Sheila W. Clark

Carrie Stettheimer constructed her dollhouse between 1916 and 1935, decorating the rooms in a then-modern fashion and acquiring miniature artwork and sculptures designed for the dollhouse by prominent artists. The book outlines the history of the dollhouse and each room is described and photographed in detail. At the end of the book, there are close-ups of the art created for the house along with information about the works and their artists.

I saw the house in person at he Museum of the City of New York, and I now wish that I had this book before. I'm a fan of miniatures and there's no denying that the house is exceptional, but the background about the art, Carrie Stettheimer, and the rooms' interior design make me appreciate it even more. I hadn't realized how accurately it modeled the interior design trends of 1920s New York or what an extraordinary miniature art gallery it possessed. My other wish is that the book had been larger, allowing for bigger photographs of the house. Overall, it's a lovingly compiled and informative book about a lovingly created and historically significant dollhouse.… (altro)

I admit I had not heard of the Stettheimer dollhouse before getting this book. I have seen the miniature room collection at the Chicago Art Institute, which is wonderful, the 17th century dollhouses at the main art museum in Amsterdam, silent film start Colleen Moore's fairy castle at the Science and Technology Museum also in Chicago and the miniature White House at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. All wonderful pieces, but none of them are as personal as the Stettheimer dollhouse.

Two things makes this dollhouse standout. The first is that the house and just about everything in it was made by one woman, Carrie Stettheimer. Ms. Stettheimer never married but she ran her family's household during the first half of the 20th century. She took care of her mother and watched her talented sisters make a name for themselves, one as a writer the other as a painter. Carrie put her creative energy into her dollhouse. The results are fanciful and charming and clearly show the presence of a single creative personality behind them.

The second thing that makes this dollhouse a standout is the art on its walls consists entirely of original pieces most of them done by well known artists including Marcel Duchamp who drew a miniature version of his famous painting "Nude Descending a Staircase" just for Ms. Stettheimer's dollhouse. Even the statues pictured on the cover are original pieces done just for this dollhouse.

The Stettheimer Dollhouse is a delightful peek into one creative mind and an unusual and unexpected review of the early 20th century American avant-garde art scene. Well worth checking out, The Stettheimer Dollhouse is this week's Wednesday Wonder.… (altro)