| Hands-On: Peacock Feathers on Gragg Chairs |
Summer 2003
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The federal-era chairs made by Samuel Gragg (1772-1855) are decorated with popular motifs such as acanthus leaves, grasses, pinstriping, and even an occasional landscape. Of all the decorative elements that appear on his chairs, the triple peacock feather...
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| Hands-On: The Elastic Chairs of Samuel Gragg |
Summer 2003
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On August 31, 1808, Boston chairmaker Samuel Gragg (1772-1855) patented a design for a remarkable piece of bentwood seating furniture he called an...
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| Highlights: Summer News, Events, and Trends |
Summer 2003
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A slice of lemon cake, a row of bow ties, city asphalt. The mundane is made monumental in the paintings of contemporary California artist Wayne Thiebaud. Spanning half a century thus far, Thiebaud's career has been steeped in success culminating in the cu...
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| Mermaids and More: The Whimsical Primitives of Ralph Cahoon |
Summer 2003
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Prominent collectors (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Paul Mellon, and the DuPonts, to name only a few) began to acquire the work of Ralph E. Cahoon, Jr. (1910-1982) in the 1950s. Josiah K. Lilly III, heir to a pharmaceutical fortune, prominent Cape Cod phila...
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| Museum Focus: The Peabody Essex Museum |
Summer 2003
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The Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, is one of the oldest museums in the country and the first in New England. It was opened in 1799, just sixteen years after the founding of the nation, and nearly three quarters of a century before the estab...
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| Philip Little--Making Harbor |
Summer 2003
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While most artists of his day painted portraits as a means of supporting themselves, Philip Little had the financial independence to exclusively paint subjects of interest to him. His father's wealth came from ownership of the textile manufacturing compan...
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| Racetrack Tout Trade Figure |
Summer 2003
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This racetrack tout is recognized as an icon of American folk sculpture. It is one of several figures attributed to Charles Parker Dowler, a woodworker first identified by Jane Lipman as the maker of a nearly identical figure illustrated in her pioneering...
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| The McLellan House: New Approaches to Interpreting a Federal Mansion |
Summer 2003
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The Portland Museum of Art in Portland, Maine, recently completed the restoration and reinterpretation of the 1801 Hugh McLellan House (Figs. 1-2), one of three architecturally significant structures that form the museum. Rather than re-create an accurate...
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| Wiener Werkstatte Vase |
Summer 2003
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This fanciful ceramic vase was designed around 1921 by Wiener Werkstatte artist Hilda Jesser. Begun in 1903, the Wiener Werkstatte (Vienna Workshop) was a progressive alliance of artists and designers founded by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser to establi...
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| A Collector's Collector |
Early Summer 2003
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The Oxford English Dictionary defines a collector as someone who "collects or gathers together...specimens, works of art, curiosities...[and] items of interest because of [their] excellence, rarity, etc." It would be much more efficient to simply refer th...
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