THE SEA AS MUSE

This find is, for historical researchers, almost akin to discovering the legendary Holy Grail. Very few company records have survived into the present, and the records that do survive almost never include the names of workers. While many similar receipts are preserved in the Gorham archive, this is the only one I saw that also had names attached.

Pieces like this one were special commissions. The customer would have chosen various stock components from the Gorham showroom or its catalogs, including the body shape, handles, and embellishments. Some features, such as the figure of Victory, may have been designed, sculpted, and cast especially for this piece. The artist would have drawn the final design, and having secured the customer’s approval, the design then would have been sent to the manufacturing department.

Further research tells us just a little bit more about the makers of this Astor Cup. For instance, we know that the six men were all immigrants to the U.S. Adolph Erichsen and Carl Wikant immigrated to the U.S. from Norway, George Shirley and James Holyoake from England, and James Pender and Robert Wacker came from Nova Scotia and Germany, respectively. When John Holyoake petitioned for U.S. citizenship, George Shirley served as a witness.

See this trophy and many more Museum treasures when the exhibit, provisionally titled, Sea as Muse, opens in Summer 2021. In addition to trophies, the exhibit will also highlight carved wood panels and furniture that Swedish immigrant Karl von Rydingsvard created for Arthur Curtiss James’s yacht, the Aloha II, and works by English-born artists Clement J. Heaton and Frances Palmer.

Katherine Hijar, Ph.D., is the Luce Project assistant curator.

LEFT: Curator Katherine Hijar with the Astor Cup trophy, Tiffany & Co., 1893.

CENTER: The costing receipt for the 1895 Astor Cup awarded to the owner of Defender. Gorham Company Archive, John

Hay Library, Brown University.

RIGHT: Astor Cup trophy awarded to the Defender, Gorham Manufacturing Co., 1895. 1961.895.

FIGUREHEADS REIMAGINED By Elysa Engelman, Ph.D.

Dramatic. Mysterious. Memorable.

Museum members know these terms best describe the figureheads display. For more than 40 years, visitors have received a thrill after opening a door into the brick Wendell Building and spying a dozen or more human faces looming at them out of the darkness. These statue-like wooden carvings, many larger than life-size, have long been displayed at intervals along the walls, like a maritime-themed chapel filled with colorful, carved saints.

Figureheads are always a crowd-pleaser. Perhaps it is the human faces, the ornate clothing, the confident poses. Or perhaps it’s because we know that if only they could speak, these figures would tell us amazing stories of the places, ports, and events they’ve witnessed, as moving statuary born on the bows of merchant, naval, and pleasure craft in the Age of Sail. Each “silent pilot” led a ship into its voyage and back to port. Like a mascot for a sports team, a figurehead was often seen as a personification of the ship. Whether meant to depict the ship’s owner or family member, a politician, legendary character, or celebrity, they were often carved to convey power, grace, or speed.

Several years ago, we saw an opportunity to reinterpret the long-term figureheads display. Thanks to Museum supporters, we now have a renovated 21st-century gallery, complete with a new HVAC system, new drywall, fresh paint, and modern lighting track and fixtures. The theater is now ready for the return of its silent troupe of actors. Funding from the Henry Luce Foundation is making possible an entirely new installation, curated by Katherine Hijar, Ph.D., and Mirelle Luecke, Ph.D.

When you come to enjoy the new exhibit, you will see some new acquisitions, including a hippocampus carousel carving and a partially finished billethead, carved and gilded by staff member Rich Froh to demonstrate the stages of the carving process. Alongside will be some old favorites, such as Two Sisters, Donald McKay, and Iolanda.

But the differences will be instantly obvious. “We wanted to put visitors in a 19th-century frame of reference to see and understand the visual messages that 19th-century viewers would have instantly understood,” says Hijar. A large wall mural of a busy wharf in Liverpool with a row of wooden ships, each carrying its own figurehead, conveys how these were works of public art, more often viewed by passersby in port than at sea.

Close attention was paid to the angle of display based on historic sources and the proportions of each figure. Exhibits fabricator Alan Schaefer designed an ingenious steel display system, so each figurehead can be safely shown long-term at an angle carefully calibrated to approach their original position on the ship. As a result, instead of studiously ignoring the gaze of the visitor by looking up to the ceiling, they gaze out at us.

In most cases, the name of the original vessel for a particular figurehead has been lost. Instead, they are known by internal titles such as “Woman with Flowers,” or “Besuited Gentleman.” Curators Hijar and Luecke researched the clothing, hairstyles, and poses, finding theatrical antecedents for many, such as the “Woman with Beads,” whose costume, long hair, and rosary beads suggest she represents the French martyr Joan of Arc as she was portrayed on the Victorian stage. Images from fashion plates, photos, and maps accompany each figurehead to provide context and insight. The curators also analyzed the figures, carved by English and American carvers, who depict different cultures: Native American, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern.

The new exhibit is a fresh take on helping people understand and appreciate the craft of carving and figureheads as an important art form.

Elysa Engelman, Ph.D., is the director of Exhibits.