THE M FTROPOI, ITAV MLSEUM OF ART

LOAN EXHIBITION OF DUNCAN PHYFE

VAul: I<ýIlul', ý, II()I'. AND AAARIHOI'SG Uf DINCAN I'II1IG, I-1'LTON STRI'fi'I', N'F\V YORK IItUM \\': \II-. DI<. BY 7lIL MUSLUM .\ RCOLOUR \WING OWNED

N I-=XV Y0 RK OCTOBER 16-DECEMBER 15 1922 a

COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART ...... ýýý ý3ýjý3ý =- ýýäýýýýý Illllýlllllllllllýa'" ýýý IIIIIýIIIIýII ýý>ýýýý.ýýrýu,, ý'ý ý14IººIIIIIIIIIIIIII

AN EXHIBITION OF FURNITURE The death of Washington in December, FROM THE WORKSHOP OF 1799, marked, as it were, the end of one I)UNCAN PHYFF epoch in the country's history and the be- He in his lifetime had THROUGH ginning of a new. the courtesy of a number seen the growth of self-sufficiency in the of its friends, the Museum is able to show, colonies and its assertion in the war for in- from October 16 to dependence. He, December t;, in the too, had seen the in- large gallery, 1) 6, a auguration of a new group of more than form of government one hundred ex- whose reins he had amples of furniture held during the try- from the workshop(( ing period of recon- Duncan Phvfe, the struction, and had New York cabinet- assisted in the forma- The maker. piece; tion of important na- from exhibited are all tional policies. York its ini- New or The Years succeed- nmediate vicinity and, ing his death witness- although they show a ed a testing of the considerable range (f ties which bound to- design, they have gether the union for been limited to whose creation he Phyfe's best period. had boen so largely which dates before responsible. Political 182;. The exhibition h. irties developed constitutes what i, \0 hick had lain dor- probably the mo. t mant during his presi- important group ever dencY, international gathered together of had to ARMCHAIR BY DUNCAN I'IIYFE complications furniture by a single he large SHOWING SHERATON INFLUENCE resolved, and American cabinet- questions of impor- maker; and in as- tance to internal sembling the pieces a number of unusual commerce and prosperity arose for answer. items came to light, which were unsuspected Such matters as the Louisiana Purchase even by Phvfe enthusiasts. Phvfe, too, is took careful handling. I he war with I. ng- the one American cabinet-maker to whom land, resulting from the strained relations it is possible definitely to attribute a large produced by the Napoleonic conflicts, tried group of furniture upon other than circum- dangerously the unity of the nation, while stantial evidence. the improvements in transportation brought The first quarter of the nineteenth cen- up many questions of national improve- tury, like all transitional periods, was in ment, of which the Erie Canal was a strik- the one of the most impor- ingly successful example. tant in its history. Assured of its inde- In this activity in the pendence, the new republic was first test- nation was reflected in concentrated form. ing its strength in its internal affairs and in The character of the city changed from its relations with other nations. that of a provincial town into the beginning S

q`f7d8 I HI-, METROPOLI I AN MUSEUM OE AR'I

of a cosmopolitan metropolis. From a lei- ity of the city was the building of handsome surely, overgrown village in which Dutch houses. These required furnishing in the stolidity was mingled with English down- prevailing taste which was growing more rightness, in twenty-five years the town and more sophisticated. To Duncan I'hyfe had changed to one whose flavor was pre- would seem to have come the patronage dominantly French. This was so marked- of the most prominent people of the time, Iv true that Mrs. Frances Trollope tells us and in his work may be seen one form of that she felt herself in a French provincial the record of the tastes and customs of his town during her visit to New York. day, its cultural quality and commercial Expression to this change was given in prosperity. many ways-artistically, economically, and Phvfe's importance to us today is thus scientifically. A group of young writers, twofold. First of all, it forms a record of

I'HY"I-E I. \BLE SUI'I'ORTED UPON A PEDES I AL Will-I THREE LE(; S of whom Washington Irving was the par- a day which is gone. In the second place, ticular bright star, created a literature his importance arises from the fact that based upon national themes. These writ- he, as the heir of the great cabinet-makers ers acted both as recorders of the dying of the end of the eighteenth century, carry- New York of Knickerbocker days and as ing on their noble traditions of fine design heralds of a cosmopolitan attitude toward and consummate craftsmanship well into society. Painters such as Vanderlyn and the nineteenth century (farther than they Morse, architects such as McComb and had seemed destined to go), presents in his Thompson, were adding to the physical work an example to modern cabinet-makers beauties of the city. Fulton, in his for- of the manner in which furniture for con- warding of steam motive power in naviga- temporary use may be designed in the terms tion, Clinton in his championship of the of an ancient tradition. Frie Canal, and Morse in his invention of Partly as a result of the Industrial the telegraph were men of the day whose Revolution, which occupied almost exclu- interest contributions led to the great commercial sively the of the public throughout advance of the nineteenth century. the second and third quarters of the cen- A concomitant of the increasing prosper- tury, this tradition broke down at the end 4 wvlýý

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SIDE-CHAIRS FROM THE WORKSHOP OF DUNCAN PHYFE THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ARI

of the first quarter. In searching today for of the full French Empire style rune into the earlier traditions which may well be vogue, and much of his furniture was of this revived in the architecture and decorative type, simplified, ornamented in a restrained art of our own time and carried on with the manner with gilt-bronze, and possessing, in adaptation dictated by modern tastes and spite of its over-solidity, the qualities of usage, the point of departure would seem good craftsmanship and material, as well as to lie in the period when Phvfe was at his of intelligent design. With the period of best and when such notable buildings as black walnut and so-called "butcher" fur- the City Hall in New York, the Capitol niture, he entered with the public of his day at Washington, an] the State House at on the downward path of bad taste along Boston were be- which there was ing built. for some time no Duncan Phyfe. return. Thus a a Scotchman hý part of his later birth, came to work need not be this country with , onsidered as a his family about , ontribution to 1783, at the age the history of of sixteen years, furniture design, settling first in though it does Albany, where he form a record in plied his trade of the history of cabinet -maker. taste. Attracted by the Before i8oo he growing fame of settled at No. 35 the young me- Partition Street, tropolis, he came not far from to New York llroadway. As some time early h is business grow, in the 1700's. we lind him in- where after a few creasing his years of struggle property, first at a fortunate con- No. 34 in 1807, nect ion was then at No. ;3 Partition Street made with cer- PHYFE TABLE SUPPORTED BY COUPLED tain in The members of COLONNETTES 1811. the family of original house at John Jacob No. 35 was still Astor. This meant for him a start in busi- his dwelling, with the salesrooms next door ness under the auspices of one of the wealthi- at No. 34, and the workshop and warehouse est families of the day. From this time on, at No. 33. Shortly after 's his output increased continuously, reflect- death, in 1815, measures were taken to ing the changing tastes of the time. open a street from the East to the North At first his work was purely Hepplewhite River, to be called by his name. About and Sheraton in inspiration, but by 18o2 or this time Phyfe acquired the house di- 1803 the artistic influence of France, which rectly across from his sales-shop, so that was rapidly increasing in the new cosmo- when in 181(1-1817 Partition and Fair politan New York, brought to him certain Streets -the same thoroughfare running elements of Directoire, Consulate, and early cast and west of Broadway-were re- Empire origin. These he combined grace- christened Fulton Street and the houses fully and successfully with the English renumbered, Phvfe's addresses were Nos. forms and details with which he was most 108,170, and 172, with his house at No. familiar. Still later, the heavy, solid lines i(x) opposite. The former dwelling house 6 DUNCAN I'HYEF SOFA SHOWING DIRECTOIRE INFLUENCE

DUNCAN I'HYFE SOFA OF SHERATON DERIVATION '1H1: METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ARl then became the warehouse. In this street many to take up in detail in this place. Phvfe lived and worked, within a stone's Among the side-chairs which are shown, throw of St. Paul's and not far from the there are those with Sheraton influence pre- new City Hall. He saw the city grow far dominating-horse-shoe seat, reeded diag- to the north and pass through many onal or curved cross-bars in the hack, reeded changes before he retired from business in legs and seat-rail. A second type preserves 1847, and died at his Fulton Street home the back and seat of this first type, but the in 1854. Thus his life bridged the years front legs are reversed curves treated on between the last fine period of artistic ef- their outside surfaces with a carved acan- fort and the collapse of taste which marked thus leaf. The full 1)irectoire influence is the nineteenth centurv. seen in the most typical of Phvfe chair,, The work of Phvfe, as shown in the Mu- those with the lyre back and legs carved in either the acanthus or the dog-foot pattern, and those with a similar variety of legs, but with a slat in the back made up of an oval medallion between carved scrolls. A type dating from about 1815 has legs made up of crossed reversed curves in Consulate or early Empire form. All of these general types of chair occur with arms, although such are very rare. - The variety of tables is large. It will , 4.. 4 suffice here to divide them into three groups which are based upon structure: the tables supported upon legs at the corners, those supported at the ends by coupled colon- nettes or lyres, and those supported upon pedestals. The first type stands either up- on straight reeded legs, or, as in one rare example, on legs made up of a reverse curve, carved with acanthus and dog foot. Of the type with pedestals there are three sorts. The first is that with a small 6 platform supported on curved legs and in ý its turn supporting crossed lyres below TABLE WITH THE LYRE PEDESTAL the superstructure of the table top. The second variation is of this sort, but has scum exhibition, falls into certain definite instead of lyres four posts or colonnettes. groups. His principal output consisted of The third sort has an urn-shaped turned chairs, tables, and sofas. In addition to member, from which curved legs, three or these, he made a number of incidental or four in number, sweep outward. Into important pieces of furniture for special these various classes fall the tables which use. Although he is not supposed to have are shown in the Museum exhibition. done much case furniture (that is, furniture Sofas there are of types corresponding such as chests of drawers, sideboards, and to the chairs. Perhaps the most charac- other pieces with drawers and containers), teristic Phvfe sofa is of Sheraton deriva- we still do find a limited number of such tion, with a wooden back-rail paneled, pieces as sideboards, dressing tables, and carved, or both, wooden framework to serving tables. ' Phvfe's furniture varies arms and seat, and straight reeded legs. considerably in the combination of his These sofas are either upholstered or typical decorative motives. These are too caned. A different type shows the intro- duction 1)irectoire influence, 'See Furniture Masterpieces of Duncan Phyfe, of the curved by Charles 0. Cornelius, Chapter I1 1. arms, ajoure, set with two delicately carved H 1)l'NCAN PHYFF FIýNNII CKl: lyres. The third type introduces a little decorative art of the same period. Chis more of the Empire influence, though it has helped greatly in modulating between preserves many of the lines of the l)irec- toire piece. Of this latter type, the legs in one case are made up of a lion foot and eagle wing, while in a second variety are seen the crossed reversed curves of Con- sulate and Empire provenance. In all of these sofas there is a certain consistency due to the repeated use of the same carved decoration. Of miscellaneous furniture the exhibition shows a group which includes a piano, a sideboard, a pier =lass, buffels

IAItl. l. WITH til'PPORýfING (! ()IONNI-. IILý

the delicacy of the furniture itself and the hugeness of the gallery in which it is 'l )wn. On the Nv:dls are hung paintings

>[--WING TAB I-1- \\I I II c I\ I I2. \I. 111-01-11A I. and serving tables, a man's dressing table, and wash stands. It includes also the tine four-post bedstead lent by Mrs. Robert W. de f=orest. Certain of Phvfe's details are witnesses to the love of the craft and the pride of workmanship which pervade all of his work. A most apposite example of this is the delicately veneered corner-block which oc- curs on many tables. The veneer in rect- angular or curved form is so unobtrusive I: \RLh \YITII 1'KV-tiIIAPIiI1 I'IfUl-til: \I. as to escape the eve of any, but a con- noisseur. and prints by artists contemporary with In the arrangement of the exhibition an Phvfe, looking-glasses, girandoles, and effort has been made to place the furniture sconces. Silver and porcelains are set on in conjunction with various objects of the tables. The true effect of the fine

O THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM 01 ART mahogany upon which Phyfe lavished and Mrs. L. F. Barker, Mr. and Mrs. Harry such careful attention can thus be seen in H. Benkard, Mr. and Mrs. Allan B. A. association with the colors and gilding Bradley, Mr. Henry de Forest Baldwin, Dr. characteristic of the period. and Mrs. Arthur W. Bingham, Mrs. Elihu The success of such an exhibition as this Chauncey, Colonial Dames of the State of depends wholly upon the interest and New York, Mr. F. Kingsbury Curtis, Mr. generosity of the friends of the Museum. and Mrs. Robert W. do Forest, Mr. and These qualities have been very marked on Mrs. Francis P. Garvan, Mr. and Mrs. F. the part of all who have contributed their T. H. Halsey, Miss Louise Hartshorne, furniture, at considerable inconvenience to Miss Hendrickson, Mr. and Mrs. J. Her- themselves. The thanks of the Museum bert Johnston, Mr. and Mrs. V. Everi; and its appreciation of their kindness must Macy, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Mansfield. be expressed to each of the lenders who .Miss Jane Elizabeth Martin, Mr. and Mrs. has so willingly sacrificed his own com- Louis G. Myers, Mr. George B. Ogden, Miss fort and convenience to the aim of help- Ogden, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wilmerding ing the Museum to benefit the quality Payne, Trinity Corporation. St. Paul's of modern cabinet-work and to increase Chapel and Mr. and Mrs. John M. the discrimination of public taste. These Woolsey. lenders to the exhibition are as follows: Mr. and Mrs. Warren B. Ashmead, Dr. R. T. H. H. AN D C. O. C.

10 THE EXHIBITION OF DUNCAN PHYFE FURNITURE

THE GALLERY (136) AND ITS ARRANGEMENT

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8 2

9 10 11 12 1

KEY To DIAGRAM

I. Furniture showing Sheraton influence 2. Furniture showing Sheraton influence 3- Furniture showing Sheraton influence 4. Furniture showing Sheraton and Directoire influence 5- Furniture showing Sheraton and Directoire influence 6. Furniture showing Directoire and early Empire influence 7. Furniture showing Directoire and early I-mpire influence 8. Furniture showing Sheraton influence 9. Furniture showing Directoire and early Empire influence Io. Furniture showing Empire influence 1. Furniture showing Empire influence 12. Furniture showing Sheraton influence