
New-York Historical Society, McKim, Mead & White Architectural Collection