NY -- NYC -- Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum -- Exhibit: Models & Prototypes Gallery:
- Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.
- Description of Pictures: Models & Prototypes Gallery
For the opening installation, the gallery presents the exceptional 18th- and 19th-century models of staircases and some significant architectural models donated to Cooper Hewitt by Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw. The models represent a range of design styles and techniques, but most of the staircase models were designed in the compagnonnage tradition.
Compagnonnage, meaning “group of companions,” is a type of design practice that combined formal study with practical training from masters. Apprentices honed their skills in a workshop during the day, taking courses in the art of geometrical drawing and design in the evening, living together in a boarding house.
First, concepts were taught, then the handiwork, both of which became increasingly sophisticated. Each successful member made a “tour de France,” working and studying under masters in major cities.
At each stage of the learning process (acceptance, reception, mastership), apprentices created models, leading them to become masters of their craft and design.
Most of the staircase models produced in this tradition were made by masters of woodworking—joiners, cabinetmakers, and/or carpenters.
- Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon
underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.
- Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
- Accessing as Spider: The system has identified your IP as being a spider.
IP Address: 3.16.15.149 -- Domain: Amazon Technologies
I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, some system options like merges are being blocked for you.
Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm sure you're thrilled by your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me.
If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.
- Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]
|
[1] CHMOD_171222_01.JPG
|
[2]
 CHMOD_171222_05.JPG
|
[3]
CHMOD_171222_06.JPG
|
[4]
CHMOD_171222_09.JPG
|
[5]
CHMOD_171222_10.JPG
|
[6]
CHMOD_171222_16.JPG
|
[7]
CHMOD_171222_18.JPG
|
- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- CHMOD_171222_05.JPG: Curved Staircase Model In The French Style, ca. 1850
- CHMOD_171222_06.JPG: Staircase Model (France), late 18th century
This fine triple-height staircase model is similar to one designed by Robert Adam for 20 Portman Place in London. The model's sustaining pillars ensure stability in place of the walls used in Adam's staircase. The pillars are joined in a manner characteristic of a builder rather than a compagnonnage-trained cabinetmaker.
- CHMOD_171222_09.JPG: Compagnonnage Examples
- CHMOD_171222_10.JPG: Staircase Model (France), early 19th century
This double revolution staircase is unmistakably a masterwork, confirmed by details such as the carefully turned, ebony balusters and the sophisticated veneering used to create an inlaid "carpet." A hint of revolutionary politics is introduced through a juxtaposition of Sèvres biscuit porcelain busts of the French philosophers Voltaire (left) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (right).
- CHMOD_171222_16.JPG: Models & Prototypes
Models & Prototypes is a gallery devoted to exhibiting three-dimensional representations of ideas that demonstrate the design process; test concepts and resolve problems; enhance presentations; and display complex technical skills. The models displayed in this presentation represent a range of styles and techniques most are staircases from the compagnonnage (group of companions) movement in France dating from the Middle Ages, while others are architectural models of buildings.
Compagnonnage, a merit-based alternative to restrictive apprenticeships in traditional European guilds, featured a combination of formal study along with the opportunity to teach craft and design skills. Stages of exams in design and execution included modelmaking for carpentry, joinery, cabinetry, and metalwork. Apprentices (compagnons) honed skills in masters' workshops by day, with evening courses in the art of geometrical design drawing. A compagnon made an acceptance model after basic training. Acceptance led to the "tour de France;' during which the compagnon traveled to different masters in various cities, over several years, to learn essential disciplines. After a successful tour, the compagnon produced a reception piece to demonstrate competence. He became a completed companion when he produced a masterwork, which required a very high level of design, craftsmanship, and technical virtuosity in a harmonious whole. This magnificent collection, given to Cooper Hewitt in 2007 by Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw, contains examples of each stage, with masterworks in both staircase and architectural design.
- CHMOD_171222_18.JPG: Staircase Model (France), mid–late 19th century
This double-revolution staircase model is similar to one described as being "in Renaissance style for a store," in plate 17 of a folio by E. Delbrel, published in Paris in the 1880s. The upper level is self-supporting and the railings' balusters are turned.
- Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.)
I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com
and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
- Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
- Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].
