A17: Pennsylvania Kitchen, 1752 c. 1940

This miniature Pennsylvania Kitchen, 1752, was made by Narcissa Niblack Thorne, and is on display here at the Art Institute of Chicago. It's rendered in a scale of 1 inch to 1 foot. The first thing you notice is all the wood! The whole scene basks in the warm glow of wood tones, from honey to deep walnut, with the occasional glint of brass and copper. The care and precision of the carpentry is astonishing. It's like a dollhouse on steroids, a meticulously crafted world in miniature. You can almost smell the beeswax polish and woodsmoke, hear the creak of the floorboards underfoot. My eyes are drawn to the spinning wheel tucked away by the fireplace. It's such a simple object, but it speaks to the daily lives of the people who inhabited this space, the rhythm of their days, their connection to the land and to each other. I'm thinking of Charles Simonds and his tiny clay dwellings. Both artists create miniature worlds within worlds. Ultimately, art is about constructing different ways of seeing and experiencing the world.