- Daniel Pabst
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Modern Gothic diningroom of the Theodore Roosevelt Sr. townhouse in New York City (1873, demolished). Based on designs by Frank Furness, the paneling, woodwork and furniture is attributed to Pabst. The dining table is in the collection of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia.
A virtuoso cabinetmaker of the Victorian Era, Daniel Pabst (1826-1910) created some of the most extraordinary hand-carved furniture in America. Sometimes working in collaboration with architect Frank Furness (1839-1912), he crafted pieces in the Neo-Grec, Renaissance Revival, Modern Gothic, and Colonial Revival styles. Examples of his work are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in Great Britain.
Contents
Background
Born in Langenstein, Germany, Pabst immigrated to the U.S. in 1849 and settled in Philadelphia, where he would spend his professional career. The excellence of his craftsmanship elevated him above his peers, as did the strongly architectonic (building-like) quality of his furniture designs—often massively scaled, with columns, pilasters, rounded and Gothic arches, bold carving and polychromatic decoration. He was a master at cameo-carving (intaglio) in wood: veneering a light-colored wood over a darker, then carving through to create a vivid contrast. Some pieces were adorned with decorative tiles, others with painted glass panels backed with reflective foil. Elaborate strap hinges and hardware were commonly used, and the furniture was sometimes ebonized. His Philadelphia shop grew to employ up to 50 workmen, but the company's records do not survive. Of the presumably thousands of pieces produced over half a century, only two are signed. Therefore, identification of his work must be made through other documentation or through attribution.[1]
With Furness
Horace Howard Furness in his library at "Lindenshade," Wallingford, PA, ca. 1900.[2] The Furness-Pabst bookcases are at far right and far left. The lamps of the Furness-Pabst desk (now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art) are visible in the background, right.
Furness-Pabst cabinet doors designed for Horace Howard Furness's library (1873).The most famous pieces attributed to Pabst are a Modern Gothic desk and chair made to the designs of Frank Furness. Created for the architect's brother Horace (and slightly altered from Frank's surviving drawings), they are now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.[3] Furness family correspondence documents a set of bookcases by the pair (one now at the University of Pennsylvania, others now in the Barrie & Deedee Wigmore collection, NYC), which are visible in a circa-1900 photograph of Horace Howard Furness's library.[4]
In 1873 Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. (father of the future president) hired Furness to decorate his newly-built townhouse at 6 West 57th Street, New York City (demolished). Based on designs in Furness's sketchbook, manufacture of the ornate paneling, bookcases, cabinetry and mantels is attributed to Pabst, along with individual furniture pieces. The massive dining table—with a base of carved egrets eating frogs—is in the collection of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta.[5] The cameo-carved master bedroom suite is at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, President Theodore Roosevelt's summer home in Oyster Bay, NY.[6][7] Antiques expert/dealer Robert Edwards (who discovered the Pabst-attributed cabinets now at the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art) has identified a chair now in the Barrie & Deedee Wigmore collection as having come from the Roosevelt library.[8]
An 8-foot (2.4 m)-tall Aesthetic Movement exhibition cabinet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is attributed to Furness and Pabst. It features cameo-carved doors in maple and walnut, painted glass panels backed with foil, a shingled-roof top, and ornate brass hardware. This tour de force, reminiscent of Furness's bank buildings of the late-1870s, may be the masterpiece of their collaboration.[9]
Without Furness
Pabst created masterworks without Furness. He received a medal for excellence at the 1876 Centennial Exposition for a large walnut sideboard (whereabouts unknown). "The amount of rich carving far surpassed that on any other Gothic piece in the Exhibition; but in the main it was without purpose or distinctive meaning. Still it was free from conventionalisms..."[10]
The paneling, library, mantels and grand staircase of the John Bond Trevor mansion "Glenview" in Yonkers, NY—part of the Hudson River Museum -- are attributed to Pabst based on an 1877 newspaper article, as is the diningroom's sideboard.[11] The latter's fox-and-crane decoration (from Aesop's Fables) is repeated on the sideboard at the Art Institute of Chicago.[12]
A business profile from 1886:
Daniel Pabst, Designer and Manufacturer of Artistic Furniture, No. 269 South Fifth Street—One of the leading and most successful designers and manufacturers of artistic furniture in Philadelphia is Mr. Daniel Pabst, whose office and manufactory are located at No. 269 South Fifth Street. The business was established in 1854 by Pabst & Wrauss, who were pioneers in the trade here. About 16 years ago Mr. Pabst became sole proprietor. The premises are very spacious, admirably arranged, and equipped throughout with every facility and convenience for the transaction of business, employment being given to 25 skilled workmen. Mr. Pabst designs and manufactures art and antique furniture of all kinds, which, for beauty and originality of design, superior and elaborate finish are unexcelled. The trade of the house extends through this and adjacent States. It is so well known and has retained its old customers for so long a time, that its reputation for honorable, straightforward dealing is established beyond the requirements of praise.[13]
Legacy
Pabst retired in 1896, but continued making furniture for friends and family members into his eighties. In June 1910, he was honored by the University of Pennsylvania for 50 years of carving senior-class "Honor Men Awards".[14] He died in Philadelphia the following month, on July 15.
The largest collection of Pabst furniture is at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; including a 14-piece Renaissance Revival diningroom suite and a music cabinet made for Henry Charles Lea (c.1868),[15] two pier mirrors made for Charles T. Parry (c.1870),[16] a Modern Gothic cameo-carved bedroom suite made for Pabst's daughter Emma (c.1878),[17] and a signed and dated Modern Gothic grandfather clock ("Daniel Pabst, Artist, 1884.").[18] In addition to the above museums, he is represented in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Brooklyn Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, NY, and the Winterthur Museum in Wilmington, DE.
A great-grandson, Richard Pabst, is assembling a complete list of his known and attributed works.[19] The Philadelphia Museum of Art is preparing a comprehensive exhibition of his furniture.[20]
Examples of Daniel Pabst's work
- Victoria and Albert Museum, Frank Furness-designed chair from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts[21]
- Philadelphia Museum of Art, Frank Furness-designed desk and chair[22]
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, Aesthetic Movement exhibition cabinet[23]
- Art Institute of Chicago, "Fox and Crane" sideboard[24]
- Glenview Mansion, Entrance Hall and Grand Staircase[25]
- Brooklyn Museum, Cabinet[26]
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Pedestal[27]
- University of Pennsylvania, "Honor Men Awards"[28]
Notes
- ^ David Hanks, "Daniel Pabst," in Nineteenth Century Furniture: Innovation, Revival and Reform, Art and Antiques, 1982, cover, pp. 36-43.
- ^ Historic American Buildings Survey PA.23-WALF.2A-5, Library of Congress.
- ^ Philadelphia: Three Centuries of American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1976, pp. 378-79, 401-03.
- ^ George E. Thomas, et al., Frank Furness, The Complete Works, Princeton Architectural Press, revised edition 1996, pp. 166-67.
- ^ Roosevelt dining table from Flickr.
- ^ Roosevelt bed
- ^ Thomas, et al. Frank Furness, pp. 180-83.
- ^ Robert Edwards, Iz You Iz or Iz You Ain't Daniel Pabst: PMA Tries To Find Out (November 2008).[1]
- ^ Doreen Bolger Burke, ed., In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986, cover, pp. 142, 146-47, 460-61.
- ^ "Decorative Fine-Art Work at Philadelphia: American Furniture," American Architect and Building News, vol. 2 (6 January 1877), p. 4, quoted in David A. Hanks and Page Talbott, "Daniel Pabst--Philadelphia Cabinetmaker," Philadelphia Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. 73, no. 316 (April 1977), pp. 20-21.
- ^ Glenview library mantel from Flickr.
- ^ Mary Jean Madigan, Eastlake-Influenced American Furniture: 1870-1890, Hudson River Museum, 1973, cover, plates 7, 10-12.
- ^ Philadelphia: Leading Merchants and Manufacturers (Philadelphia: 1886), p. 167.
- ^ The Evening Bulletin, 11 June 1910, cited in Hanks and Talbott, p. 23.
- ^ Lea music cabinet from Philadelphia Museum of Art.
- ^ Parry pier mirror from Philadelphia Museum of Art.
- ^ Hanks and Talbott, cover, pp. 1-24.
- ^ 1884 grandfather clock from Philadelphia Museum of Art.
- ^ Dan Cooper, "Daniel Pabst, Modern Gothic Furniture," in Style 1900 Magazine, Fall 2007, pp. 54-61.
- ^ Robert Edwards, Iz You Iz (November 2008).
- ^ http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O59243/armchair/
- ^ http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/69518.html?mulR=8318
- ^ http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/Cabinet_Attributed_to_Daniel_Pabst/ViewObject.aspx?OID=10001120&pgSz=1
- ^ http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/184672
- ^ http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tfaoi.com/am/1am/1am37.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tfaoi.com/newsm1/n1m86.htm&usg=__OZ_V4A4zwBsKi2ZI6H-Tj9z4swY=&h=620&w=482&sz=74&hl=en&start=137&tbnid=Vr6EBpRgnovZUM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=106&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522daniel%2Bpabst%2522%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D120
- ^ https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/research/luce/object.php?id=124185
- ^ http://www.clevelandart.org/Explore/artistwork.asp?searchText=daniel+pabst&ctl00%24ctl00%24ctrlHeader%24btnSearch=go&tab=1&recNo=0&woRecNo=0
- ^ http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/traditions/heyday/honormen.html
Categories:- 1826 births
- 1910 deaths
- American cabinetmakers
- American furniture designers
- American woodworkers
- American people of German descent
- People from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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