Circa 1917: Rediscovering Craftsman Farms

Chest Of Drawers

Craftsman Workshops

1915-17 (ca.)

42 x 36 x 22 inches

Painted beech

L2012.11.4

Drs. Cynthia and Timothy McGinn

Branded mark on top left drawer side

Chromewald furniture, Stickley's final period of design, is often barely an afterthought to those whose admiration of his work began with his early Arts and Crafts period. Much maligned, it suffers from the common fate of many artists' late periods where the work is evaluated for what it is not, rather than examined for what it is. This is a function of expectation more than quality, for when we associate Stickley only with the Arts and Crafts, his work before that period emerged, as well as his shift away from it in 1915, is necessarily seen in terms of a bell curve; the ascent and descent viewed as lesser.

In truth, Chromewald was clever in a way that is seldom acknowledged, for not only did it attempt to respond to the changing marketplace but it used an external complexity to mask a more streamlined production. It is easy to look at the turned elements, the shaped stretchers and rails, the general fussiness of some pieces and miss that during this time, drawer construction went through the first major overhaul in a decade. By eliminating the rail on the bottom of the drawer, Stickley made the process substantially more efficient. Without that rail (and the labor required to align and attach it), things get simpler and the labor costs go down. No longer are the two maple guides that the rail slots into needed, each with a screw at the front and the back, each requiring shaping, alignment, the drilling of the holes, then the setting of the screw. Instead, the later drawers were measured and fit, then ready for finishing. As Stickley surely realized, all of these small steps, repeated over the course of the days, could produce substantial savings. When combined with the other features of the line that were cost saving–like the use of beech and a simpler, quicker finishing process–a pattern emerges that demonstrates Stickley's command of the factory process and understanding of the nuances that impacted his bottom line.

Gustav Stickley

Object is part of a five-piece bedroom suite that is original to the Farms. The set was made by Stickley for his 2nd daughter Mildred (Cruess), who used it until her death, when it was then inherited by her granddaughter, Cynthia McGinn (lender). The set was last used by Mildred's great-granddaughter, Caitlin.