Description:
Wrought iron electric floor lamp or standing lamp made by Cornelius Mahoney Kelley (1874-1954). The lamp has a removable decorative top piece over four scrolls from which extends a curved tube, held by a twisted section enclosing the electric wire to the electric fittings; a section of "Kelley weave" over a sliding rod, which is held in place with a removable thumb screw; and the base with a tulip-shaped straps connecting the rod to the tripod base, which has diamond-shaped feet. Born in County Cork, Ireland, Kelley moved to the U.S. in 1889 and Greenfield, Massachusetts, in 1891 where he initially worked for a carriagemaker. By 1899, Kelley was renting space in Deerfield where he was the village blacksmith making horse shoes and repairing farm implements. Beginning around 1900, Kelley gradually shifted his work from blacksmithing to fashioning reproduction hardware, fireplace equipment, and iron lamps and candelabra inspired by colonial designs, and became an active member of the Deerfield Arts and Crafts Society and later Society of Deerfield Industries.The twisted design is Kelley's own distinctive weave, the "Kelley weave," an intricate four-ply braiding, which he started making in the 1920s. The Arts and Crafts movement, of which this is a local example, was considered finished in the U.S. by 1916. Kelley, who was more of a traditional blacksmith than artist, was never considered a "cutting edge" in the movement, but was a practical man who recognized the changes in society's needs and followed the artistic trends of the day in wrought iron work to become an American success story.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+86.085 |
