The Decorated Furniture of Ralph and Martha Cahoon; with essay by Barnes Riznik (original) (raw)
Editor's note: The Cahoon Museum of American Art provided source material to Resource Library for the following article and essay. The essay was previously included in an illustrated exhibition catalogue for the exhibition In the Beginning: The Decorated Furniture of Ralph and Martha Cahoon.Images accompanying the text in the exhibition catalogue were not reproduced with this reprinting. If you have questions or comments regarding the essay, or if you have interest in obtaining a copy of the exhibition catalogue, please contact Cahoon Museum of American Art through either this phone number or web address:
- 508-428-7581
- http://www.cahoonmuseum.org
In the Beginning: The Decorated Furniture of Ralph and Martha Cahoon
July 27 - September 18, 2004
(above: Dome-top chest with portraits and garlands; decorated by Martha Cahoon; oil on wood; 1946; h 15 inches, w 34 inches, d 15 inches; private collection)
For some 25 years before Ralph and Martha Cahoon became famous for their whimsical primitive paintings, they had a successful business decorating furniture with traditional folk designs.
This first career -- quickly eclipsed by their second -- has been largely overlooked until now. But this summer, the 
Cahoon Museum of American Art presents the exhibition "In the Beginning: The Decorated Furniture of Ralph and Martha Cahoon," running from July 27 through September 18, 2004. (right: Victorian secretary with Swedish decorations ("Sheba and Solomon"); decorated by Ralph Cahoon; oil on wood; 1946; h 72 inches, w 35 inches, d 22 inches; private collection)
The show features more than 40 objects the Cahoons painted between 1930, when they met, to 1960, when their reputations as primitive artists really exploded. These pieces include secretaries, chests, tables, commodes and chairs as well as such accessories as trays, a firkin and a wastepaper basket decorated with a picture of George Washington. Drawn from private collections in Maine and Rhode Island, as well as on Cape Cod, the pieces demonstrate the Cahoons' command of the Swedish, Pennsylvania-German and early-American decorative styles.
The exhibition begins with a small selection of decorated furniture from the West Harwich shop of Martha's father, Axel Farham. That's where Martha apprenticed for 10 years, learning stenciling and the decorative art of Scandivanian rosemaling. After she and Ralph married in 1932, she taught him the trade and they started a business selling antiques and their painted furniture at their home in Osterville. In 1945, they moved to the large Colonial house in Cotuit that has -- for the past 20 years -- been the Cahoon Museum. It's exciting to think that much of the furniture in "In the Beginning" has temporarily returned to the very building where it was first decorated and displayed in the late '40s and 1950s.
Two highlights of the show are pieces that Ralph Cahoon decorated with elaborate designs based on Swedish wall hangings. In one case, the main panels on a Victorian walnut secretary illustrate the biblical story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. In the second, images on a 6-foot-long pine dowry chest exuberantly tell the tale of the Prodigal Son.
"In the Beginning" also shows how the Cahoons -- particularly Martha -- used motifs drawn from nature, including 
shells, birds, flowers, fruits and butterflies. Other pieces show their earliest endeavors at primitive painting. A tilt-top table boasts a colorful farm scene, while a commode bears an engaging scene of a sailor on the shore. We can easily see why, in the early '50s, Long Island collector and art dealer Joan Whitney Payson encouraged the Cahoons to try painting primitives that could be framed. Some of the Cahoons' earliest paintings are also on view, helping us to understand the transition even better. (right: "Sailor's Return" commode; decorated by Ralph Cahoon; oil on wood; c. 1950s; h 31 inches, w 30 inches, d 17 inches; collection of Susan Shea McPherson)
For comparison's sake, the show takes a brief look at pieces from the Provincetown and Orleans shops of Peter Hunt, whose decorated furniture also had a devoted clientele. He and Ralph Cahoon knew each other and were undoubtedly acquainted with each other's work.
"In the Beginning" has been guest-curated by Barnes Riznik of Osterville. He is a trustee of the Cahoon Museum, a former vice president of Old Sturbridge Village and the retired director of Grove Farm Museum on Kauai in Hawaii. He notes that "the exhibit gives an extra dimension to the Cahoons as artists and allows visitors to look at and appreciate objects that have not been seen before by many other people."
In the Beginning: The Decorated Furniture of Ralph and Martha Cahoon
by Barnes Riznik
For some 25 years before Cape Cod artists Ralph and Martha Cahoon became recognized nationally for their highly individual primitive paintings, they had a successful business restoring and decorating American antique furniture.
"In the Beginning," an exhibition of Cahoon furniture decorated between 1930 and 1960, includes chests, commodes, tables, chairs and trays. These objects provided surfaces on which the Cahoons painted a variety of Swedish peasant, Pennsylvania-German and early American designs. Eventually, they also went beyond such derivative ornamentation and painted scenes of their own invention, including Cape Cod-inspired designs ranging from beach scenes with shorebirds and shells to fanciful, often humorous compositions with mermaids and sailors.
Most pieces on exhibit come from private collections. Some owners have preserved the furniture as part of their memories of a unique Cape Cod lifestyle in the years after the Depression and World War II, when economic prosperity returned and antique collecting became even more popular. In 1936, Nancy McClelland, a historian of the decorative arts, commented that painted furniture does for a room what flowers do -- and most owners of Cahoon furniture would probably agree.
Martha Cahoon's father, furniture decorator Axel Farham (1876-1946), played the key role in Martha's training. He was born in Sweden and learned decorative painting as part of the revival of rosemaling, or rustic painting, and the peasant arts and crafts from the 18th and 19th centuries. Painting was his livelihood after he emigrated to Boston and then moved to the Cape, where he opened his own furniture restoration and decoration shop, first in Harwich Center and then, in 1922, in West Harwich. Although there had been small-scale cabinetmaking shops on the Cape in the 19th century, Farham's specialized decorating shop was probably the first of its kind on the Cape.
The exhibition features several samples of his decorative furniture designs, a still life of flowers, a two-panel landscape, and a one-drawer chest of Pennsylvania-German design -- giving us an idea of the range of items he offered. Eventually, Parham also began selling antique china and glass and painted tinware. According to his cashbook, in 1933-34 he had 381 sales of antique and decorated furniture and sold nearly 300 pieces of china and glass. Eighty-nine transactions involved trays and other items of tinware.
Martha (1905-1999) became her father's apprentice after she graduated from Brooks Academy in 1922. Her work was a blend of decorative styles, such as the rosemaling she used on a dome-top chest and the stenciling on a side chair. Also on exhibit is a stenciled settee decorated by Martha's younger brother, Eric, who carried on their father's shop.
Martha met Chatham native Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982) in 1930, and they were married in 1932. Ralph briefly went to work in the Harwich shop, and Martha taught him how to paint and stencil furniture. They opened their own antiques shop in Osterville and decorated furniture -- and even parts of their house. The exhibit shows four kitchen cabinet doors Ralph painted in 1937 with folk motifs. Their son, Franz, was born in 1935 and kept them both busy.
By 1941, the Cahoon's shop showed sales of 3,433,withexpensesof3,433, with expenses of 3,433,withexpensesof1,376 spent replenishing the stock of antiques and buying paint and brushes. That year the Cahoons sold antique trays, chests, chairs, mirrors, buckets, a cupboard, a child's rocker, a trestle table, a settee and duck decoys. Their decorating work in 1941 included "penna-dutch," a "garland of peasant roses," hearts, doves and shells. Their sales of antiques amounted to 1,832,whiletheirincomefromdecorativeworkwastheslightlylowerfigureof1,832, while their income from decorative work was the slightly lower figure of 1,832,whiletheirincomefromdecorativeworkwastheslightlylowerfigureof1,601. Martha's dome-top chest with floral decoration and two historical figures is an example of the type of work they were doing at the time.
In 1945, the Cahoons moved to a larger house for additional studio and gallery space. They restored a two-story 18th-century building in Cotuit-Santuit and preserved original architectural material, including the stenciled entry hall from the building's tavern days. They had their studio in one of the front rooms on the first floor, had bedrooms on the second floor and used the other rooms as galleries to display their antiques and decorated furniture.
It was during this time that Ralph decorated a number of large case pieces, some of them in familiar Pennsylvania-German designs, but others based on printed sources of rural Swedish wall paintings and fabric hangings portraying Bible stories. Some of Ralph's decorations used figures and large, floating flowers from paintings by early 19th-century Swedish artists from the Dalarma region. The exhibit shows several of these case pieces as well as several corresponding photos from an album assembled by Ralph. A dower chest decorated by Ralph celebrates "The Prodigal Son" -- "Den Forlorade Sonen" -- from Luke 15:11-16. Ralph based his work upon a wall hanging by Swedish artist Johannes Nilsson.
Martha continued to recall rosemaling traditions in her floral decorations on chairs and mirror frames, but she also introduced other natural motifs. In the exhibition, her shell designs enhance a secretary and two-drawer chest. A circular coffee or cocktail table features beach motifs, including shorebirds. Ralph became more fanciful. He introduced sailors and playful mermaids surrounded by ocean and bays about the same time his easel paintings of these subjects began to be shown in several galleries off-Cape. Vignettes on a round table tell the tale of a ship's officer rescued by mermaids while a scene of diving mermaids and sailors enlivens a tray. These new Cahoon images reflected the fun of living on Cape Cod.
In October 1949, on the way home from a trip to Niagra Falls with Franz, the Cahoons stopped off at the newly opened Old Sturbridge Village, with its collection of country arts. Possibly, the folk paintings they saw there inspired them to each try painting a primitive picture that could be framed. In February 1950, Martha wrote in her journal: "I started my primitive painting. Ralph is doing one too." She later added the note: "These were our first pictures." The following year, Martha visited Colonial Williamsburg, where she likely saw Abby Aldrich Rockefeller's collection of early American folk art. "Enjoyed collection of primitive paintings as much as anything," she said in her journal.
Her first primitive painting, "Family and Homestead," is exhibited with a few examples of the Cahoons' decorated furniture inspired by early American folk art. There's a tilt-top table painted with a farm scene by Martha and a painted commode that Ralph decorated with a copy of early 19th-century artist Edward Hicks' scene of "William Penn's Treaty With the Indians" (which was based on Benjamin West's heroic painting). A winter scene Martha painted on a tray recalls Currier & Ives prints.
At the same time the Cahoons were introducing scenes from American painting in their furniture decorations, they continued to use some of their older designs, including cut-out patterns. Ralph and Franz stenciled some of the walls and floors of the Cotuit rooms as background for their antiques. And in the exhibit one sees a painted and stenciled four-drawer chest that shows the lustrous qualities of different colors and shading in the Cahoons' use of metallic powders. A painted low table shows the delicacy of their grape stencil, and a restored Hitchcock-type fancy chair introduces a shell motif over a more traditional 19th-century design. As late as 1970, they painted and decorated a Boston rocker in rosemaling style as a housewarming gift for Franz and his wife, Ruth.
Some people who acquired the Cahoons' decorated furniture 50 years ago also collected objects painted by Peter Hunt (1896-1967) and his students. Hunt's designs, especially his "peasant decorations" on simple, recycled furniture, were sold in his shops in Provincetown and Orleans and also in Boston and New York City. The Cahoons knew Hunt and were undoubtedly acquainted with his work. Several pieces decorated by Hunt and Nancy Whorf, who was one of his students, are on view in the show.
Barnes Riznik is guest curator for the exhibition
Wall text from the exhibition:
Axel Farham and the Rosemaling Tradition
This room has a small selection of decorated furniture from the West Harwich shop of Martha's father, Axel Farham. He was born in Sweden and learned decorative painting as part of the revival of rosemaling, or rustic painting, and peasant arts and crafts from the 18th and 19th centuries. When he and his family visited relatives in Boston in 1902, they didn't intend to emigrate from their native Sweden. But Axel contracted typhoid fever, and the funds intended for their return voyage were used up on medical expenses. So Axel went to work as a decorator in Boston, working renovating old homes for Allen and Hall, among other jobs. Even after the Farham family moved to Harwich in 1915, Axel commuted to Boston for several years before opening his own shop, first in Harwich Center, then in West Harwich. He built up such a reputation that he didn't even have to advertise. Clients included Mrs. Felix A. DuPont and the well-known Cape novelist Joseph C. Lincoln.
After graduation from Brooks Academy, Martha apprenticed to her father for 10 years in the Harwich shop, scraping and sanding furniture and learning stenciling and rosemaling. After Martha and Ralph were married in 1932, she taught him the trade. Although there had been small-scale cabinetmaking shops on the Cape in the 19th century, Axel Farham's specialized decorating shop was probably the first of its kind on the Cape.
Ralph and Martha Cahoon's Osterville Shop
After they married, Ralph and Martha bought a small house in Osterville (the present site of C.H. Newton Builders at 919 Main St.) and started their own business selling antiques and decorated furniture. Their son, Franz, was born in 1935 and kept them both busy, especially Martha. By 1941, the Cahoons showed sales of 3,433,withannualexpensesof3,433, with annual expenses of 3,433,withannualexpensesof1,376 spent replenishing their stock of antiques and buying paint and brushes. That year they sold antique trays, chests, chairs, mirrors, buckets, a cupboard, a child's rocker, a trestle table, a settee and duck decoys. Their decorating work included "penna-dutch" and a "garland of peasant roses." Sales of their painted furniture and stock of antiques were almost equally divided.
Recalling a Variety of Design Traditions: The Cotuit Shop
In 1945, the Cahoons bought a larger house in Santuit, a subsection of the village of Cotuit. They lovingly restored the two-story 1775 Georgian Colonial that is, today, the Cahoon Museum. They preserved historical architectural material, including the stencils that had adorned the central stairwell since the building's tavern days in the 1820s. The Cahoons had their studio in one of the front rooms on the first floor. The bedrooms were on the second floor. Other rooms served as galleries for antiques and their decorated furniture.
Pennsylvania-German designs characterized by the use of stylized flowers, fruits, birds and animals.
Nature and Fantasy on Cape Cod
In the 1950s, the Cahoons' decorative designs became more reflective of Cape Cod. Martha's journals record their use of seashell motifs on furnishings and home accessories, and some of her earliest paintings are beach scenes with such shorebirds as sandpipers and yellowlegs near the water's edge. Martha was fond of shelling and collected different specimens on the Cape and, later, in Florida. Her love of nature is also evident in the way her talents at rosemaling evolved into more realistic-looking roses, pansies, strawberries, birds and butterflies, painted on chests, children's chairs and mirror frames. Franz Cahoon recalls that his mother painted "thousands" of garlands over the years -- or so it must have seemed. Meanwhile, Ralph began to decorate tables, chests, commodes and trays with harbor scenes, young sailors and playful mermaids.
American Primitive Art and Stenciling
The Cahoons painted primitive scenes on furniture as early as 1939, and it was certainly common for them to do so by the mid-1940s. Sometimes they drew their inspiration from 19th-century folk art. Sometimes they seem to have come up with scenes of their own invention. In October 1949, on the way home from a trip to Niagra Falls with Franz, the Cahoons stopped off at the newly opened Old Sturbridge Village, with its collection of early New England country arts. Possibly, the folk paintings they saw there inspired them to each try painting a primitive picture that could be framed. In February 1950, Martha wrote in her journal:
"I started my primitive painting. Ralph is doing one too." She later added the note: "These were our first pictures." The following year, Martha visited Colonial Williamsburg, where she likely saw Abby Aldrich Rockefeller's collection of early American folk art. "Enjoyed collection of primitive paintings as much as anything," she said in her journal. Looking at the delightful primitive scenes that the Cahoons painted on furniture, we can easily see why, in the early '50s, Long Island art dealer Joan Whitney Payson encouraged the couple to do more paintings that could be framed and hung on the wall. She first showed their paintings at her new Country Art Gallery in 1953 and probably gave them their first two-person show in 1954.
At the same time, the Cahoons continued to stencil with their cutout patterns. Ralph and Franz even stenciled some of the walls and floors of the rooms as background for their displays of antiques and decorated furniture.
Other Cape Cod Furniture Painters: Peter Hunt's School
Some people who acquired the Cahoons' decorated furniture 50 years ago also collected objects painted by Peter Hunt (1896-1967) and his students. Hunt and Ralph Cahoon knew each other and were undoubtedly acquainted with each other's work. Whereas Ralph's and Martha's early painted furniture pieces are clearly replications of Swedish and Pennsylvania-German folk designs or are drawn from early American primitive art, Hunt's so-called "peasant decorations" were cheerful, simple designs of his own invention. Increasingly, the Cahoons also relied more and more upon their own fertile imaginations.
Hunt's simple, recycled furniture pieces were sold at his shops in Provincetown and Orleans and also in Boston and New York City. For comparison's sake, this gallery showcases a number of pieces by him and one of his most exceptional students, Nancy Whorf.
Whorf continued to decorate furniture into the 1980s, but is now acclaimed for her exuberant oil paintings.
Label text from the exhibition:
Flowers in a Vase
Axel Farham (1876-1946)
Oil on canvas-covered board
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Axel Farham loved painting still lifes, according to his son, Eric Farham, and definitely saw himself as an artist as well as a furniture decorator. While the family lived in Hyde Park, where Martha was born, he was friends with the well-known impressionist John J. Enneking. After moving to the Cape, he counted such well- respected Cape artists as Karl Knaths, Agnes Weinrich, Harold Dunbar, Howard Gibbs, Eliot Orr and William Littlefield among his friends and loved sitting around talking about art with them. Axel also enjoyed visiting art museums.
Martha Farham Sketching, 1913
Axel Farham (1876-1946)
Watercolor and pencil on brown paper
COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Martha loved to draw as soon as she could hold a pencil. She was about eight when her father made this quick study of her sketching. The family lived in Hyde Park at the time.
One-Drawer Chest With Pennsylvania-German Decoration, 1930
Decorated by Axel Farham (1876-1946)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
The German-speaking Colonists who settled in America in the 18th century brought with them a distinct ethnic set of aesthetic standards. Pennsylvania-Germans sought to imbue their lives with color and creativity. Chests, which provided valuable storage space, were one of the most essential pieces of household furniture. They were embellished with a wide variety of painted ornamentation, including flowers and fanciful animals, such as unicorns.
This was the first chest that Axel Farham decorated with Pennsylvania-German designs. In 1930, a Harwich summer resident brought him the chest as yet undecorated and photographs of a decorated chest in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to serve as a guide.
Oval Tray With Bird and Flowers
Decorated by Axel Farham (1876-1946)
Oil on tin
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Two-Panel Screen With Paintings of Forest and Hunter
Decorated by Axel Farham (1876-1946)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Axel Farham's Cash Book for 1933
COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Decoration Samples From Axel Farham's Shop
COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Dome-Top Chest With Rosemaling, 1930
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Martha met Ralph at a dance after a game at Chatham High School when she was about 25 and he was about 20. They shared interests in art, history and classical music. She gave him this small chest as an expression of her affection in 1930 apparently not too long after they met and two years before they got married. The chest shows Martha's training in the art of Scandinavian floral decoration.
Stenciled Windsor Side Chair, 1932
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, GIFT OF JOYCE BENEDICT
The story that's traveled through the years with this little rabbit-eared side chair is that Ralph gave it to Martha as an engagement gift. It had apparently already been decorated, but wasn't in the best of condition. Martha stenciled it with a grape-and-leaf decoration and noted on the bottom of the seat: "redecorated 1932 by M. Farham." She also painted a compass rose with Ralph's initial's on the bottom.
Ralph and Martha did, indeed, get married in 1932, eloping to Truro to avoid the costs of a wedding.
Philadelphia Painted Bench With Stenciled Grapes, 1954
Decorated by Eric Farham (1919- )
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF CHATHAM HISTORICAL SOCIETY
This stenciled bench was decorated by Martha's younger brother, Eric, who took over the West Harwich shop after Axel Farham died in 1946 and carried it on until about 10 years ago. After the Cahoons made their names as primitive artists, they often referred their clients to him. He once refinished furniture for Jacqueline Kennedy. As well as being an accomplished furniture decorator, Eric Farham has been active an a conservationist. In 1967, he was named National Water Conservationist of the Year for his work in preserving 240 acres of salt marshes, fresh water ponds and wooded upland in the so-called Herring River Project in Harwich. He also amassed a collection of more than a thousand quartz arrowheads, which he found between Bass River and Truro.
Portrait of Martha Farham, c. 1922
Harold C. Dunbar (1882-1953)
Oil on canvas
LONG-TERM LOAN TO THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Chatham artist Harold Dunbar, a good friend of Axel Farham's, painted this portrait of Martha when she was 17 perhaps upon her graduation from Brooks Academy, where she received the Brooks Medal in her senior year. This likeness captures the keen intelligence in her dark eyes and shows her sporting a fashionable bob. Perhaps the floral background is one of her father's paintings.
In addition to his career as an artist, Dunbar played a key role in founding Chatham Drama Guild and wrote a newspaper column.
Cahoons' Osterville Shop Sign
Wood with painted lettering
COLLECTION OF HERITAGE MUSEUMS AND GARDENS, SANDWICH
Dome-Top Chest With Portraits and Garlands, 1946
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Two Painted Side Chairs, c. 1942
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
The mate to this chair - painted green - is located over by the piano.
Firkin With Soldiers and Flowers
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Firkins are small wooden tubs whose original function was to hold butter or lard.
Four Decorated Kitchen Cabinet Doors, 1937
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF HERITAGE MUSEUMS AND GARDENS, SANDWICH
In 1937, Ralph decorated the doors of the kitchen cabinets in the Cahoons' Osterville house. Many years later, Josiah K. Lilly III, the founder of Heritage Plantation (now Heritage Museums and Gardens), visited the house after the Cahoons had moved to Cotuit. The new owners were willing to sell the doors to Lilly, who was an avid collector of Ralph's primitive mermaid paintings.
Tea Canister With Pennsylvania State Seal
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on tin
PRIVATE COLLECTION
The Early Years, c. 1994
Jayne Shelley-Pierce (1946- )
Acrylic on canvas
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Contemporary Centerville artist Jayne Shelley-Pierce has done a considerable amount of research on the history of the villages of Barnstable for her whimsical primitive paintings. In preparation for a two-person show here at the museum in 1994, she paid homage to the Cahoons by learning about and painting her interpretation of their home and antiques business in Osterville. "The Early Years" was part of that exhibition.
Chair Table With Unicorns and Horses
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
The Germans who settled in eastern Pennsylvania from around 1683 to 1806 placed considerable importance on having bright and cheerful furnishings and accessories in their homes. Their highly developed folk arts included Fraktur drawings, sgraffito ceramics and, of course, decorated furniture. They are sometimes referred to as the "Pennsylvania-Dutch," but this is a misnomer a derogatory term first used by English Colonists who mispronounced "deitsch," a German dialect word meaning "German."
The stylized motifs that Ralph used on this chair table reappear repeatedly on other furniture with Pennsylvania-German decorations in this gallery. Notice for future reference the unicorns, standing on their hind legs; the men on horseback, brandishing swords; and the tulips. The birds and star-shaped form are also very common on Pennsylvania-German painted furniture. Also notice Ralph's repeated use of the black and red decorations on a yellow-gold background.
Sometimes called a "hutch table," this furniture piece served as a chair when positioned as it is here on exhibit. If the "back" were lowered, it became a table. Storage space in the seat made it more functional yet.
Commode With Swedish Folk Decorations, 1946
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF CHARLES A. AND KATHERINE W. HINKLE
Cupboard With Swedish Decorations (Dancing Couple)
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
COURTESY OF LEATHERWOOD ANTIQUES
This cupboard with Swedish decorations raises an interesting question. The flowers, trees and scrolls come from known design sources, but the dancing couple is more intimate and expressive than traditional paintings of figures. It may be that they're Ralph's own interpretation.
Dower Chest With Swedish Decorations ("The Prodigal Son"), 1946
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Ralph probably borrowed the Swedish designs for this dower or dowry chest from a printed source illustrating painted Swedish wall hangings portraying Bible stories. Using figures and large, floating flowers, it's one of Ralph's derivative pieces based on story paintings by early 19th-century Swedish artists from the Dalarma region. Ralph's command of these rural folk paintings is impressive.
The parable of "Den Forlorade Sonen" or "The Prodigal Son'' comes from Luke 15:11-16. In speaking of God's love, Jesus tells the tale of a young man who, taking his inheritance before his father dies, travels to a far land and squanders his wealth on riotous living. Finally, after being reduced to caring for pigs, he returns home to beg the forgiveness of his father, who receives him with open arms and even throws a party to celebrate. Ralph used the same theme on one of the secretaries standing against the opposite wall of this gallery.
Headboard and Footboard With Swedish Scrolls
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
COURTESY OF LEATHERWOOD ANTIQUES
The decorations on this bed show draperies and flower medallion motifs from Swedish rural paintings. A picture of the dresser that Ralph painted as part of this bedroom set is included in his photograph album and reproduced here. The decorations on the three large drawers repeat those on the headboard and footboard.
Round Table With Swedish Folk Design
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Secretary With Pennsylvania-German Decorations, 1946
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
It was common for the Pennsylvania-Germans to use homey mottos or sayings on their craft objects. The gist of the words on this secretary is that anyone can paint a flower, but only God can make it fragrant.
The Cahoons' customers sometimes bought more than one object at a time at the Cotuit-Santuit shop. In addition to this decorated secretary, the bill of sale for Sept. 6, 1947, shows the purchase of a "pine quilt chest, 6 yellow chairs, a portrait on glass, Norwegian shelf, lamb bookends, a small vase and a spoon holder." Ralph and Martha also enjoyed many long-time customers, and many turned into their friends.
Secretary and Low Table With Swedish Folk Decorations, 1946
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF CHARLES A. AND KATHERINE W. HINKLE
Like the dower chest across the room, the decorations for this secretary and table tell the story of "The Prodigal Son." In this case, however, Ralph focused entirely on the eat, drink and be merry aspects of the tale. The two pieces of furniture make an exceptionally cheerful duo.
Three-Panel Screen With Pennsylvania-Dutch Decorations
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Victorian Secretary With Swedish Decorations ("Sheba and Solomon"), 1946
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
The spectacular decorations on this Victorian walnut secretary tell the story of the Queen of Sheba's visit to meet King Solomon, as recording in I Kings 10:1-13. Scripture relates that, when the queen heard of Solomon's wisdom and riches, she just had to travel to Jerusalem to see for herself.
The door panels depicting the story are wonderfully fun and fanciful, with whimsical architecture, two goofily genial lions and even an angel hovering above the floating flowers. Notice, by the way, how similar the floating flowers are to those adorning the "Prodigal Son" secretary.
Four Pages From a Photo Album Assembled by Ralph Cahoon in the 1940s
COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
In 1946, shortly after the Cahoons moved to Cotuit, Ralph started an annotated photo album featuring pictures of pieces decorated by him and Martha. Sometimes he added the name of the buyer and the price they paid. Interestingly, he also went to the trouble of decorating the pages with complimentary little drawings in white ink. This nicety suggests he used the album to show clients samples of the work he and Martha had done, but entries in the album dwindle off after 1947.
Photos of three pieces on exhibit in the adjacent gallery are on view here the Pennsylvania-German secretary, the "Prodigal Son" secretary and the "Prodigal Son" dower chest (which Ralph identifies as a quilt chest). The "Solomon and Sheba" secretary in the photos is similar to the one in this exhibition. Ralph seems to have especially liked large case pieces like these because they provided ample surfaces for his decorative subjects.
One page from the album shows photos dating back to the Cahoons' Osterville days. The shop sign pictured is apparently an earlier one than the sign on view in this show.
Child's Chair With Flowers
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Five-Drawer Dresser With Cherubs, 1955
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
This dresser and the nearby wastepaper basket are part of a bedroom set that also includes two twin beds and a mirror. The furniture remains in the same family that commissioned them in 1955.
Mirror With Painted Frame
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Mirror With Painted Frame
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Round Coffee Table With Shells and Sandpipers, 1955
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF SUSAN SHEA MCPHERSON
Sea Chest With Strawberries and Birds
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Secretary Door Panels With Shell Motif
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF SUSAN SHEA MCPHERSON
The entire secretary not just these panels was to have been in this exhibition, but it would simply not fit up the staircase. We're grateful for the owner's permission to remove the doors so that we can at least appreciate Martha's beautiful shell decorations.
Martha enjoyed collecting shells during her walks on the beach, and as she turned from furniture decorating to primitive paintings, she included meticulous renderings of them in her beach scenes.
Two-Drawer Blanket Chest With Shell Motif
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Martha was a master of elegant good taste and restraint when it came to furniture decoration. This blanket chest is one of several objects in this room that exemplify that talent.
Wastepaper Basket With Cherub Motif, 1955
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on tin
PRIVATE COLLECTION
"Sailor's Return" Commode
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF SUSAN SHEA MCPHERSON
The "Sailor's Return" was one of Ralph's favorite themes one that he used even in his heyday as a primitive painter.
"Ship's Officer Saved" Round Coffee Table
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Three-Drawer Chest of Drawers With Sailors
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF JAMES G. HINKLE
Tray With Mermaids and Sailors Diving
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on metal
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Highchair With Butterfly
Decorated by Ralph or Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Boston Rocker With Flowers, 1970
Decorated by Ralph and Martha Cahoon
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Stenciled Coffee Table With Grapes
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Stenciled Hitchcock Fancy Chair
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Tilt-Top Table With Farm Scene, c. 1950s
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Tray With Snow Scene
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on metal
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Wastepaper Basket With George Washington
Decorated by Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on tin
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Chest With "William Penn's Treaty With the Indians", c. 1950s
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Plate Warmer With Locomotive
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on tin
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Settee With Stencils
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF OSTERVILLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Stenciled Four-Drawer Chest
Decorated by Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil and bronze powder on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Two Stenciled Victorian Side Chairs
Decorated by Ralph or Martha Cahoon
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
"At The Root Is Love" Picnic Table
Decorated by Peter Hunt (1896-1967)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION; COURTESY OF BERTA WALKER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN
Decorated School Desk
Decorated by Peter Hunt (1896-1967)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF MRS. JAMES CAMPBELL
Sewing Stand With Hearts and Flowers
Decorated by Peter Hunt (1896-1967)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF MRS. JAMES CAMPBELL
Three-Drawer Chest With Peasant Designs
Decorated by Peter Hunt (1896-1967)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF MRS. JAMES CAMPBELL
Two Painted Side Chairs
Decorated by Peter Hunt (1896-1967)
Oil on wood
COLLECTION OF MRS. JAMES CAMPBELL
Watermelon Two-Tier Side Table, 1964
Decorated by Peter Hunt (1896-1967)
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION; COURTESY OF BERTA WALKER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN
"Christmas House" Three-Drawer Chest , c. 1980
Decorated by Nancy Whorf (1930- )
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION; COURTESY OF BERTA WALKER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN
"Hunger Is The Best Sauce" Bread Box
Decorated by Nancy Whorf (1930- )
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION; COURTESY OF BERTA WALKER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN
Nativity Table, 1983
Decorated by Nancy Whorf (1930- )
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION; COURTESY OF BERTA WALKER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN
"Whaler's Revenge" Writing Box, 1991
Decorated by Nancy Whorf (1930- )
Oil on wood
PRIVATE COLLECTION; COURTESY OF BERTA WALKER GALLERY, PROVINCETOWN
Beach Scene, 1955
Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on masonite
COLLECTION OF SUSAN SHEA MCPHERSON
By the Sea, ,c. mid-1950s
Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on masonite
COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, GIFT OF MARJORIE S. BALLARD
Family and Homestead, 1950
Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on plywood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Martha herself identified this work as her first free-standing painting. Part of the homestead is a red Georgian Colonial resembling the Cahoons' home in Cotuit. With its dusky palette, the painting resembles the old-fashioned folk scenes Martha painted on furniture.
Harbor Scene for Franz, 1952
Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on beaverboard
COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Born in 1935, the Cahoons' only child, Franz, was named for Hungarian composer Franz Lehar. (Both of the Cahoons enjoyed classicial music.) After the family moved to Cotuit, Franz complained to his mother that, although he lived on Cape Cod, he didn't have a water view. To remedy the situation, Martha painted this mural of a harbor scene for Franz's bedroom. Her journal entry for July 25, 1952, reads: "Ralph put panel on Franz's wall and I'm going to paint a seascape on it." The mural is currently hanging in its original location.
Hunters, early 1950s
,
Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on plywood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Still Life Bouquet, 1965
Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on masonite
COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
From the time Martha began decorating furniture for her father, she used floral motifs. Many of her framed paintings particularly the earlier ones are elaborations on this theme, with garlands and small clusters of flowers becoming full bouquets of stylized, yet identifiable flowers.
Yellowlegs, 1955
Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on masonite
COLLECTION OF SUSAN SHEA MCPHERSON
Christening of the Mariposa, Kingston, Mass., 1960
Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on masonite
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Cold Beer, c. late 1950s
Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood panel
COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Dock Scene, c. 1955
Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on board
COLLECTION OF CHAPMAN B. GREELEY
Farm Scene, c. 1950s
Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on board
COLLECTION OF RAYMOND F. MURPHY JR.
Man and Woman in Peasant Dress
Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on wood panels
COLLECTION OF DAVID AND LINDA NEWTON
Nantucket Wives, c. early 1950s
Ralph Cahoon (1910-1982)
Oil on plywood, "framed" by rope
COLLECTION OF CHRIS AND MARLENE SMITH
It's interesting to compare this Ralph Cahoon painting to the round coffee table that also juxtaposes a scene of a sailor's home with a scene of sailors marooned with mermaids. The theme was a favorite of Ralph's during his early years as an artist.
According to lender Christopher Smith, his grandfather purchased "Nantucket Wives" in the early 1950s -- most likely 1954 or 1955 -- and hung it on the stairwell on his yacht. Notice the holes -- at either end of the horizon line -- made by the screws that secured it to the wall. The rope "frame" contributes to the nautical look. Smith says that his grandfather, John Holme Ballantine, asked Ralph to give the older sailor a white mustache to better represent himself.
The piece is painted on plywood, a surface the Cahoons used for some of their earliest primitives. (They eventually painted almost exclusively on masonite, which gave them a smooth, hard surface such as they were used to in painting furniture.) Real cracks in the plywood helped Ralph achieve a look of weathered wood in his faux diptych. The scenes themselves are considerably less polished than Ralph's mature work, and the wharves reveal his rather amusing struggle with perspective. As for these early mermaids, they don't yet wear their signature strands of pearls!
Portrait of Ralph Cahoon, 1949
William H. Littlefield (1902-1967)
Oil on masonite
LONG-TERM LOAN TO THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
Falmouth artist William Littlefield was a good friend of the Cahoons'. He gave Martha this portrait of Ralph as a Christmas present in 1950.
Sheep by a Pond (Grews Woods, Hyde Park, Mass.), 1890
John J. Enneking (1841-1916)
Oil on canvas
COLLECTION OF THE CAHOON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
When the Farhams lived in Hyde Park, Axel was friends with John J. Enneking, a highly esteemed Boston impressionist. The subject of this painting Grews Woods was a place where they sometimes took walks together, all the while talking about art. When Martha Cahoon first saw this work hanging at the Cahoon Museum, she immediately recognized the location and related her childhood memories of walking between her father and Enneking, holding their hands.
Enneking painted autumn sunsets so often that he became known as the "Sunset Painter."
Family and Homestead, 1950
Martha Cahoon (1905-1999)
Oil on plywood
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Martha herself identified this work as her first free-standing painting. The current owner recalls that, when her parents purchased it, the Cahoons explained that they'd each decided to try their hand at a primitive painting to liven up the month of February on Cape Cod. Part of the homestead is a red Georgian Colonial resembling the Cahoons' own home in Cotuit. With its dusky palette, the painting resembles the old-fashioned folk scenes Martha painted on furniture.
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