The Changing Façade of USP - University of the Sciences in ...

Designing for 19th-Century AmericaBy Michael BrodyCurator of the Marvin Samson Center for the History of PharmacyJanet Tedesco, director of educational equity forthe School District of Philadelphia, examines theepaulets of Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson.What do these seemingly disparateobjects have in common?• A sterling candlestick made inBoston (shown at left).• A wooden pharmacy countermade in Philadelphia.• A monument constructed inBaltimore and dedicated to thefallen of the War of 1812.Besides their age—all were produced duringthe first half of the 19th century—the designof each employs the fluted column, one ofthe most prevalent architectural motifs ofancient Greece. And all three are representedin the current exhibition at USP’s MarvinSamson Center for the History of Pharmacy.Titled Circa 1821: Design and MaterialCulture in the Young Republic, the showruns through September 2007 and is part ofUSP’s continuing celebration of the 185thanniversary of its founding.Design is the nexus that connects themore than 60 objects on display, many ofwhich are on loan from area institutions andprivate collectors. The exhibitionincludes prints, paintings, ceramics,glass, metalwork, textiles, books,furniture, and manuscript material.Together, they constitute a widecross-section of consumer goods thathistorians now broadly refer to asthe material culture of an age.Exhibitions that interpret materialin different ways are integral to themission of any academic museum,and as a decorative arts specialist, myapproach to this material was decidedlyinterdisciplinary. One of my goals was toencourage visitors to think about the contextin which objects made circa 1800–1850were fabricated and how, for example, theirdesign could be affected by the confluence ofvarious factors such as the politicallandscape, advances in technology, therecording of past ancient cultures (itselfoften characterized by varying degrees ofaccuracy), and subtle changes in etiquette orfashion. For instance, visitors to the currentexhibition will learn how a Massachusettspressed glass salt cellar of thisperiod was made and why connoisseurs referto this type of glass as “lacy.” Or they cansee examples of English earthenware andChinese porcelain designed to reciprocallyimitate one another—a time-proven methodby which potters hoped to capture thechanging tastes of competitive markets inEurope and America.How and why both utilitarian anddecorative objects are made is a strongresearch interest of mine. The genesis ofone of the most interesting pieces in theexhibition exemplifies the circuitous routeproduct design could take prior to theadvent of photography. The view ofPhiladelphia’s famed Waterworks thatappears on a circa 1825 Staffordshire platter(shown top right) began as a drawingrendered by a British artist commissioned torecord attractive American views. InEngland, the drawing was converted into anengraving. At the Burslem pottery of JosephStubbs, technicians transferred a strongtissue-paper version of the print onto the