Open Feb. 17 through May 18, The Chazen Museum of Art’s exhibit, “The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick,” showcased the work of American artist and designer Wharton Esherick, a leading figure of the Studio Furniture Movement.
Esherick was born in Philadelphia on July 15, 1887. Throughout his young adult years, he learned the art of wood and metalworking and continued on to study printmaking at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art and painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
His work in furniture making began in 1920 and continued until his death in 1970. During this time, he worked at his home on Valley Forge Mountain near Philadelphia, creating almost 3,000 pieces. The house is now known as the Wharton Esherick Museum and acts as a “representation of his iconoclastic vision,” according to the Chazen Museum official website.
In his 1937 book, “Great Trade Route,” novelist and poet Ford Madox Ford described the home-studio.
“[It’s] such a quiet spot [and] is the best place to think in,” Ford said.
The works from the museum are rarely ever loaned to a greater audience, but the “Crafted World” Chazen exhibition features incredible selections from it.
The exhibition is part of a larger traveling one, previously housed at and organized by the Brandywine Museum of Art. The initiative was taken to make Esherick’s work more accessible, as it is often difficult for people to make a journey to Esherick’s mountain studio and home.
Katherine Alcauskas, Chief Curator at the Chazen, expressed her excitement at having the selections on loan.
“There are not a lot of opportunities to see his artwork, and so it’s really special that we were able to bring it here, where we have a very strong woodwork program at the university — and there are a lot of woodworkers in Madison,” Alcauskas said.
The house itself features many eccentric items, showcasing Esherick’s creative approach to problem-solving through art. Esherick would craft things such as a heat vent for the house in a fashionable manner. His motto engages with an idea that things which are not fun and not worth doing, and this philosophy is reflected in his fluid expression of style during his career.
His work can be described as expressionistic, but does not limit itself to one category. Because of this, his pieces often blur the lines that categorize certain mediums.
“He really saw no divide between what was sculpture, what was furniture,” said Alcauskas. “It was all part of his artistic practice.”
Many people recognize him as the link between the Arts and Crafts Movement and the resurgence in furniture making post-World War II, according to an article published in The Hudson Company.
The Chazen exhibition aims to convey this vast breadth of Esherick’s different works and mediums, from his impressionist paintings to his printing presses, to his wood sculptures and furniture. It is divided into four sections, each one expressing the importance of a different aspect of Esherick’s life.
The first section is titled “Rural and Urban,” which displays how Esherick’s move from urban Philadelphia to the secluded Valley Forge Mountain impacted his life.
“They rejected their upper-class upbringing in Philadelphia to move to the country, have a farm and raise their family in a very nontraditional way at the time,” said Alcauskas. “I think that it was an intentional decision on his part to live, as he might say, a ‘better crafted’ life.”
The other sections are titled “Pattern Recognition,” “Bodies in Space” and “The Way Things Grow.”
The exhibition focuses on nature, using it as a prominent source of inspiration. One wood sculpture depicts what appears to be two blades of grass intertwined. Near this sculpture, there is a larger one titled “Oblivion.” It portrays two figures in a close embrace, mirroring the intertwined blades of grass.
Esherick spent much time at the Hedgerow Theater in Rose Valley, crafting set pieces for their productions. His daughter, Mary — another common subject in his artwork — also performed at the theater. Esherick’s inspiration for “Oblivion” comes from the passionate embrace of two actors in a play by Lynn Riggs, titled “The Son of Perdition.” The sculpture is ordinarily placed in a corner inside Esherick’s mountain studio, but the Chazen puts it on full display in the middle of the exhibition.
The back area of the exhibition features two videos that can further viewers’ knowledge of Esherick’s life. They show a tour of the Wharton Esherick Museum, in addition to the only known footage of Esherick, depicting his installing his art.
The Chazen will host both a tour of the exhibition on March 19th and a panel discussion on April 25. “The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick” features many works of art beyond the ones discussed in this article, and will be open at the Chazen until May 18, 2025.