A MINIATURE LOOK AT GRAND DESIGN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00792R000700370001-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 27, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

Approved For Release 2000/08/11
CIA-RDP96-00792R00070037000 0
Phyfe pieces are mtermmg e wi mahog-
Each of the nine Thorne Miniature Rooms at Knoxville's Dulin Gallery of Art
portrays a various style of European or American design.
A Miniature Look
At Grand Design
At Knoxville's Dulin Gallery of Art, it's
hard to resist the temptation to press your
nose right up against the glass of the
Thorne Miniature Rooms exhibit. Here,
every inch represents a foot. There are
railings to lean against as you study the tiny
details. There are even step stools. for
young visitors to stand on. Obviously, the
gallery encourages these moments of look-
ing, moments that are worth the effort.
The mood in this upstairs room of the
Dulin brings back memories of childhood
dollhouses. But this is art, or more specifi-
cally, it is a study of various eras of Ameri-
can and European decorative styles. You
see a Federal dining room, a Victorian
parlor, a New England bedroom, an
American summer kitchen, and even a
room from 16th-century Spain. The range
patterns, everyday remnants of lacy
wrought iron, and even colorful box tops
that could be made into important details
of the period rooms. When reality failed
her, imagination took over. You'll see that
some curtains are actually delicate linen
handkerchiefs. A rug here and there was
snipped from a petit point evening bag. A
statuesque bust, poised atop a pedestal
base, was once the ivory chess queen on a
game board. And the candles are just tips
of kitchen toothpicks, painted white.
It's almost impossible to :single out the
improvised appointments from the many
items skillfully created by master crafts-
men. Stunning scaled-down' reproductions
of Chinese Chippendale and Duncan
is broad. And so, was the collection of
miniature furniture and accessories assem-
bled by Mrs. James Ward Thorne, the
woman whose hobby led to the creation of
these tiny rooms in the early 1930's.
Mrs. Thorne always thought in small
terms, although the impact of her minia-
ture rooms is grand. As a child, she doted
on dollhouses As a young girl, she col-
lected 18th-century furniture samples,
themselves executed in miniature so trav-
eling salesmen could easily display their
lines. And as an adult traveler, Mrs.
Al f
h
any furnishings copied from Metropolitan
Museum of Art collections. Tiny blue-and-
white delft pottery items, a little Toby jug,
and ivory-handled cutlery are perfect in
their resemblance to real-life counterparts.
When Mrs. Thorne first assembled her
treasures into their proper groupings,
there were 29 scenes in all. In 1962, the
Dulin acquired nine rooms from the
original set of Thorne Miniatures, be-
coming the only gallery in the Southeast
to own part of the collection. Other rooms
may be seen in Phoenix and Chicago.
The miniature rooms are only part of
the Dulin's story, though. Down the
gallery's winding staircase with its red
velvet handrail is an elegant entry foyer,
with rooms shooting off in four directions.
Here, the works of masters are rotated
with the artistic accomplishments of
regional painters and craftspeople. The
artwork is displayed much as it would
have been when the wealthy Dulin
family first occupied this Neoclassical
house back in 1917.
Mrs. Eugenia Bell Dulin commissioned
noted architect John Russell Pope to de-
sign her dream home on a bluff overlook-
ing a slight bend in the Tennessee River.
Pope, who also designed the National
Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.,
never visited Tennessee to see the Du-
lins' finished house.
But the people of Knoxville have gotten
to know and admire the house. Mrs. Dulin
proudly entertained there-one diarist of
the era reported that the newly completed
home was known to all as the "exposition
palace." Following her death in 1961, Mrs.
Dulin's heirs decided to truly carry out the
exposition palace theme, opening the
building to East Tennesseans for use as a
regional art center. Today, Eugenia Bell
Dulin's portrait occupies a prominent spot
in the home she loved, greeting visitors
and seeming to .sense their delight as they
wander through its collections of art.
To learn more, write the Dulin Gallery
of Art, 3100 Kingston Pike, Knoxville,
Tennessee 37919; or call [phone].
e tan is
Thorne scoured both sides of t
for anything of diminutive proportions: an- A miniature look at an American summer kitchen of the late 1800's shows such details as a good
tique mini f2bie otli1 s " O / 96W`fir'(h~ `1Atk r-E(Avjig `0`b ` 000700370001-0
 Approved For Release 2000/08/11
CIA-RDP96-00792R00070037000 0
Phyfe pieces are mtermmg e wi mahog-
Each of the nine Thorne Miniature Rooms at Knoxville's Dulin Gallery of Art
portrays a various style of European or American design.
A Miniature Look
At Grand Design
At Knoxville's Dulin Gallery of Art, it's
hard to resist the temptation to press your
nose right up against the glass of the
Thorne Miniature Rooms exhibit. Here,
every inch represents a foot. There are
railings to lean against as you study the tiny
details. There are even step stools. for
young visitors to stand on. Obviously, the
gallery encourages these moments of look-
ing, moments that are worth the effort.
The mood in this upstairs room of the
Dulin brings back memories of childhood
dollhouses. But this is art, or more specifi-
cally, it is a study of various eras of Ameri-
can and European decorative styles. You
see a Federal dining room, a Victorian
parlor, a New England bedroom, an
American summer kitchen, and even a
room from 16th-century Spain. The range
patterns, everyday remnants of lacy
wrought iron, and even colorful box tops
that could be made into important details
of the period rooms. When reality failed
her, imagination took over. You'll see that
some curtains are actually delicate linen
handkerchiefs. A rug here and there was
snipped from a petit point evening bag. A
statuesque bust, poised atop a pedestal
base, was once the ivory chess queen on a
game board. And the candles are just tips
of kitchen toothpicks, painted white.
It's almost impossible to :single out the
improvised appointments from the many
items skillfully created by master crafts-
men. Stunning scaled-down' reproductions
of Chinese Chippendale and Duncan
is broad. And so, was the collection of
miniature furniture and accessories assem-
bled by Mrs. James Ward Thorne, the
woman whose hobby led to the creation of
these tiny rooms in the early 1930's.
Mrs. Thorne always thought in small
terms, although the impact of her minia-
ture rooms is grand. As a child, she doted
on dollhouses As a young girl, she col-
lected 18th-century furniture samples,
themselves executed in miniature so trav-
eling salesmen could easily display their
lines. And as an adult traveler, Mrs.
Al f
h
any furnishings copied from Metropolitan
Museum of Art collections. Tiny blue-and-
white delft pottery items, a little Toby jug,
and ivory-handled cutlery are perfect in
their resemblance to real-life counterparts.
When Mrs. Thorne first assembled her
treasures into their proper groupings,
there were 29 scenes in all. In 1962, the
Dulin acquired nine rooms from the
original set of Thorne Miniatures, be-
coming the only gallery in the Southeast
to own part of the collection. Other rooms
may be seen in Phoenix and Chicago.
The miniature rooms are only part of
the Dulin's story, though. Down the
gallery's winding staircase with its red
velvet handrail is an elegant entry foyer,
with rooms shooting off in four directions.
Here, the works of masters are rotated
with the artistic accomplishments of
regional painters and craftspeople. The
artwork is displayed much as it would
have been when the wealthy Dulin
family first occupied this Neoclassical
house back in 1917.
Mrs. Eugenia Bell Dulin commissioned
noted architect John Russell Pope to de-
sign her dream home on a bluff overlook-
ing a slight bend in the Tennessee River.
Pope, who also designed the National
Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.,
never visited Tennessee to see the Du-
lins' finished house.
But the people of Knoxville have gotten
to know and admire the house. Mrs. Dulin
proudly entertained there-one diarist of
the era reported that the newly completed
home was known to all as the "exposition
palace." Following her death in 1961, Mrs.
Dulin's heirs decided to truly carry out the
exposition palace theme, opening the
building to East Tennesseans for use as a
regional art center. Today, Eugenia Bell
Dulin's portrait occupies a prominent spot
in the home she loved, greeting visitors
and seeming to .sense their delight as they
wander through its collections of art.
To learn more, write the Dulin Gallery
of Art, 3100 Kingston Pike, Knoxville,
Tennessee 37919; or call [phone].
e tan is
Thorne scoured both sides of t
for anything of diminutive proportions: an- A miniature look at an American summer kitchen of the late 1800's shows such details as a good
tique mini f2bie otli1 s " O / 96W`fir'(h~ `1Atk r-E(Avjig `0`b ` 000700370001-0