Bookcase

Designer Gustave Herter (American, born Germany, 1830 - 1898)

Woodcarver Ernst Plassmann (American, 1823 - 1877)

Manufacturer Bulkley and Herter (American, ca. 1852 - 1858)

Date1852-1853

MediumWhite oak, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, yellow poplar and later stained glass

DimensionsOverall: 134 1/2 × 118 3/4 × 30 1/4 inches (341.63 × 301.63 × 76.84 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through exchange of the gifts of Mr. and Mrs. Frank P. Burnap, Mrs. William H. Chapman, Mr. Earle W. Grant, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Denman, Mrs. David M. Lighton, Mrs. Inez Grant Parker, Mrs. Helen F. Spencer, Mrs. William D. Wight, Mrs. Mary Russell Perkins from the estate of Katherine Harvey, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick M. Mont, Mrs. E. A. Grosvenor Blair, Mrs. Fred Wolferman, Mrs. Elizabeth Hay Bechtel in honor of Helen Spencer, Mr. George L. Artamonoff and Mrs. Lyell Ritchie, Mr. and Mrs. Edgar L. Berkley, Mrs. Virginia Jones Mullin, and Mrs. James D. McColl; the bequest of Helen F. Spencer; and other Trust properties

Object number97-35

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionA gothic style bookcase consisting of a lower section with solid doors surmounted by an upper section with four glass doors. The lower case is decorated with four carved standing figures (two male and two female) and carved foliage wreaths on the outer doors; there is additional foliate carving on the center doors. The pediment on top of the upper case is surmounted at the center with three triangular gables.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, New York City, 1853-1854, no cat.

Art and the Empire City: New York 1825-1861, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, September 11, 2000-January 7, 2001, no. 241.

Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World's Fairs, 1851-1939, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, April 14-August 19, 2012; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, October 13, 2012-Febraury 24, 2013; New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, April 12, 2013- August 4, 2013; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, September 22, 2013- January 19, 2014, no. 8.

Gallery Label

In 1853, two years after the first international exposition of arts and industries took place in London, American manufacturers announced their sophistication and prominence in the world marketplace with their own fair in New York City. Displayed there, this monumental bookcase is carved with intricate Gothic spires, arches, buttresses and figures dressed in medieval costumes representing the arts of sculpture, painting, music and architecture. Gustave Herter, who had only recently arrived in the United States, brought with him the latest fashions from Germany. The 1853 exhibition catalogue credited the partnership of Herter with the more established cabinetmaker Erastus Bulkley for the bookcase’s impressive design and skilled execution.

Provenance

Made for the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, New York City, 1853;

The Emerson Family, Auburn, New York, ca. 1960 (possibly earlier)–1990;

With Colella Galleries, Syracuse, New York, 1990–1997;

Purchased from Colella Galleries by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1997.

Published References

William C. Richards, A Day in the New York Crystal Palace and How to Make the Most of It: Being a Popular Companion to the "Official Catalogue", and a Guide to All the Objects of Special Interest in the New York Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1853), 43.

Professor Benjamin Silliman Jr., B.P Johnson Esq., Samuel Weber, Esq., Association for the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations: Official Awards of Juries. (New York: Printed for the Association by W.C. Bryant & Co, 1853), 59.

Official catalogue of the New-York Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations, First Revised edition. (New York: G.P. Putnam, 1853), 85.

Benjamin Silliman, and Charles R. Goodrich, The World of Science, Art, and Industry illustrated: from examples in the New York Exhibition, 1853-54 (New-York: G. P. Putnam and Co., 1854), 98 (illustrated).

Mario Rossi, “One Tall Order: Restoring a king’s cabinet,” in the Syracuse Herald-Journal (April 16, 1990), D1,D4.

Katherine S. Howe, “Gustave and Christina Herter: The European connection,” in The Magazine Antiques CDI.VI, no.3 (September 1994): 342.

Katherine S. Howe, Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen and Catherine Hoover Voorsanger Herter Brothers: Furniture and Interiors for a Gilded Age. (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1994), 39-40, note 45, pg. 244.

Catherine Hoover Voorsange, “Gustave Herter, cabinetmaker and decorator,” in The Magazine Antiques CXI.VII, no.5 (May 1995): 742 (illustration).

Arlene Palmer, “Gustave Herter’s Interiors and Furniture for the Ruggles S. Morse Mansion,” in Nineteenth Century, Vol. 16, no.2 (Fall 1996): 9.

“Oberammergau to a Palace and an American Home,” NAMA Curatorial File, clipping (copy).

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Summer (1999), NAMA Curatorial File, clipping, (repro).

Catherine Hoover Voorsanger, and John K. Howat, eds., Art and the Empire City: New York 1825-1861 [in conjunction with the Exhibition "Art and the Empire City, New York, 1825-1861"; held from September 19, 2000, to January 7, 2001]. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2001), 314-318.

Deborah Emont Scott and Marjorie Alexander, eds. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 16 (repro.).

Lita Solis-Cohen, “American Furniture and Decorative Arts at Bonham’s,” in Maine Antique Digest, (April 1, 2010), 18C.

Art Tattler. “Art Tattler, Shifting Shape of Modern Decorative Art, World Fairs, 1851-1939,” Last Modified April 27, 2012. http://arttattler.com/designworldsfairsmodernworld.html.

Catherine Futter, Jason T. Busch, Regina Lee. Blaszczyk, Stephen. Harrison, Karin A. Jones, Martin Levy, Dawn Reid, Ethan Robey, Annamarie V. Sandecki, Jane Shadel Spillman, Kevin W. Tucker, and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Inventing the Modern World : Decorative Arts at the World's Fairs, 1851-1939. (Pittsburgh, Pa.: Kansas City, Mo.: New York: Carnegie Museum of Art; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Skira, 2012),78 (repro.).

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