Winter at the Wharton Esherick Museum
Unpredictable winter weather makes scheduling tours in advance a little tricky, so every January and February the Museum closes its doors to visitors. This gives us a chance to recoup from the buzz of constant tours and turn our attention to other aspects of museum work. Running a museum has its exciting moments, but there are also the mundane aspects: end-of-the-year business and tax details, keeping the budget in check, writing grant reports and new grant applications, working on the winter edition of The Quarterly and making sure we’re ready to operate once tours start again in March, the list never ends! Desk work may not be as fun as giving tours, but it is important none the less!
Our roofers working hard and taking in the view from up above!
Then there are the things that keep us up and moving. The winter months are the perfect time to tackle projects we don’t get to do during tour season. Winter days have their fair share of maintenance work—actually as I write this, I can hear the roofers trotting up above, making sure everything is in check for the winter weather and the year ahead.
One of the biggest winter maintenance projects is refinishing the Studio floor. The thousands of feet that shuffle over the floors each year cause the finish to erode, so we periodically have to put a fresh coat down. For those of you who have come for a tour and had to put on our “stylish” shoe covers, you’ll be happy to know that they are doing their job. We will not need to refinish the floors for a number of winters to come!
Planning for several upcoming exhibitions is in full swing in these quiet months as well. Our curator, Paul Eisenhauer, has been busy writing the text and photographing pieces for the catalog of our upcoming show “Poplar Culture: The Celebration of a Tree” in May. Our visitor center quickly filled up with dozens of pieces made from Wharton’s beloved Poplar tree. This tree grew outside the
Shoe covers help us protect the floors from the thousands of feet that pass over them each season
studio’s front door and had to be taken down in 2009 because of an unstable top. The wood was milled and distributed to over 40 artists all over the country. Each artist then crafted quirky, classic and stirring pieces full of inspiration from Wharton Esherick and his imaginative studio. When the show opens on May 20th, at Historic Yellow Springs, the pieces from the show will be available to purchase and you can bring home your very own piece of the studio!
Preparations have also begun on our spring exhibition in the visitor’s center where we’ll be hosting the 1931 Fischer Corner Desk. Wharton Esherick created the desk in 1931 for Helene Koerting Fischer, the first patron to give him complete freedom in artistic design. He drew from Cubism and German Expressionism in this masterfully unique and complex work; its crystalline form speaks of its creator’s complex yet functional designs. Its odd angles and prismatic shape also tested the skills (and patience) of John Scmidt, Esherick’s good friend and collaborator. In his 2008 article for Woodworker magazine, noted wood artist Mark Sfirri comments, “There is no area of ‘Corner Desk’ that hasn’t been considered; there were no ‘easy’ parts to its construction. Although faceted and angular, the desk is playful and engaging…” We are fortunate that Barbara Eldred, Helene Fischers grand-daughter, has loaned us this treasure. It has not been on public display since 1976, so you’ll not want to miss it this spring!
The ceramic sculptures on the deck are covered with boards to protect them from ice
Winter days are also a great opportunity to work with the Museum’s growing collection. The chairs and stools all get new felt pads on their feet to protect the floors (you may detect a theme here). This winter we’re also working on cataloging the woodblock collection, and in a few weeks, two new volunteers will be starting to help catalog and sort the photograph collection. We’re always looking for more volunteers to do projects like this, give tours, run the sales desk or help out wherever your talents are best served! Don’t hesitate to contact us (information@whartonesherickmuseum.org) if you’d like to be a part of the team that keeps this museum hopping!
So, that’s what we’re doing this winter, with our without the winter weather! Make sure you check out our website for details on the events coming this spring.
www.whartonesherickmuseum.org
I was invited
This fall one of our visitors wrote this poem after her visit and has graciously allowed us to share it with you. We love that we can serve as a place of inspiration!
I was invited*
by susan h robbins
The embrace is immediate
harmonic waves of wood and heart and
wedding vows of rhythm, dovetails of stories
in pigments and honeyed angles and curves and spirals that sing
layers of line that ebb and rise to court the light in our eyes
folded shirts that I wear in the intimacy of space and time
you can taste in the kitchen, still.
*a visit – autumn 2011 – The Wharton Esherick Studio and Museum, Valley Forge, PA
How have you been inspired by the Wharton Esherick Museum? We’d love for you to share your stories, poetry, pictures, art work, drawings etc with us. Feel free to post on our facebook page or email them to information@whartonesherickmuseum.org
The Influence of German Expressionism On Filmmakers…and an Outhouse.
The Bathroom at WEM
When museum goers come into our Visitor’s Center, some of them usually make a beeline straight for our bathroom. Upon entry, most are surprised and delighted to see the door and seat of Wharton Esherick’s outhouse mounted on the walls. Inside the bathroom, visitors will see a photo of what the view looked like when sitting upon Wharton’s expressionist throne, and also a snippet about the influence that spawned its unique design: the 1920 German Expressionist film “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, or as the German’s call it, “Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari.” 
Triangular in form, the walls of the outhouse taper inward as they rise to the top, where they’re then capped by a sloping roof. Altogether, it closely resembles the cabinet from the film. The outhouse was constructed in 1927 and its 2008 reconstruction sits underneath the woodshed today.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is one of the most influential German Expressionist films of all time, and one of the greatest silent horror films. Written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer, and directed by Robert Wiene, the plot follows the investigation of several murders that happen in the German mountain village of Holstenwall. A carnival comes to town, and Dr. Caligari sets up his attraction: the somnambulist Cesare who can answer any question he is asked. The film’s narrator, Francis, and his friend Alan approach Cesare, and Alan asks how long he will live. Ceasre responds by saying that Alan will live until dawn the next day. Cesare’s prediction is correct, and Alan becomes the first of several murders to shake the small town. As the film continues, it is discovered that Caligari is actually the director of a local insane asylum and what follows is what is considered to be the first “twist ending” in film. I don’t want to ruin it for you, so I’ll not reveal where the film goes from here, but believe me this is worth watching. You can view the movie it in it’s entirety by clicking here.
Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands
German Expressionism was one of several creative movements in Germany before WWI; influencing architecture, painting, printing and cinema. Expressionist films often used wildly non-realisitc and geometrically absurd sets with designs painted on walls and floors to represent lights and shadows. The plots of these films often dealt with madness, insanity and betrayal as well as other topics considered to be intellectual (as opposed to non-intellectual topics of action and romance). The influence of German Expressionism can be seen in American film as well. Many German directors fled to America to escape the Nazis during WWII, and found their way to Hollywood. Here horror and film noir genres received the greatest impact.
So how is an early 20th century movement still affecting you today? Well, in modern film culture, German Expressionism is best seen in writer/director Tim Burton, known for his crazy, quirky and outlandish films. Batman Returns, is cited as a modern attempt to capture the essence of German Expressionism. You can see for yourself by clicking here. While you watch pay close attention to the use of light, but also keep an eye out for some wildly non-realistic costumes and sets! German Expressionism is also seen in Burton’s 1990 film Edward Scissorhands, where Johnny Depp’s character looks like the long lost twin to Cesare from Dr. Caligari. In his 1993 animated feature film Nightmare Before Christmas, the animated settings greatly reflect the sets from Caligari with their twists, turns and abrupt angles.
Set design similarities
All of this talk of film spawning from our quirky outhouse! The whole staff at WEM highly recommend seeing The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as well as many of the films and architecture it influenced. After viewing it last Thursday and then looking at the outhouse and the 1940 addition to the studio, the Expressionist influences jumped out at me and I appreciated them even more! For me it was easier to understand German Expressionism after viewing Dr. Caligari. It’s one thing to read about the movement, but to see the films and the structures they inspire is another thing entirely!
2008 Reconstruction of Wharton's Caligari inspired outhouse
So to answer our Facebook post about what Wharton and Tim Burton have in common, the answer should be clear now! They were each inspired by The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. However, one followed a life of film, while the other followed a life of creative and wildly imaginative design, with a good dose of humor to boot!
Ba Ba Black Sheep Where Have You Gone?
The Sheep that Hopped the Fence
“Whimsical” is certainly an adjective associated with Esherick’s work., so it is no surprise he had fun while making this “Black Sheep”. It was originally made for a client and friend of his in Falls Church, Virginia, Elin Rove; however, while shaping this sculpture for Elin, Wharton did a double-take. The sculpture was so chunky, he thought it looked pregnant. To fix it, he sliced a thin cross-section layer from it. Peter, Wharton’s youngest child, rather liked the sliced off section and so he asked 
for it and that slice is what you see in the photo to the right. The larger portion of the sheep went to Elin, who then passed it on to a friend of hers. It was by no coincidence that this friend happened to own the “Black Sheep Restaurant” in Berkeley, California. Unfortunately, “Black Sheep” disappeared from the restaurant. Whether stolen or misplaced, we are not sure. Yet, we at the Museum would love to find it again! The Wharton Esherick Museum is on the look out for “Black Sheep” and we need your help. If you have seen this sheep (like the photo, only thicker) or know anything of its whereabouts please contact us, for like Little Bo Peep, we’ve lost our sheep!
City Boy to Hillside Artist: The Road from Philadelphia to Paoli
Ever wonder how Wharton came to live his life on the quiet hillside of Valley Forge Mountain? I thought for the first blog posting we should start off with the basics. Wise words from the Sound of Music suggest that we: “start at the very beginning, a very good place to start”, and so we shall, let’s get to know Wharton Esherick and the path that took him from bustling city streets to winding country roads.
Wharton Harris Esherick was born on July 15th, 1887 to a fairly prominent family in Philadelphia. His parents, Annie and George Esherick, had seven children in total: Edith, Emma, George Jr., Wharton and his twin sister Caroline, Joseph and Frank; needless to say the Esherick household was alive with activity. From a young age, Wharton had a fascination with art; his interests began with sketching and being able to capture what he was looking at on paper; his love of drawing found its way onto the back of every piece of paper in his house. Wharton would draw anything and everything, and his brother George pointed out that Wharton would spend hours copying Charles Dana Gibson’s fashion drawings in Godey’s Lady’s Book, a lady’s magazine filled with sketches of the latest fashions. His talent for art was discovered by an art teacher when he was in 8th grade, and was for the most part, over looked by his parents who wanted him to one day have a “respectable” career.
When high school came around Wharton knew his career lay in art so he convinced his parents to send him to the Central Manual Training School. Wharton said: “I knew it wouldn’t be like high school. In high school you have to study Latin and Greek and Algebra and Calculus, and I said, ‘I don’t want that kind of stuff!’” When he graduated in 1906 (voted handsomest in the class) he went on to the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (currently University of the Arts) and completed a two year program there. He then went on scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where six weeks before he graduation he dropped out–claiming that he was being encouraged only to copy the great masterpieces of Europe and not to discover and develop himself as an artist. So it was good bye to the Academy and hello to life as an artist in the real world!
Wharton began working for local newspapers copying photographs so they could be printed as lithographs, until he learned of an artist position at the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden, New Jersey. There he was again creating drawings from photographs which were then converted to silkscreen stencils that were used to produce posters. Around this time Wharton met and fell in love with Letty Nofer, a free spirited woman who was “…strikingly beautiful, with sparkling dark eyes and long auburn hair.” They were married in Philadelphia on Friday, September 13, 1912 and headed off on their honeymoon on the Wiwurna III to sail around New York. While they were away, Wharton’s job at the Victor Talking Machine Co. was replaced by machinery that could produce posters directly from photographs.
Wharton went back to the newspaper business but decided instead to try and make a living selling his paintings. Letty became a social worker to bring in some income, but they eventually had to give up their apartment and spent that winter in Letty’s parents’ empty beach house. The couple decided that they wanted a life close to nature, where Wharton could paint and they could live off the land. Using a meager inheritance from his grandmother, they began looking for a small farm and found a home in a two-story, 1839 stone farmhouse in rural Paoli. Wharton fell in love with the cherry tree on the property, and they bought the house because of it!
“In the morning the woods and fields glowed with golden sunlight. By mid-afternoon the distant ridge was washed in a pale, smoky blue…Just before winter sunset, the leafless trees turned lavender-scarlet and cast long shadows, like in a Maxfield Parrish landscape. Nights were black and silent, without even a faint glow on the horizon from the distant city, or the sound of a barking dog or serenading cat. Dawn would reveal a herd of foraging deer retreating into the woods, and if there was snow, tracks proved nocturnal visits from opossums, raccoons, or foxes. If there had been freezing rain on a cold night, ice would coat the tree trunks, branches, and twigs and as the sun rose, the ice crystals would be like millions of tiny diamonds, shining all the colors of the rainbow.”
–Mansfield Bascom, W.E. Journey of a Creative Mind
They purchased the farm house for $3,300 and took ownership of their new endeavor on December 13, 1913. The house was everything the couple desired. As they made repairs and additions to the house they enjoyed being out of the city and close to nature like they’d both wanted, finally able to live the organic life they longed for. Wharton set up his easel in
"Diamond Rock Hill" 1923: View of the farm from the hillside above
their bedroom in front of a window that over looked Great Valley. The panoramic view of bucolic farmland and busy farmers was like a picture before his eyes; one that changed with the seasons and revealed new scenery and images from which he could draw inspiration.
Today, Wharton’s farmhouse is still standing but has passed into private ownership. If you visit the Museum in the fall there’s a lovely view of the house from the studio’s porch. The landscape of the site has also changed drastically since 1913. What used to be vast open space has been replaced by a forest of deciduous trees that block most of the view of the Great Valley; however the flat farm land remains hidden away in the forest, once you reach the bottom of Valley Forge Mountain the forest floor is completely flat from years of being worked by farmers and their plows.
Now we’ll turn the discussion to you: what interests you about Wharton’s migration from the city to the countryside? What more from the story would you like to know? When is your favorite time of year to visit the site and experience Wharton’s masterpiece? Leave us a comment and let us know!
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Blogging for Wharton
Congratulations you’ve found us! We are the first official blog dedicated to the wondrous woodworking of Wharton Esherick and the happenings at the museum that bears his name! Our goals for this blog are to keep you up to date on what’s going on at the museum, but also to provide more information and access to Wharton and his works. We at WEM want to be a resource to woodworkers, artists, teachers, students, researchers, museum geeks and Esherick enthusiasts, and we’re hoping that this blog will be yet another chance for us to connect with people all over the world who want to learn more about the Dean of American Craft! 
The goal is to publish a post once a week that highlights pieces from the collection, happenings at the museum, people Wharton knew, styles he worked in, places he visited and any thing else we think you might find interesting. So stay tuned to this site for what we’re hoping will become an excellent resource to connect Wharton Esherick enthusiasts all over the world and to deepen the connection between the museum staff and all of you as well!
Signing out for now,
Laura Heemer ~Director of Membership
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