Hewitt Sisters Collect
This exhibition was on display from December 12, 2014 to October 29, 2017.
Some objects in this exhibition may not be viewable on the website due to copyright or other usage restrictions, or because there is no digitized image for the object.
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Two remarkable women founded the collection and institution that is now Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Sarah and Eleanor Hewitt, granddaughters of the industrialist and inventor Peter Cooper, formed the core collection, which was originally housed in New York's Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. With the goal of elevating the state of decorative design in America, they looked to Paris's Musee des Arts Decoratifs as a model and in 1897 the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration was inaugurated.
Displayed here and in the two galleries to your left are objects collected by the Hewitt sisters, ranging from prints, drawings, furniture, and metalwork to buttons, birdcages, and textiles.They purchased works of technical as well as artistic merit at home and on their travels to Europe, from dealers, and at auction. The collection was conceived as "a practical working laboratory," a visual library where students, designers, and the public could be inspired directly by objects. There were few restrictions: objects could be touched, moved, sketched, photographed, and measured. Even by today's standards, the sisters' vision for a modern museum was radical. Today, thanks to unprecedented access to digital technology, we can continue to extend the sisters' user-focused ambitions.
A museum's collection tells the story of its founders, donors, directors, and curators, and the richness of Cooper Hewitt's collection is no exception. Celebrated here are donors to the core of our collection, which was amassed by Sarah and Eleanor Hewitt in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The sisters also solicited friends and acquaintances for contributions of objects or funds to grow the collections that served as design resource material for the Museum for the Arts of Decoration in the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.
To assist in their efforts, in 1907, under the direction of department store owner and collector George A. Hearn, the sisters established an advisory committee of leaders from the artistic, collecting, and business communities. Members included industrialist J.P. Morgan, who donated important collections of sixteenth-century textiles, and Astor descendant Mr. John Innes Kane and his wife Anne Schermerhorn Kane, who gave objects they purchased and inherited, ranging in date from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. Other donors included Mrs. Charles Alexander; Mrs. George T. Bliss, and her daughter Susan Dwight Bliss; and railroad and banking magnate Jacob H. Schiff. The acquisition of French drawings and prints from collector and dealer Jean Leon Decloux, and Italian drawings owned by Borghese family curator Giovanni Piancastelli, reflects the Hewitt sisters' commitment to eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century designs on paper in addition to decorative arts.
Hewitt Sisters Collect is made possible by generous support from Nancy Marks.
Additional funding is provided by Margery and Edgar Masinter and the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.
- Chalice Cover (Italy)
- linen.
- Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
- 1896-1-112
- This object is part of the Textiles collection.
- Cap Crown (Italy)
- linen.
- Gift of Raimundo de Madrazo.
- 1898-1-2
- This object is part of the Textiles collection.
- Drawing, Study for Staircase Decoration, Hanbury Hall, Worchestershire:...
- pen and brown ink, brush and wash on tan laid paper, lined, mounted.
- 1900-1-1
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Drawing, Design for Allegory of Divine Wisdom, Reception Room, Palazzo...
- brush and brown wash, pen and brown ink, red, black, and white chalk on....
- Museum purchase through gift of various donors.
- 1901-39-1714
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- Drawing, Ceiling Design Depicting Iris and the Rainbow
- pen and brown ink, brush and watercolor on off-white laid paper.
- Museum purchase through gift of various donors.
- 1901-39-1807
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- Drawing, Alexander the Great and Diogenes
- pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, graphite on thick white laid paper .
- Museum purchase through gift of various donors.
- 1901-39-3346
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Tapestry Fragment (Spain)
- silk, metallic (gilded parchment wound around silk core).
- Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
- 1902-1-82
- Fragment (Spain)
- silk.
- Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
- 1902-1-222
- Border (Portugal)
- silk embroidery on linen foundation.
- Gift of John Pierpont Morgan.
- 1902-1-904
- Plate (China (for export))
- copper, brass, vitreous enamel .
- Gift of Samuel P. Avery.
- 1903-1-18
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Sidewall (Holland)
- leather, stamped, silvered, painted.
- Gift of Eleanor Garnier Hewitt.
- 1903-12-18
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- Sidewall
- leather, stamped, embossed, silvered, varnished.
- Museum purchase through gift of Thomas Snell.
- 1903-21-3
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- Mount (France)
- cast and gilt bronze.
- Gift of Jacob H. Schiff.
- 1904-20-470
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Mount (France)
- cast and gilt bronze mounted on carved wood block.
- Gift of Mrs. Charles B. Alexander.
- 1907-1-40
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Sugar Bowl and Stand, from a Dessert Service (Sucrier et son Plateau) Sugar...
- soft paste porcelain, vitreous enamel.
- Gift of Mrs. George T. Bliss.
- 1907-23-9-a/c
- This object was made by Chantilly Porcelain Manufactory.
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- There are 17 images of this object.
- Adoration of the Magi Figural Group
- carved walnut.
- Gift of George Arnold Hearn.
- 1910-12-1
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Drawing, Fountain Design with Three Bronze Animals
- chalk, brush and gray wash on laid paper.
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1911-28-6
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Drawing, View of a Masquerade Ball
- pen and black ink, brush and gray wash, watercolor, black chalk on white laid....
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1911-28-38
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- There are 3 images of this object.
- Drawing, Bed Alcove for the Duc d'Orléans, Palais Royal, Paris, France
- pen and black ink, brush and watercolor on white laid paper.
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1911-28-81
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Drawing, Design for a Boat-Shaped Vessel, possibly intended as a Festival Float
- pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, black chalk on off-white laid paper.
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1911-28-169
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- There are 3 images of this object.
- Drawing, Chariot of Apollo, Ceiling Design for Count Bielinski's Cabinet,...
- pen and gray ink, brush and watercolor, gouache, gold paint, black chalk on....
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1911-28-214
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- There are 3 images of this object.
- Drawing, Panel of Arabesques for the Hôtel de Salm, Paris
- pen and black ink, brush and gouache, black chalk on toned paper, lined.
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1911-28-219
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Drawing, Triumphal Arch with the Royal Swedish Coat of Arms
- pen and black ink, brush and gray, green wash, watercolor, graphite on white....
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1911-28-282
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Drawing, View of the Pulpit, Saint Sulpice, Paris (Second Project)
- pen and black ink, brush and watercolor, black chalk on white laid paper .
- Purchased for the Museum by the Advisory Council.
- 1911-28-293
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Drawing, Fisherman in Quebec, Canada
- brush and wash, gouache, charcoal on gray-green wove paper.
- Gift of Charles Savage Homer, Jr..
- 1912-12-89
- This object is part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Coffeepot Coffeepot
- hard paste porcelain, vitreous enamel.
- Gift of Mrs. Edward Luckemeyer.
- 1912-13-1-a,b
- This object was made by Meissen Porcelain Manufactory.
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- There are 9 images of this object.
- Bandbox And Lid, Old US Capitol
- block-printed paper on pasteboard support.
- Gift of Mrs. James O. Green.
- 1913-12-4-a,b
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Bandbox And Lid, Grand Canal
- block-printed paper on pasteboard support.
- Gift of Mrs. James O. Green.
- 1913-12-9-a,b
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 2 images of this object.
- Bandbox, William Henry Harrison
- block-printed paper, pasteboard support.
- Gift of Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson.
- 1913-45-7-a,b
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 5 images of this object.
- Bandbox And Lid, Old Rough and Ready
- block-printed paper on pasteboard support.
- Gift of Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson.
- 1913-45-9-a,b
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 4 images of this object.
- Bandbox And Lid, Sandy Hook
- block-printed paper on pasteboard support.
- Gift of Mrs. Frederick F. Thompson.
- 1913-45-11-a,b
- This object is part of the Wallcoverings collection.
- There are 4 images of this object.
- Skyphos (Drinking Cup) (Etruria (present-day Italy))
- terracotta.
- Gift of Charles W. Gould.
- 1915-11-31
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- There are 3 images of this object.
- Birdcage Birdcage
- tin-glazed earthenware, metal wire, metal.
- Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
- 1916-19-60-a,b
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- Church Birdcage
- turned, cut, and stained mahogany, cherry, pine, cut brass, wire,....
- Gift of Eleanor and Sarah Hewitt.
- 1916-19-83-a,b
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- Brooch (England or United States)
- enameled gold set with pearls, braided hair under glass cover.
- Gift of Georgina and Louisa L. Schuyler.
- 1916-29-47
- This object is part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts collection.
- There are 3 images of this object.