Wharton Esherick

An artistic polymath, he worked in a wide variety of art media including painting, printmaking, and sculpture.

His design works range from architectural interiors to handheld, tactile objects like light pulls and chess pieces.

In 1913, the couple settled in a farmhouse on Valley Forge Mountain, twenty-five miles northwest of Philadelphia.

There, Wharton used borrowed tools for his first sustained effort in woodcarving: a series of decoratively carved frames for his paintings.

Soon after returning to Pennsylvania, he began finding his way as a woodworker using various media: woodblock prints, furniture design, and sculpture.

[9] Esherick’s early furniture was derived from the Arts and Crafts style and decorated with surface carving.

Esherick’s work was featured in a 1958 retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Craft and in the 1972 “Woodenworks” exhibition at the Renwick Gallery.