Southern
Living
Approved For Release 2000/08/11
: C
Each of the nine Thorne Miniature Rooms at Knoxville’s Dulin Gallery ofArt
portrays a various style of European or American design.
A Miniature Look
At Grand Design
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 jmd there was
snipped from a petit point evening bag. A
statuesque
bust,
poised atop
a
pedestal
base, was once the ivory chqss 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
A UJI.V pivvvj
~ *»•*»»*
dJ
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 (615) 525-6101.
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
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 anvthine of diminutive proportions: an-
A miniature look at an American summer kitenenoj meuneiow *™
tique miniAp^pgwedf Ffef
s
(^0D/0S/1
r
-f ^
^(50070
70001 -0
Southern
Living
Approved For Release 2000/08/11
: C
Each of the nine Thorne Miniature Rooms at Knoxville’s Dulin Gallery ofArt
portrays a various style of European or American design.
A Miniature Look
At Grand Design
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 jmd there was
snipped from a petit point evening bag. A
statuesque
bust,
poised atop
a
pedestal
base, was once the ivory chqss 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
A UJI.V pivvvj
~ *»•*»»*
dJ
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 (615) 525-6101.
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
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 anvthine of diminutive proportions: an-
A miniature look at an American summer kitenenoj meuneiow *™
tique miniAp^pgwedf Ffef
s
(^0D/0S/1
r
-f ^
^(50070
70001 -0