Description:
Silver spoon with a twisted handle with a domed silver disk near bowl, hammer marks on the oval bowl, and an irregularly finished, broad triangular-shaped handle tip, which made by Madeline Yale Wynne (1847-1918). As a young girl, Madeline Yale Wynne learned metalworking techniques from her father, Linus Yale, Jr., owner and inventor of the Yale Lock Company in Shelburne Falls, Mass. While most late 19th-century women deemed this craft unfeminine, Wynne defended her choice stating, “metal is just like dough after it has been subjected to heat. Of course this heat feature staggers many women, but there is no reason why a woman shouldn't do anything in the way of metal work without losing any of her dignity.” After her divorce, Wynne devoted herself to artistic production as a creative outlet and a means of support; she studied painting in 1877 at the recently founded School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and later at the Art Students League in NYC. By the fall of 1883, she became interested in etching copper and brass (see tray, HD 97.63.1). Although handwork in metal, enamel, and jewelry was Madeline Yale Wynne's specialty, she also excelled as a writer, painter, watercolorist, and her interest in crafts included furniture, leather, needlework, pyrography, and basketry. These diverse interests resulted in Wynne becoming an influential and organizing force in the founding of the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society in 1897, the Deerfield Society of Blue-and-White Needlework in 1896, and the Deerfield Society of Arts and Crafts in 1899. In 1885, Madelaine Yale Wynne and her long-term companion, Annie C. Putnam (d.1924), a Boston art critic, purchased and restored the Barnard-Willard house, which they called "The Manse" (the house opposite the Brick Church in Deerfield), where in the adjoining barn Wynn forged jewelry and metalwork. From 1890-1915, Putnam owned the "Little Brown House," which was remodeled for use as an open studio and social gatherings. Wynne submitted this form of deliberately unrefined, hammered and sometimes enameled metalware and jewelry to the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society 1899 exhibition to considerable critical interest. This is one of the objects (HD 89.019-89.032) purchased from Richard Arms (1928-2007) of Deerfield, a descendent of the Arms family of Deerfield.
Label Text:
Spoon, Madeline Yale Wynne (1847-1918), Deerfield, Massachusetts, 1890-1900. Silver. Hall and Kate Peterson Fund for Minor Antiques, 1989.022
Madeline Yale Wynne, President of the Deerfield Industries, had a profound influence on the Arts & Crafts movement in Deerfield. Talented in a variety of different crafts, Wynne excelled in creating inventive and expressive metalware and jewelry. This silver spoon with its hammered bowl and twisted handle effectively demonstrates her skill and artistry in manipulating the material to its fullest extent.
Tags:
women artists Subjects:
Women artists Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+89.022 |
