In its conceptual stage, the exhibition The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick was to be a showcase of the artist’s woodcut prints. 

Esherick (1887-1970) was born and raised in Philadelphia. He studied drawing and printmaking at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art and painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA). In 1920, he began carving designs on the frames for his paintings. This initiated an interest in wood that resulted in his creating woodcuts, sculpting in wood, designing and carving wood furniture and, between 1926 and 1966, creating his beautifully idiosyncratic home and studio in Malvern, Pennsylvania. He called it “an autobiography in three dimensions.”

Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), Self-portrait, 1919. Oil on canvas, 31 in x 26 in. Wharton Esherick Museum Collection.

 

 

Esherick studied under the American impressionists William Merritt Chase and Edward Willis Redfield at PAFA but left before completing his studies because he felt he was being trained to paint like them. Among the works in the exhibition, which evolved into a comprehensive overview of his work, is Self-Portrait, 1919. The museum notes, “Esherick depicts himself in the standard uniform worn by Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts students and faculty. The soft hues and bold brushstrokes are indicative of their impressionist influence.” It gives no hint of the organic, sensual Music Stand of 1960.

The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick, a collaboration between the Wharton Esherick Museum and Brandywine Museum of Art in nearby Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, now comprises more than 70 works of furniture, sculpture, historic photography, paintings and woodcut illustrations. It is currently on view at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, through May 18. It showcases his work in four thematic vignettes: rural and urban landscapes, patterns and form, natural growth and the human body in motion. According to the museum, “Each presents the iconic geometric patterns and sleek forms that became synonymous with the mid-century designer.”

Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), Music Stand, 1960. Walnut and cherry, 44½ x 20 x 20 in. Wharton Esherick Museum Collection. Photo by Eoin O’Neill, courtesy of the Wharton Esherick Museum.

 

Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), The Race, 1925. Painted wood on walnut base, 6¾ x 30¾ x 8 ½ in. Wharton Esherick Museum Collection. Photo by Eoin O’Neill, courtesy of the Wharton Esherick Museum.

 

Amy Gilman, director of the Chazen Museum of Art, comments that the exhibition “offers deep insight into the American sculptor’s innovative approach to design. His work seamlessly blends fine art and function, creating pieces that are both aesthetically pleasing and practical. This exhibition offers a unique opportunity to explore the breadth and versatility of his artistic practice.”

Gilman continues, “Wharton Esherick elevated wood from a mere material to a medium for artistic expression. His work ranged from impressive architecture apparent in his home and studio to furniture that was as breathtaking as it was functional. The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick demonstrates the ways in which the sculptor brought together the beauty of nature and human touch to spearhead the studio furniture movement that continues to impact artists today.”

Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), Diamond Rock Hill, 1923. Woodblock print, 197/8 x 151/16 in. Wharton Esherick Museum Collection.

 

Wharton Esherick, ca. 1960. Photo by Susan Sherman, courtesy of the Wharton Esherick Museum.

 

When asked why the museum chose to host the exhibition, its chief curator, Katherine Alcauskas’ reply is, “I am not a curator of decorative arts, but rather my curatorial background lies in the study of prints. I was personally very interested in sharing the work of an artist whose practice was so multifaceted, for Esherick practiced painting, printmaking and woodworking. He even designed and built the frames on the paintings in the exhibition. An exhibition like The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick demonstrates the reality of being an artist—someone who is compelled to create no matter what tools they find in their hands.

“Wharton Esherick is an artist who may not be a household name, especially here in the Midwest, but he is considered the father of the studio furniture movement—and well-known to many furniture makers and woodworkers (of which the Madison area has many). I knew that this collection and his studio are pretty inaccessible to those in the Upper Midwest, and the collection rarely travels, so I jumped at this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share it with our community.”

Wharton Esherick’s Studio. Photo by Charles Uniatowski, courtesy of the Wharton Esherick Museum.

 

Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), Library Ladder, 1969. Cherry, 48½ x 25½ x 16½ in. Wharton Esherick Museum Collection. Photo by Eoin O’Neill, courtesy of the Wharton Esherick Museum.

 

Objects removed from their context—in this case, Esherick’s home and studio—take on a different life and can be studied and appreciated on their own. I learned this long before I became resident curator of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York, when I assembled Martin House furniture, art glass and artifacts from around the U.S. and Canada for a small exhibition of his designs.

Wright was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin, and his longtime home was in Spring Green, Wisconsin, not far from Madison. I ask Alcauskas if she sees any parallels between the two artists and designers. She says, “Although their approaches were very different, Wharton Esherick and Frank Lloyd Wright were both influenced by the natural environments in which they were born and lived. Wright incorporated the aesthetic of the Midwest prairie into his architecture and furniture. Although Wharton Esherick initially used a lot of exotic woods in his furniture and sculpture, he came to localize his materials, using woods like walnut and cherry found on his property on Valley Forge Mountain in Pennsylvania. Both men created homes for themselves where they were surrounded with their own designs—these spaces were really the epitomes of their artistic principles. Although he was a generation younger, Esherick was definitely aware of Wright’s work. When I visited the Wharton Esherick Museum on a lovely fall day last year, I noted one of Wright’s books on a bookshelf in his studio. I highly recommend that your readers visit both Taliesin and the Wharton Esherick Museum if they have the chance.”

Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), Flat Top Desk, 1929 and 1962. Walnut and padouk, 28 x 82 x 36 in. Desk Chair, 1929. Walnut, padouk, laced leather seat, 28 x 18 x 18 in. Desk figure, bronze casting of 1929 Cocobolo original, 10 x 5 x 4 in. Wharton Esherick Museum Collection. Photo by Eoin O’Neill, courtesy of the Wharton Esherick Museum.

 

Wharton Esherick, Hammersman, 1924. Woodblock print, illustration for Walt Whitman’s Song of the Broad-Axe (Centaur Press, 1924), 195⁄8 x 127⁄16 in. Wharton Esherick Museum Collection.

 

Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to see Esherick’s individual works for themselves, an illustrative prelude to seeing them in context at his home and studio.

Esherick explained, “I started as a painter and had exhibitions in Alabama, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Then I found I wasn’t painting like Wharton Esherick ought to paint, so I started with sculpture, then with furniture.” As Alcauskas observed, Esherick “came to localize his materials.” The artist commented, “if I can’t make something beautiful out of what I find in my backyard, I had better not make anything.”

Studio exterior. Photo credit Joshua McHugh.

 

Left: Interior of the studio. Photo credit Joshua McHugh;  Right: Interior of the studio with spiral stair. Photo credit Joshua McHugh.

 

Among the more unusual pieces in the collection is The Race, 1925, from a group of his carved chess sets and other games. The museum notes, The Race “is one of Esherick’s first three-dimensional objects made for his children. Patterned after a horse racing game, he sculpted the horses in exaggerated strides with sharp angles to communicate their speed.”

The Smithsonian American Art Museum notes, “Because he was self-taught as a sculptor and furniture craftsman, he directed any person interested in following his path just to begin, and to learn by making mistakes—‘Then you have to work twice as hard to correct the mistakes and the thing begins to take shape.’ He summed up: ‘Listen, if you go into this thing that I’m doing, you’ll have a hell of a struggle, but you’ll have fun.’” —

Through May 18, 2025
The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick
Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin–Madison
800 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706, (608) 263-2246, www.chazen.wisc.edu

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