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| Swing to the Beat of Winterthur, The Trust’s Spring Symposium
Winterthur Museum and Country Estate is more than it has ever been. A recent focus on 20th century history has created an exciting opportunity for scholarly investigation and research. Between 1900 and 1969, all sorts of fascinating people crossed paths at Winterthur (Jackie Kennedy, Dorothy Draper, the Prince of Sweden, Andrew Wyeth). H. F. duPont, a style leader for his set, evolved with the decades and was attuned to changing fashion. The museum is now taking a more exacting look at the tastes of the time filtered through H. F. duPont.
Tom Savage, Director of Museum Affairs at Winterthur welcomed Trust members on Friday morning and launched us into this new world. In 1951, the publishing house Condé Nast commissioned author Brook Astor and renowned photographer André Kertész to document Winterthur just before it opened as a museum. Trust members saw through Kertész’s incredible images long vanished interiors furnished by duPont. The photos shed a new and interesting light on the collector of early American decorative arts and help bring new life to the museum.
Leslie Grigsby, Curator of Ceramics & Glass at Winterthur, in her lecture about English Ceramics in Colonial America, mentioned that the punch bowl was the most common delftware serving shape. Punch drinking took off in America in the 1680s and by the 1720s London bowls showing Chinese scenes were being used. Shards of these bowls have been found in Delaware. The most common writing on punch bowls was, “One more bowl and then…” Fish, often seen on punch bowls, were symbols of drunkenness, and they were usually accompanied by the words, “Keep me Swimming.” Grigsby, with her wonderful images, took us chronologically through the development of ceramics in England and their introduction to America—slipware, delftware, creamware, blackware, cauliflower creamware, green striped creamware, pearlware, English stoneware, salt glazed stoneware, porcelain, Chinese export porcelain.
Brock Jobe, the Jonathan L. Fairbanks Lecturer, spoke to us about his new book and the extraordinary exhibit on display at Winterthur (at the Nantucket Historical Association, July 3–November 2) called, Harbor & Home: The Furniture of Southeastern Massachusetts, 1710–1850. Along with his co-authors, Gary Sullivan and Jack O’Brien, Jobe defined the territory of understudied Southeastern, MA, as the region located below a line stretching from just south of Boston to Providence, which includes the five counties of Plymouth, Bristol, Barnstable (Cape Cod), Nantucket, and Dukes (Martha’s Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands).
It was an exhilarating experience for Trust members, in groups of ten, to go through the exhibit with Jobe and hear the tales of discovery and identification from the person who just spent six years of his life ferreting out the pieces and solving the puzzles, meeting the families who owned these pieces for generations and discovering, for example, the rare table literally covered with a sheet in an old barn. Hearing these stories and seeing a newly discovered object properly identified, cared for and taking its place in the venerable galleries at Winterthur was thrilling. One of the most interesting pieces was a dressing table from Boston, 1735–45, that had walnut legs but burl maple, lightwood, and walnut veneers on drawer fronts, case sides, top, and skirt rail. The four carved feet have six stylized toes each and rest on a thick pad. Try to imagine all of that together! The area of Southeastern Massachusetts saw its population decline when petroleum took the place of its whale oil. This lull gave rise to historical societies and later to the summer auctions so many of us have known.
Linda Eaton, Curator of Textiles, spoke of a narrative thread for the rich and diverse textile collection at Winterthur. It starts with Mary Remington who, in 1815, made a whitework quilt, a bed valance and a bed table cover ensemble for her wedding to a merchant seaman. But, the romance failed, his letters were burned as requested—all but one—yet all of hers remain. This archival research and curatorial inspection of the quilt ensemble show that the quilt is for a formal bed and the designs are architectural in nature just like an Adam English ceiling or Diderot’s floor designs. Both the front and back of Mary’s quilt are white but the underside is handwoven and the fringe is from Providence, both domestic production, while the front is an sophisticated imported fabric. This white on white quilt is the only known example of an American quilted coat of arms. Linda’s intriguing lecture looked at quilts through the lives of their makers and connected them with the greater world of politics, mordant dyes, and commerce. Her book, Quilts in a Material World, combines these interesting stories with stunningly beautiful quilt photography.
Gregory J. Landrey, Director of the Library, Collections Management, and Academic Programs at Winterthur, presented a thrilling account of two “identical” gaming tables. Or, are they? Purchased by duPont between 1925 and 1950, these turret-cornered, carved, Philadelphia gaming tables made presumably between 1755 and 1775 have always been displayed in the Stamper Blackwell parlor as a pair. By presenting side-by-side images of the same detailed areas on the big screen, differences became clear. Landrey took Trust members through a step by step examination of the joinery, swing leg and side rail junctures, coloring of secondary wood, interior framing, gaming surface, ball and claw feet, and finish. This review revealed that one table was made later by a different craftsman and that possibly the first table was used as a model. A summary of this case study and several of the photographs can be seen in the Summer/Autumn 2008 issue of Antiques and Fine Art Magazine. Our afternoons at the Winterthur Museum were filled with the rare treat of enjoying workshops in small groups of ten or less with the staff from the various departments. Choices included the library, conservation of prints, or of paintings, printed textiles, English ceramics, ceramics tours, furniture tours, and textile tours. Trust members were taken behind the scenes to various studios and storage areas to see numerous examples not on view in the galleries. Sunday morning lectures were held at the Hotel duPont and brought together two special sets of lectures. First, we had the pleasure of hearing the research of two Decorative Arts Trust Summer Research grant recipients. Nicholas R. Bell, now Curatorial Associate at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, spoke about his research of a collector’s table made in Philadelphia between 1806 and 1810. Bought by duPont from Joe Kindig, it was referred to in correspondence as a “shell table” as there were many little tray compartments under the lifting top. As Bell researched he followed the Masonic line of the many symbols inlaid or carved in the table: the sun, moon and stars, the all seeing eye, the square and compass, the three crowns, the 14 rays of the table top, the large wings that cover and protect. His conclusion is that the table represents the Ark of the Covenant, an incredibly important symbol for Masons. His task now is to try to discover who made the table and who was the original owner. Stay tuned. Nicole Belolan, a Lois F. McNeil Fellow in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture who just graduated this spring, presented for the first time publicly her research on Berlin Work in America, 1840–1865, as seen in the Spring 2009 Decorative Arts Trust Newsletter. Her thesis based on the collection of Berlin work patterns of Ann Warder, a Philadelphia Quaker, examines this popular mid 19th century needlecraft.
The second set of lectures came from Wendy Cooper, The Lois F. and Henry S. McNeil Senior Curator of Furniture at Winterthur, and Lisa Minardi, Assistant Curator for Southeastern Pennsylvania Furniture Project at Winterthur. They outlined their plans of discoveries, research and preparation for their spring 2011 exhibit, Paint, Pattern and People: Furniture of Southeastern Pennsylvania, 1725–1850. This extra special treat welcomed Trust members onto the ground floor of the discovery and the process of bringing together newly identified and researched furniture, and crafting a new way of seeing and discussing these pieces. Cooper and Minardi explained their project goals: to study and compare the Germanic, English and other origins of furniture in Southeastern, PA; to zero into well documented pieces with solid provenance; to identify localisms and, to dispel myths of Southeastern Pennsylvania objects and its population. Wendy and Lisa discussed some of their extraordinary finds thus far and answered questions from Trust members. The Decorative Arts Trust will definitely be tracking this exhibit and keeping members informed. The Sunday Optional Tour took a limited number of Trust members for a lovely afternoon party at the home of one of the great collectors of Southeastern Pennsylvania decorative arts. Among many rare and beautiful objects, Trust members were thrilled to see the only vine and berry (the distinctive inlay of Chester County, PA) high boy known to exist.
The Thursday Optional Tour was a dream of early 18th century Chester County houses led by renown restoration architect John Milner and famed architectural historian and interior architect from New York City, Ralph Harvard. The fact that Milner was the architect who restored the John Chad House and the Barns-Brinton House as well as his own 1724 house, which we visited, meant that Trust members were treated to all the interesting bits of the restoration and some of the more technical aspects of problematic areas. Brick courses and glazed headers were totally investigated, paneling woods were identified, early built-in cabinets in corners and over mantels caused speculation on objects and lifestyle. Lunch at Chester County Historical Society with Beth Twiss-Houting and Curator Ellen Endslow, who introduced their extensive collection of 18th century Chester County furniture, culminated with a lecture by John Milner on stone houses in the Brandywine Valley. Afterwards we were off to visit Milner’s very early stone house and barn, where evidence in the ground under window openings indicated leaded glass windows, which have been restored. Continuing on through the beautiful hunt country of the great Cheshire Hunt, passing their handsome kennels adorned with matching hound statues, and the many rail fences jumped regularly through the season, we arrived at the home of a tireless foxhunter who, years ago, moved an early tavern from the crossroads in the village, up the hill to her property, added an extension and called it home. Trust members enjoyed a late afternoon tipple in the original tavern room with its historic caged bar and a greeting from some beautiful horses as we departed to return the Hotel duPont in Wilmington. It was a glorious country day.
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