Wharton Esherick Studio | |
Location | 1520 Horseshoe Trail, near Malvern, Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°5′1″N75°29′36″W / 40.08361°N 75.49333°W |
Area | 12 acres (4.9 ha) |
Built | 1926-1966 |
Architect | Wharton Esherick |
Architectural style | Arts and Crafts, vernacular architecture, expressionism, modernism |
NRHP reference No. | 73001615 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | April 26, 1973 [1] |
Designated NHL | April 19, 1993 [2] |
The Wharton Esherick Studio was the studio and home of Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), an artistic polymath who is best known for his modernist sculpture and sculptural wood furniture. Built into the south slope of Valley Forge Mountain in Malvern, Pennsylvania, the Studio was a forty year project for Esherick, who constructed, expanded, and altered the building on an ongoing basis between 1926 and 1966. The Studio reflects Esherick's wide interest in twentieth-century art and design movements, from Arts and Crafts to German Expressionism to Modernist sculpture. The Studio is now preserved as part of the Wharton Esherick Museum.
There are four historic structures on the Wharton Esherick Museum site: the Wharton Esherick Studio, where Esherick lived and worked; the 1956 workshop designed with Louis Kahn and Anne Tyng; the 1928 German Expressionist log garage which now serves as the museum visitor center; and Esherick's woodshed. There is also a recent reconstruction of Esherick's 1920s German Expressionist outhouse.
The Studio, from its structural forms down to the door handles and light pulls, was designed and built by Wharton Esherick to create a total work of art, or Gesamtkunstwerk . The building is filled with more than 300 of Wharton Esherick's artworks and personal belongings, including sculpture, furniture, paintings and prints. [3]
The Wharton Esherick Museum was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in 1971, it opened for visitors in 1972, and in 1973 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [4]
The studio was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1993. [2] [5]
The Diamond Rock Schoolhouse, which served as Esherick's painting studio during the 1920s, was acquired by the Wharton Esherick Museum in 2019. [6]
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Wharton Esherick was an American sculptor who worked primarily in wood, especially applying the principles of sculpture to common utilitarian objects. Consequently, he is best known for his sculptural furniture and furnishings. Esherick was recognized in his lifetime by his peers as the “dean of American craftsmen” for his leadership in developing nontraditional designs and for encouraging and inspiring artists and artisans by example. Esherick’s influence is evident in the work of contemporary artisans, particularly in the Studio Craft Movement. His home and studio in Malvern, Pennsylvania, are part of the Wharton Esherick Museum, which has been listed as a National Historic Landmark since 1993.
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The Wharton Esherick Museum was the home and workshop of Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), an American artist and designer who worked in a wide range of media, but who is best known for his sculptural wood furniture. The Museum is located on the south slope of Valley Forge Mountain in Malvern, Pennsylvania, twenty-five miles northwest of Philadelphia. It is the most fully realized expression of Esherick’s vision for integrating art into the spaces of everyday living.
Sam Himmelfarb was a Russian Empire-born, American artist and commercial exhibit designer, known for his modernist-influenced paintings of everyday people and urban scenes. He also designed the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Samuel and Eleanor Himmelfarb Home and Studio in Winfield, Illinois, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Himmelfarb studied art at the Art Students League and National Academy of Design in New York and at the Wisconsin School of Fine and Applied Arts. He initially painted in a realist style influenced by the Ashcan School, which gave way to more modernist, increasingly abstract styles. His paintings appeared in exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC), Terra Museum of American Art, Milwaukee Art Institute, and Arts Club of Chicago, and in circulating shows from the American Federation of Arts, among other venues. He received awards from the AIC, Wisconsin State Fair and Milwaukee Art Museum, and his work belongs to the collection of the latter, and those of the Illinois State Museum, Block Museum, and Arkansas Art Center, among others. Himmelfarb was married to the artist and educator, Eleanor Himmelfarb (1910-2009); their son, John Himmelfarb, and grandchild, Serena Aurora Day Himmelfarb, are also artists.
The Diamond Rock Schoolhouse is a historic octagonal one-room school located in Tredyffrin Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Constructed in 1818, the schoolhouse closed in 1864 and later served as a studio for Wharton Esherick. A local newspapers in 1940 described the schoolhouse as "one of the few remaining octagonal school buildings in Pennsylvania."
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(help) and Accompanying 10 photos, 8 of the house's exterior and interior, from 1940, 1974, 1976, 1988, and 2 of the artist in 1933 and 1965. (1.64 MB)