The Jewel Of the Midwest Part Two
The Grandeur of Miniature
Salon of the Louis XIV period
Last month I was privileged to visit the Art Institute of Chicago and wrote about their impressive collection of French Impressionist paintings and sculpture. This month I want to write about the captivating Thorne Rooms in the museum. From the time we are small, we are intrinsically drawn to familiar things in model scale. I was fascinated by dollhouses as well as model cars and airplanes, the more intricate and realistic the better. Barbie's dream house never cut it for Little Missy. Narcissa Niblack Thorne, a native of Indiana born in 1882 was an American Master of the art of miniature rooms. They depict historical interiors from North America, France, England and Asia from the late 13th century until the mid 20th century. Narcissa married her childhood sweetheart, an heir to Montgomery Ward department stores and had two sons. The story goes that her interest in miniatures was fostered by her uncle, a Rear Admiral in the US Navy who sent her trinkets from his travels. The first exhibition of her work was in 1932 and the Great Depression allowed her to hire highly skilled artisans who took her passion for miniature rooms to the next level. The rooms, generally built on a scale of 1:12 or one inch to one foot depict a connoisseur's taste for interiors of the upper-class homes. Tweezers, cotton swabs and tooth picks were all employed in what must have been a painstaking undertaking.
Salon of Louis XIV period
French Provincial boudoir of the 18th century
Parisian salon of the 1930s
English dining room of the Georgian period
English entry hall of the Georgian Period
English rotunda and library of the Regency period
English drawing room of 1940s
Mrs. Thorne's work was extremely expensive and time consuming and her husband left her with a fortune of two million dollars which she used to continue her pursuit of her passion until the early 1950s, when a shortage of skilled workers forced her to discontinue the miniature rooms. A permanent gallery was established in the Art Institute for the rooms in 1954. There are approximately 100 in existence, 64 of which are in the Art Institute.
18th century Virginia dining room
Shaker drawing room, 18th century
New Mexico dining room, 1940
California living room, 1935-1940
Mrs. Thorne never sought compensation for her work. Many rooms were auctioned for charity. She was commissioned to create a room at Windsor Castle to mark the planned coronation of Edward VIII and although the coronation never occurred, the room was shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum. And that, dear readers, is the highest of the high for accolades involving style and design. Thank you , Mrs. Thorne, and thank you Art Institute of Chicago for preserving these precious rooms.
