Images(2)

Freehold Court House, 1731

Artist William C. Asman

Period1965

MediumInk on paper

Dimensions6.75 × 10.75 in. (17.1 × 27.3 cm)

InscribedInscribed lower left, "Freehold Court House 1731."

SignedSigned lower right, "Asman 65."

ClassificationsDrawings

Credit LineGift of Jack L. Steinberg, 1985

Object number1985.2.5

DescriptionAn abstract night time depiction of the Monmouth County Court House erected in 1731. The two story, gambrel roofed structure is situation in the lower right hand corner. It has a three bay facade, two bay end gable, shingles with rounded butts, and an exaggerated cupola with a domed roof on the center line of the roof ridge. Three large hills appear to the left of the court house, with bare trees in the foreground. A large half moon rises above the hills behind the court house.
Curatorial RemarksAmong a number of twentieth century artists who drew inspiration from the Battle of Monmouth, William C. Asman was born in Brooklyn, New York. In 1922, he moved with his family to Ramsey, New Jersey, remaining there until relocating to Little Silver in the 1940s. A member of the Guild of Creative Art in Shrewsbury, Asman typically worked with very fine pens. According to a commentator for the New York Times (26 April 1987), his drawings were “flawlessly executed in black ink lines of varying thickness and transparent washes of beautifully muted colors,” a description that applies to this rendering of the historic court house. Asman would have relied on older pictorial sources in creating Freehold Court House, but his artistic vision is highly subjective––a synthesis of realism and abstraction in which the simplified shapes and reductive palette help lend a note of fantasy to the image. Asman and other artists who created renderings of the 1731 court house would have relied on print sources, including an illustration in Benson J. Lossing’s article, “The Battle of Monmouth Court-House” (Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 57 [June 1878]), published in celebration of the centennial of the battle. Lossing said that while visiting Freehold, he met “Mr. J. S. Denise, an old citizen, now over eighty years of age, who seemed to have a vivid recollection of the old court-house, and from his description was enabled to make the drawing . . . It is believed to be very nearly, if not quite, correct.” A photograph of Bill Asman standing beside this drawing was taken at the Association's annual meeting in November 1985. NotesThe Battle of Monmouth is often referred to as the Battle of Monmouth Court House. In 1778, Monmouth Court House was a small agricultural village comprised of about thirty dwellings, a blacksmith shop, two taverns, some shops, and two schoolhouses. Aside from the local church, the most prominent building in the hamlet was the court house on Main Street––a three-story wood structure with shingled sides, almost square, that was surmounted by a gambrel roof with a small cupola. Erected in 1731, this was the second court house (the first one, which opened in 1715, was destroyed by fire in 1727). After the battle, the courthouse served as a refuge for the sick and wounded. In 1809, the second Monmouth Court House was moved to a lot off South Street following construction of a new court house immediately behind it. The old structure then served as a private residence, printing office, and finally a barn. Portions of the building were reportedly still standing as of 1885. The foundations of the 1731 court house remain in place under the plaza in front of the Monmouth County Hall of Records (the former court house), having been exposed some years ago during construction of the plaza.

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