Art Exhibition Stand, between 1860 and 1864

  • Gustave Herter, American, 1830-1898

Walnut

  • Overall: 47 × 45 × 30 1/2 inches (119.4 × 114.3 × 77.5 cm)

Founders Society Purchase, Gibbs-Williams Fund

1989.4

This art exhibition stand in Renaissance Revival style was probably commissioned for an art gallery in one of several great mansions built in the United States during the Victorian period. Among the extraordinary features are the four standing winged lions supporting the outer corners. At each stand end are a carved artist’s palette, brushes, and implements that symbolize the functional role of the piece.

below the apron on the back of the piece: G. Herter below the apron on the front of the piece: G. Herter | New York

below the apron on the back of the piece: G. Herter below the apron on the front of the piece: G. Herter | New York

Peter Hill

DIA, Founders Society Purchase, Gibbs-William Fund, 1989.

Bulletin of the DIA 65, nos 2/3 (1989): 69, fig. 39, (ill.). "Selected recent acquisitions." Bulletin of the DIA 66, no 4 (1991): 47, (ill.). "American Decorative Arts Acquisitions 1985-2005." Bulletin of the DIA 81, no. 1-2 (2007): 56.

Gustave Herter, Art Exhibition Stand, between 1860 and 1864, walnut. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Gibbs-Williams Fund, 1989.4.