Nightstand

Craftsman Workshops

1915-17 (ca.)

30 x 14 1/2 inches

L2012.11.1

Drs. Cynthia and Timothy McGinn

Shop mark (branded) on side of drawer

Like the vast majority of the furniture produced in a Colonial Revival style, Stickley freely borrowed ideas and idioms from different periods with no concern for historical accuracy or fidelity. That the sausage turnings on the legs were a holdover from the Jacobean period that would not have included the shaped shelf in a vague nod to the William and Mary style was of little bother: the goal was to make a piece of furniture that spoke to people's desire in the 1910s to connect with a Colonial past, regardless of whether their ideas about the period bore even a passing resemblance to reality.

Amidst all this historicism, however, is the glimmer of innovation and a poignant reminder that even as Stickley essentially retired from the furniture trade in the 1920s, he continued inventing finishes and formulas that he hoped would return him to the financial security he enjoyed from the mid 1890s to about 1913. On the base of drawer, the painted square is one of the numerous test patches for a finish that have been found on pieces descended in the family. On the bottom of the drawer we can read the restlessness of his mind, the hopefulness at returning himself and his family to comfort, and the frugality of his later life. For a man who once measured the lumber he brought in by the box car and board foot, it is sad to think of him later in life, working alone, searching for a bare drawer bottom on which he can apply his latest formulation. While he undoubtedly enjoyed the love and support of his children, it was as though the period following the bankruptcy, the sale of his Craftsman Farms, and the death of his beloved wife Eda, gravely wounded his spirit. While continuing to work may have helped him emerge from this state, he would never again work as he once had: in command of a factory floor, a tastemaker and publisher who finally broke through the barriers to become (however briefly) the the type of gentleman farmer he so admired.

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.