The James Sansom Carpenter House is very important to Des Moines cultural history from 1906 to 1939. The 13 acre property is named Oakwood estate by its owner JS Carpenter and his wife, Florence L. Carpenter, due to the long ecological cultivation of oak. The Carpenters Collection is considered by art critics as one of the finest collections of paintings and lithographs in America. The house houses a Carpenter collection of 125 paintings and 350 etchings. J. S. Carpenter is also known as Sannie or Sandy after his odd middle name is spelled. J. S. Carpenter, a bridge building magnet, founded the Des Moines Fine Arts Association in 1916. The Association members each donated $ 100.00 annually for the purchase of paintings and sculptures. The members also receive a 25% discount on the art purchased at the Association show. Carpenter is known as an art teacher by the Des Moines community. Visiting artists and officials come to Des Moines to sell their artwork and often stay with Carpenter at Oakwood. Carpenter was president of the Association from the beginning until his death of heart disease in 1939. The association changed to Edmundson's Art Museum in 1940 under the auspices of Executive Association members, and close friend Carpenter Jay N. (Ding) Darling. Darling as President of the Edmundson Art Foundation combines original collections into the current Des Moines Art Center.
Video James Sansom Carpenter House
Big house
The carpenter's house, built in 1890, extensively renovated in 1920, is a colonial revival with two and a half stories. It has six bedrooms with formal front steps to the west made of quarter oak and rectangular panels with square stair fingers. The library has oak trees built on bookshelves, wall panels, and dentile bay prints from a quarter sawn timber. The living room is 17 feet by 33 feet with the fireplace of the oak colonial revival in the north. The fireplace has a Grueby green matte like a three-inch square tile. The large living room ceiling or living room is a cast tile shaped similar to the historic Hoyt Sherman House ceiling. Florence Carpenter, a member of the Des Moines Girls Club, was on the Hoyt-Sherman construction committee in 1923 when the club's auditorium was first devoted. The formal dining room also has wood panel walls and cove molding of all African Teak wood. A caller's call button is in the middle of the dining room but has since been covered by a brass plate. There is a stairway to the east. After the fire nearly claimed the Carpenters' collection in 1920, the fireproof arts room was built in the North. The room was separate from the house with a three-foot concrete and double vault door. The 17 x 13 foot art room with 11 foot ceilings has a 10-inch concrete floor and ceiling. Two windows in the North have a bar removed on an unknown date, after occupation of the carpenter. On a humid day, with strong northeastern winds, the smell of scorched wood is present in the second story. The plantation is 13 hectares during the Carpenter period. The original address of the summit road was changed to 1525 East 33rd street and changed again by development to 3320 Kinsey Avenue. This property was placed on the National Historic Register in 1998 and declared a local Des Moines Landmark by Des Moines City Council of the 2001 ordinance.
Photo of Carpenter House circa 1914
Maps James Sansom Carpenter House
Reasons and outbuildings
The ground initially consists of 13 hectares. The house of a maid lies to the north, still standing and under private ownership. The maid's premises were sold on the estate in the 1960s. The land to the east was also sold in the 1960s for development and is now commonly known as Eastwood Drive and 34 East st, Des Moines Iowa. In 1973 Hawkeye Development Company bought the remaining five hectares of Oakwood Estate and divided the land into 11 lots. The house and duplex are built around the mansion. One lot to the west, commonly known as 1515 East 33rd street, Des Moines Iowa, was left un developed for 23 years and acquired for plantations. The low-income housing duplex to the west known as 1525 East 33rd St was destroyed in 2011, with much added to the estate in 2012.
The Carpenters and artist Henry Ossawa Tanner
Henry Ossawa Tanner, one of the first successful African American Artists, was a close friend of J. S. Carpenter. How they met is unknown, but may be on a trip to New York or when Carpenter studied art in France, based on anecdotal evidence. Friendships begin as a business relationship. Carpenter wanted a Tanner Canvas for the Fine Arts Association. Carpenter is fascinated with Tanner's works in general. Carpenter wanted to put as much of Tanner's work in Des Moines. Part is his love for styles and parts that appeal to consumers. Carpenter broke the painting for Tanner with a 25% commission. Carpenter often begged Tanner to send more paintings to Des Moines for placement. The best example of their true friendship occurred in 19 ** when Carpenter was shopping for art in New Youk City. Carpenter found a large Tanner canvas in a gallery. The price is not what Tanner usually receives. Carpenter believes that the canvas was obtained in an evil way. Carpenter contacted Tanner, who was living in France, to ask if the canvas was stolen. Carpenter discovered that Tanner kept six pictures with an arsenal. The business is closed and the owner takes the picture to another storage area. The owner died with his widow auctioning off the painting and saving money for himself. Carpenter took it himself to search for Tanner's canvas that was auctioned off and recovered as much as possible. Carpenter spends his own money on the entire recovery process at a cost of $? The trials started at 19 ** and with 19 ** total recovery cost. Tanner paid him back from the sale of 19 **. The letters that follow this misfortune reveal trusting friendship. Tanner helped Carpenter in acquiring Rodan's Hand for $ 1,000.00 along with his origins for the Fine Arts Association. A bronze that is still in the collection of the Des Moines Arts Center. Tanner was also bidding on the auction for Carpenter's friends and for Carpenter. Carpenter gave Tanner the freedom to bid, "a masterpiece, from a great artist for a small price." In the last year of Tanner's life, he confessed at Carpenter that many canvases were in the studio but he did not have the strength to finish the job. Tanner referred to the new Tempera mix he liked the most. In Carpenter's last letter to Tanner, 1936, Carpenter recorded two weeks in Chicago for medical care and a stagnant art market. Carpenter and Tanner demonstrate true and trustworthy friendships until the last days of their lives.
Noteworthy is the eyewitness account of the burning of the cross in the 1920s just three blocks south of Carpwood's Oakwood Estate. Ku Klux Klan will ride their steel horses, East under a brick, down East University Street and then turn north toward Carpenter's house to a meadow on the highest hill near the eastern 34th path today and Dubuque Avenue, Des Moines Iowa. There, the white-robed KKK members will burn their crosses. No information indicates this as a warning to Carpenter for selling "Negro" paintings. Nothing in Carpenter's news or correspondence indicates that he was distracted from selling Tanner's paintings. In contrast, Carpenter is Tanner's aggressive promoter.
The Carpenters and artists Leon Kroll
Artist Leon Kroll and his wife visited Des Moines and lived with Carpenter's in Oakwood. Extensive correspondence exists between J. S. Carpenter and Leon Kroll in the Archives of American Art.
Carpenters Painting Richard E. Miller, Mas Fish i>
The Carpenters had a very rare painting by artist Richard E. Miller entitled Goldfish, around 1912. The subject was the wife and daughter of Miller. Princess Miller died shortly after the painting was finished. The painting was inherited by Carpenter's niece. In 1990 the nephew offered the Fish Mas to the Des Moines Art Center. With a little research, the Art Center rejected the offer. The Art Center already has an example of Richard Miller's work. The Art Center failed to acknowledge the importance of the painting because it depicts the princess's last painting. Carpenter's nephew donated the painting to his alma mater Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa with full knowledge of the value of the painting. The Simpson college sent Goldfish to Sotheby's auction house for sale in New York 1992.
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments