Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R001 2001 60009-3
) &
i
\
SECRET/NOFORN
PROJECT SUN STREAK
WARNING NOTICE:
INTELLIGENCE SOURCES
AND METHODS
INVOLVED
PROJECT NUMBER:
0146
DATE
OF SESSION:
SEPT
START:
1000
METHODOLOGY:
ERV
SESSION NUMBER:
DATE
OF
REPORT:
26 SEPT
END:
1030
VIEWER
IDENTIFIER:
052
1.
(S/NF/SK)
MISSION:
To access
and describe
the Thorne
Miniature Rooms
at
the Dublin Gallery of
Art
in Knoxville,
Tennessee
.
2.
(S/NF/SK)
VIEWER TASKING:
To access
and describe
the
site
in
the
target
envelope.
3.
(S/NF/SK)
COMMENTS:
No
inclemencies
noted.
A Summary of
Information
is attached
to this
report.
4.
(S/NF/SK)
EVALUATION:
5.
(S/NF/SK)
SEARCH EVALUATION:
HANDLE VIA SKEET CHANNELS ONLY
SECRET/NOFORN
CLASSIFIED
BY:
DIA
(DT)
DECLASSIFY
ON:
OADR
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R001 2001 60009-3
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R001 2001 60009-3
UNCLASSIFIED
WORKING PAPER
Target
#:
Date:
T i me
:
Viewer:
Sess i on
:
SEP
1035-1050
052
SUMMARY OF
INFORMATION:
The target
is a^strjic t u re,
C# t
is
tall,
narrow,
ye
t
wide,
and made
of
brick.
It
is
located
far
away.
There
are people
inside.
One
female
person
has
a white
face
and
is
lying
down,
as
if
she
were
dead.
It
is
bright
in
here
and
there
is
a
lot
of
glass,
some
of
it
is
curved,
while
other
is
dome
shaped.
There
is something
that
is
linked
together,
like
a chain.
People
are
he.r^-te-4^ e
,
to expand,
and
to
grow.
It makes
me think
of (£ museum, '"but
it
is
creepy.
There
was something
f^ry
'krnA-ttf'en everything went
dark,
as
if someone
had turned out
the
lights.
There
is
a
large
staircase
with steps
going
up.
It
has
sharp corners
and
turns.
There
is
a
lot
of
wood
here.
Going
upstairs,
I
can
see three people walking
by*
Ihey are
a 1 1
1 i n e d
up
in
a
row,
one picks something
up and they continue
walking.
Something
is
dome shaped
and there
is
something odd about
the
ce i i i ngT~
It
is either
real
low
or
very high.
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: CIA-RDP96-00789R001 2001 60009-3
Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001200160009-3 id Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001200160009-3
r-i «j «j
^
^Annm'i-iL'i-wvn r-o .1;
Each of the nine Thorne Miniature Rooms at Knoxville’s Dulin Gallery ofArt
portrays a various style ofEuropean 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
Thome 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 Thome,
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.
Thome scoured both sides of the Atlantic
for anything of diminutive proportions: an-
tique miniatures, scraps of fabric with tiny
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
Jctf with mahog-
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.
A miniature look at an American summer kitchen of the late 1800's shows such details as a good
luck horseshoe over the door and a cat by the coal-burning stove .
Photographs: Kim McRae
Southern
Living
Approved For Release 2000/08/08
: ClA-RDP96-00789R001 200160009-3