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Orchids in the Mansion activates the historic Loggia with a lavish display of orchids that extends throughout the period rooms, offering a glimpse into how the Cheek family likely brought nature indoors and decorated their home. Our 2022 display featured sprays of white moth orchids complemented by tropical plant material, including several large palms to punctuate the space.
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The Arts & Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative arts that first developed in the British Isles during the 19th century before its influence made its way across the Atlantic to America. The movement stood for traditional craftsmanship, often incorporating medieval, romantic, or folk styles of decoration. Leading examples of works by Charles F. A. Voysey, William Morris, and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, to name a few, will be included in this two-part exhibition with the American portion on display in the spring of 2023.
Charles Voysey (1857-1941), Original design for Squirrel & Blackbird in a Tree wallpaper or fabric, 1907, Watercolor, Loan from Crab Tree Farm Collection. © Jamie Stukenberg (hero image)
Charles F. A. Voysey (1857-1941), Design for the Huntsman Wallpaper, 1919, Ink on paper, Loan from Crab Tree Farm Collection. © Jamie Stuckenberg
Featured Image: Gallery view of Spanning the Atlantic: The Arts & Crafts Movement in Britain, Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Museum of Art, 2022, Collection of Crab Tree Farm.
Image Right: George Kendrick (American, 1850-1919) for Grueby Faience Company (1894-1920) and Tiffany Studios (1885-1930), Lamp, c. 1900, Earthenware, leaded glass, and bronze, Collection of Crab Tree Farm. © Jim Prinz
Image Right: Grant Wood (American, 1891-1942), Fertility, 1939, Lithograph on paper, Gift of the Estate of John and Margaret Hill, 1994.19.19.
This exhibition centers on the work of George Hurrell (1904-1992), whose pioneering approach to photography became synonymous with the glamour portraits of Hollywood movie stars of the 1930s and 1940s. It also features the fashion photography of Louise Dahl-Wolfe (1895-1989) and the documentative yet dramatic imagery of Barbara Morgan (1900-1992) and W. Eugene Smith (1918-1978), whose works likewise emphasize the sophisticated elegance of the period now referred to as the Golden Age of Cinema.
George Hurrell (American, 1904-1992), Gene Tierney, 1945. Gelatin silver print. Gift of Dr. Farel A. Rosenberg. 1983.18.2
“They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky,” so describes the characters to spring forth from the mind of Charles Addams, a dominant force in twentieth century visual humor. The approximately eighty works of ink, gouache, and watercolor on paper spanning Addams’ career from the late 1930’s through his death in 1988 come from the Tee & Charles Addams foundation. His work is filled with subtle suggestions, double entendre, visual puns, along with commentary on contemporary society, historic events, and artistic triumphs. Best known today for The Addams Family television series, movies and animated features, Addams was a significant contributor to The New Yorker for over five decades as well as one of the great humorists of the 20th century.
Charles Addams (American, 1912-1988) Boiling Oil, 1946. 26 x 22 inches. © Charles Addams, with permission Tee & Charles Addams Foundation.
INTERVENTIONS, an arts initiative focused on activating the mansion’s historic period rooms, aims to create a dialogue between the craftsmanship of the contemporary creative minds of today and the classical collections present within the Cheekwood mansion.
In the 1920s, the Cheek family traveled to England with architect Bryant Fleming to acquire architectural elements, furniture and décor for the Cheekwood Mansion, then under construction. Some ninety years later, artist Michael Eden finds inspiration in the Cheek’s collection.
Eden is known internationally for creating artworks that explore the abstract qualities of vessels, utilizing digital manufacturing and materials to redesign familiar historical objects. He earned an MPhil at the Royal College of Art in London, England, allowing him to explore how his interest in digital technology could be developed and combined with the craft skills he had acquired during his previous experience as a potter.
Made with 3D printing technology, the exhibition contains fifteen works, displayed throughout the period rooms in the Cheekwood Mansion on custom-made packing crates, as if they have just been delivered to the estate. The works serve as visual links to the historic objects, recorded activities and built environments of the Cheekwood site.
Michael Eden, Icons I and Icons II, 2018. Additive Layer Manufacturing from a high-quality nylon material with a soft mineral coating. Courtesy of Adrian Sassoon, London. Photography by Sylvian Deleu.
Supported by the Sandra Schatten Foundation
