John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker

Heckscher, Morrison H., with the assistance of Lori Zabar (2005)

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Description

John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker is a landmark presentation of a supreme cabinetmaker. It presents a catalogue of the documented oeuvre of John Townsend (1733–1809), the great Newport cabinetmaker, and describes the community of skilled makers in which he worked. It gives an unparalleled views of the physical and economical realities of Newport and of the artisanal culture that nourished cabinetmakers who were among the best to ever work in America.

Between 1756 and 1800 John Townsend signed his name to more than thirty pieces of furniture of his own making. These signatures document a remarkable body of work, securing for him a special place in the history of American cabinetmaking. And this is precisely what he intended. The signed examples are, virtually without exception, pieces of the highest quality. His habit of adding the date suggests an acute historical awareness and a determination to document his legacy. Townsend seems to have sought perfection compulsively, and his hallmarks are precision, elegance, and fastidious attention to detail. Labor-intensive refinements are evident in the interiors as well as the exteriors of every documented piece. Here lengthy discussions of materials and construction practices elucidate the personal style that placed Townsend apart from other Newport joiners.

John Townsend was among the most prominent of the large group of cabinetmakers that brought fame to Newport. Boston had long set the style in cabinetmaking and much else in New England, but in the 1750s and 1760s Newport experienced an extraordinary period of prosperity during which it challenged Boston standards. The bonnet-top high chest, the most fashionable and enduringly popular piece of eighteenth-century case furniture, had been developed in Boston. Newport took this innovation and made it altogether richer and more memorable by adding a shell motif to the blocking. This shell, so evident in Townsend's work, became the signature feature, the emblem of Newport furniture.

There were at least ten other joiners, including John's father, Christopher, in the extended Townsend family. The cabinetmaker John Goddard, later widely renowned, married one of John's cousins. Complex business and familiar relationships existed between the various members of the family and their shops. This dense environment has been difficult to explore, and works by the lesser-known Townsends and Goddards began to be identified only in the 1980s. The Newport group of cabinetmakers is examined in detail in this publication, with period documents and maps that bring a new clarity to this complicated milieu. The collateral material includes a Townsend family tree, transcriptions of the wills of Christopher and John Townsend, and a history of the furniture that descended in the Townsend family. An essay on the critical fortunes of Newport furniture and a historical bibliography trace the growth of Townsend's reputation.

Numerous works by John Townsend's contemporaries are illustrated, giving a detailed look at the differences and similarities among various approaches to the same forms. New photography allows Townsend's masterpieces to be seen more accurately and richly than ever before; numerous depictions of undersides and inlays are published for the first time.

Table of contents

Director's Foreword
Sponsors' Statements
List of Lenders
Acknowledgments

1. Newport Furniture: A View over Time

2. Newport: Its Place in the History of American Furniture

3. Eighteenth-Century Newport

4. The Townsend Family in Newport

5. Observations on John Townsend's Cabinetwork

John Townsend: A Selective Catalogue
Cabriole Furniture (cat. nos. 1–15)
Case Furniture: Block and Shell and Flat Front (cat. nos. 16–31)
Stop-Fluted Furniture (cat. nos. 32–37)
Federal Furniture (cat. nos. 38–48)

Appendices
1. Pictorial Parallels: The Furniture of John Townsend and His Contemporaries
2. The Townsend Family Joiners
3. Christopher Townsend's Will (1773), Codicil (1786), and Inventory (1786)
4. John Townsend's Will (1805) and Inventory (1806)
5. John Townsend Family Furniture

Historical Bibliography of Newport Furniture
Works Cited in This Publication
Index
Photograph Credits

About the authors

Morrison H. Heckscher is the Lawrence A. Fleischman Chairman of the American Wing, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Press reviews

American Furniture

"... exemplary ... John Townsend manages to bring together nearly all that has been previously written about him, while simultaneously adding substantially to the record."

Choice Reviews Online

"... beautifully illustrated ... The book testifies to the enduring legacy of Townsend, one of America's leading furniture makers in the late 18th century, and is a historical documentation of the important contribution Townsend made in his artistic craft. Noteworthy in presentation, the book clearly fosters a more in-depth understanding of beauty and craftsmanship intrinsic to American furniture making during Colonial times."

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Exhibition

John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker

Early in the eighteenth century, Boston was the dominant urban center in colonial America and the center of innovative furniture design. Within a few decades, however, Boston's supremacy was challenged as the cabinetmakers of Newport, Rhode Island, introduced more simplified and elegant forms, replaced painted or veneer woods with solid mahogany, and invented a uniquely American furniture style. Newport became a leading center of American furniture making, with members of the Townsend and Goddard families dominating the trade. Preeminent among these stellar cabinetmakers was John Townsend (1733–1809), whose meticulous craftsmanship and elegant designs set a standard that was seldom matched. This exhibition celebrates his pivotal role in the history of American furniture.

This first-ever retrospective of the renowned cabinetmaker and the first reexamination of Newport furniture making in four decades features some forty works by Townsend, displayed alongside an additional twenty comparative examples by his predecessors, contemporaries, and successors. The works are drawn from the Metropolitan Museum's own holdings, which include the largest collection of documented works by Townsend, from the Winterthur Museum, and from fifteen other public collections and eighteen private lenders. A highlight is the fine and important 1772 mahogany chest on chest, the only known labeled work by John Townsend's cousin Thomas Townsend, which descended in the Gardiner family of eastern Long Island until its recent acquisition by the Metropolitan Museum....

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