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Each of the nine Thome Miniature Rooms at Knoxville's Dulin Gallery ofArt
portrays a various style of European or American design
Phyfc pieces are intermingled with mahog-
any furnishings copied from Metropolitan
Museum of Art collections. Tiny blue-ancl-
vvhite 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
ail.
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
pari
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-
A Miniature Lo
At Grand Desii
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,
art
American summer
kitchen,
and
even
a
room from 16th-century Spain. The range
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.
Thorne scoured both sides of the. Atlantic
for anything of diminutive proportions: an-
'
i;<: n
patterns,
everyday
remnants
ol
lacy
wrought iron, and even colorful box tops
that could be made into important details
of the period rooms. When
reality
tailed
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
atrip
a
pedestal
base, was once the ivory chess queen on a
game board. And the candles arc 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
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
sec
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
(615) 525-6101.
A miniature look at anAnSniitn ^snowier kiteiienoj the late
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Southern Living