Widely celebrated as the father of the Studio Furniture Movement, Wharton Esherick is one of the most important furniture designers of the twentieth century. Presenting his preserved hillside house and studio, this book showcases seven decades of innovative woodwork and sculpture, embodying his influence on American art and design. Wharton Esherick (1887–1970) stands as a pivotal figure in 20th-century American art, craft, and design. Now known as the Wharton Esherick Museum, the artist’s self-proclaimed “autobiography in three dimensions” on Valley Forge Mountain, constructed between 1926 and 1966, served as his creative epicenter and a vibrant community hub. To introduce Esherick’s visionary work to a broader public, this book draws on the museum’s collection of almost 3,000 objects, many never before seen outside his home and studio, following Esherick’s evolution from paintings and woodcut illustrations to his revolutionary fusion of furniture and organic sculpture. Through fully contextualizing iconic works in Esherick’s own space, this book immerses readers in his creative world while capturing his unparalleled artistic contributions to the realms of furniture, architecture, prints, drawings, and sculpture.
Wharton Esherick (1887- 1970) lived to create. He found his true voice in sculpture, working primarily in local woods he gathered from the forest surrounding his home and studio in rural Pennsylvania. The spiritual father of the contemporary studio furniture movement in America, he pioneered the way for successive generations of woodworking artists to develop their original designs. His work blurs the traditional distinctions between sculpture and furniture, form and function. Written by Esherick's son-in-law, this book features photographs of Esherick's most important artworks as well as the woodland studio he designed, built, and furnished over the course of several decades.
Daring Design: The Impact of Three Women on Wharton Esherick's Craft explores the significant impact of three women-Helene Fischer, Hanna Weil, and Marjorie Content-on the artistic development and career of sculptor and studio craftsman Wharton Esherick.
Complete set of the thirteen woodcut illustrations used in the 1924 edition of Song of the Broad-axe by Walt Whitman, published by Centaur Press in Philadelphia. Each woodcut is titled and numbered "16". The titles are (as they appear in the book): No.I, Ship struck in storm, Beauty of woodmen, building, the forger, hell of war, The great city, of the best-bodied mothers, the hammers-men, the headsman, solid forest, the liquor-bar, and No.II.
Harold Mason, owner of the Centaur Bookshop in Philadelphia asked Wharton Esherick to illustrate Walt Whitman's "Song of the broad-axe", which Mason published in a limited edtion in 1924. Esherick created a hand-bound prototype book of Whitman's poem, using prints made directly from his blocks and hand-lettering it in Esherick's own calligraphic style. Illuminated letters were used to begin paragraphs, and spaces at the end of lines were filled with blue and yellow drawings that reflect the content of the verses. The result was a work of art, 17 x 12 inches, with pages of handmade paper, folded and uncut. This book is a reproduction of Esherick's prototype, authorized by the Wharton Esherick Museum in Paoli, Pennsylvania. Though this edition is smaller than the prototype book, the original was carefully scanned and printed to provide as true a reproduction as possible. It faithfully captures the artist's vision and skill and, for the first time, makes this work available to the general public.
"This book celebrates the 100th birthday of Wayne Thiebaud. Best known for his tantalizing paintings of cakes and pies, Thiebaud has long been affiliated with pop art, though his body of work is far more expansive. This book includes pieces drawn from both the holdings at The Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California, and from the collection of the Thiebaud family, many of which have never been published or shown publicly"--
This lovely book provides the first comprehensive examination of Eastman Johnson's vivid paintings of a quintessential New England theme - the making of maple sugar. This series of pictures, executed during the 1860s, is perhaps the most ambitious project in the artist's career. Brian Allen discusses the ways in which Johnson's maple sugar paintings reflect a New England on the edge of vast changes, both in the technology of farming and in the social structures of small communities. He notes how Johnson conveys the tense, shifting relationship that existed between industrial innovation and New England's distinctive brand of community spirit, evident through maple sugar's close association with free labour, as opposed to cane sugar's connection with slavery. Presented here in full colour, Johnson's maple sugar paintings are both a celebration of New England and a commentary on a bygone era. This book is the catalogue for an exhibition organized by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts (January 18 to April 18, 2004), and traveling to The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California (May 11 to August 1, 2004).
Exquisitely photographed and beautifully designed, this complementary catalog of America's finest studio furniture highlights 84 pieces from the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery. Inside, the pages reveal the importance of wooden furniture in the modern American craft arena, and how first- and second-generation artists shaped the studio furniture movement. Artist statements accompany gorgeous photography of the Renwick collection and provide insight into the makers' training and professional experience, theories on art, artistic techniques, and even personal inspirations. Such artists include the patriarch of studio furniture, Wharton Esherick, and Wendle Castle, the maker of the most popular piece among gallery visitors-the infamous Ghost Clock. The treasures of the Renwick collection-Judy's McKee's Monkey Settee, Sam Maloof's Rocking Chair, John Cederquist's Ghost Boy, and George Nakashima's Conoid Bench-are also included among the many pieces from makers whose work is functional, artistic, and of the finest craftsmanship. About the Authors Dr. Oscar Fitzgerald earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in history from Georgetown University and served as director of the Navy Museum in Washington, D.C., until he decided to pursue full time his passion as a furniture historian and decorative arts consultant. He is currently on the faculty of the Smithsonian Institution/Corcoran School Master's Program in the Decorative Arts where he developed and teaches a core course on the studio furniture movement. His book, Four Centuries of American Furniture, which includes coverage of the studio furniture movement, is the standard reference work in the field. In 2004, he was awarded a prestigious James Renwick Research Fellowship, which funded research for an essay published in the 2005 issue of Furniture Studio. Paul Greenhalgh is a world-renowned scholar of the decorative arts and a leading figure in the international museum and academic world. He is currently director and president of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Corcoran College of Art and design, in Washington, D.C. His previous posts have included the presidency of NSCAL University, one of the leading Canadian institutions of art and design (2001-2006); head of research at the Victoria & Albert Museum (1992-94); deputy keeper of ceramics and glass at the V&A (1990-1992). Over the past two decades he has also written and edited a number of defining texts in the field of the crafts, decorative arts, and cultural history, including Ephemeral Vistas (1988), Modernism in Design (1990), Art Nouveau, 1890-1914 (2000) The Persistence of Craft (200), and The Modern Ideal (2005). He also curated the seminal exhibition Art Nouveau, 1890-1914 at the V&A in 2000.
