Comprised of 104 individual plates and published in three volumes between 1808 and 1810, The Microcosm of London was originally issued in twenty-six monthly parts. Published by Rudolph Ackermann (1764—1834), it supplied the luxury print market with a comprehensive volume on contemporary London. Cooper Hewitt holds a large number prints from the Microcosm, including this...
In 1879 James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was commissioned by the Fine Art Society to produce twelve etchings of Venice, Italy with the expectation the series would be completed by Christmas and sold in London. Provided with a stipend for his expenses Whistler arrived in Venice in September 1879 and remained in Italy until November 1880,...
This Object of the Day celebrates one of many treasured objects given by Clare and Eugene V. Thaw to Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. It is republished here in memory of Eugene V. Thaw. Click on this link to read more about the Thaws and their gifts to Cooper Hewitt. This polychrome interior hides architectural, visual,...
This polychrome interior hides architectural, visual, and historic secrets. The drawing depicts the bedroom of King Pedro IV in the Palace of Queluz in the municipality of Sintra, just west of Lisbon. The Palace was originally constructed in the eighteenth century under King Pedro III as a summer home. It remained within the Portuguese royal family...
Imaginative author Robert Louis Stevenson wrote in his 1884 essay, A Penny Plain and Twopence Coloured, “If you love art, folly, or the bright eyes of children, speed to Pollock’s…”[1] The toy theatre was a beloved pastime in 19th-century England that appealed to the creativity and craftsmanship of children and adults. Benjamin Pollock inherited his...
Researching a work in the collection can lead a curator to some very interesting places other than libraries. I was fortunate to have been in Berlin on May 14, 2015 which was the anniversary of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s death in 1847. I had corresponded previously with Thomas Lackmann, a descendant of Fanny Hensel’s and board...
While researching one of our printer-dyer record books for the Cooper-Hewitt exhibition Multiple Choice: From Sample to Product, I discovered a curious fabric swatch on page 105. The fragment shows two incomplete figures in Japanese-style dress and includes the text “Dude Never Would Be Missed” and “Got Him On My List.” Both phrases are lyrics...
Frederic Edwin Church, Sunset across the Hudson Valley, 1870. object number 1917-4-582-a Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum’s collection of over 2,000 oil sketches and graphite drawings by Frederic Church was mentioned recently in the New York Times in connection with the reopening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Wing. According to the Met’s Curator of...
Whitney Warren (American, 1864–1943). Tile Floor, Diane de Poitiers Bedroom, Château de Chaumont, June 12, 1888. Brush and watercolor, graphite on off-white wove paper tipped into binding with fabric, 12 5/8 × 9 3/4 in. (320 × 248 mm), irregular. Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Mrs. William Greenough, 1943-51-216 Cooper-Hewitt’s Drawings, Prints,...
