Peter Hunt Hand-Painted Step-Back Cupboard, Cabinet, Cape Cod, 1944

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Peter Hunt Hand-Painted Step-Back Cupboard, Cabinet, Cape Cod, 1944

About the Item

Peter Hunt hand-painted step-back cupboard, cabinet, Cape Cod, 1944; With overall paint decoration, with two doors over a cabinet door, inscribed and dated "Anno Domini 44" h. 71 w. 22-1/2 d. 18-1/2 in. Provenance: Descended through a Greenwich, CT estate to current owner Peter Hunt (Born Frederick Lowe Schnitzer, 1896, East Orange, New Jersey - Died 1967, Cape Cod, Massachusetts) was an American artist whose work is described as folk art or primitive art. He gained recognition for his art in the 1940s and 1950s when his decorated, refinished furniture was featured in magazines such as Life, House Beautiful, and Mademoiselle. He was not only a talented folk artist, but also a self-made celebrity and a relentless entrepreneur who made a name for himself with his unique style Hunt grew up in East Orange, New Jersey in a tenement house. Hunt served in World War I in France. After spending time in Greenwich Village, he moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts in the late 1920s with his parents Ma and "Pa" (Edward C.) Hunt. Pa Hunt began painting in 1929, and his naïve art oil painting Peter Hunt's Antique Shop, 1930-34 was acquired by the MOMA in 1941. In the 1930s, Hunt expanded his business to include several storefronts and workshop space called "Peter Hunt's Peasant Village. He painted old furniture, household items, and fabrics, decorating them with colorful peasant designs, reminiscent of Pennsylvania German and French Provincial folk art. Hearts, flowers, fruits, birds, angels, and pretty maidens and their suitors adorned hutches, cabinets, dressers, tables, chairs, stools, wooden trays, fabrics, tins, and metalware. Hunt further embellished some of those pieces with pseudo-French phrases scrawled across their surfaces. On what he christened Peter Hunt Lane, an alley that spilled onto Commercial Street (see image 6), Hunt employed talented young people to assist him. Among his apprentices are now well-known modern impressionists Nancy Whorf Kelly and Carol Whorf Wescott. With his artistic talent, good looks, charm, wit, and knack for outrageous storytelling, Hunt wooed and delighted wealthy matrons and high-society tastemakers vacationing on Cape Cod. They found him irresistible, and his cheerful designs the perfect look for their summer cottages. Hunt’s clients were influential; among them were Boston socialite Frances Brown Merkel and New York cosmetics diva Helena Rubinstein, the scandal-stirring opera singer Ganna Walska and, of course, the now-famous Provincetown artists John Whorf, Bruce McKain and Frederick Waugh, all of whom whom helped advance Peter Hunt’s name and reputation. Soon the buyers from upscale department stores, including Bloomingdale’s and Gimbel's, got wind of society’s latest fascination in home decoration, and they clambered for Hunt to decorate more and more furnishings and knick-knacks for their stores, often featuring him in special promotions touted with full-page ads in the New York and Boston newspapers. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Hunt’s star shone brightly. Peter designed the "Cape Cod Room" restaurant of Chicago's Drake Hotel in 1935, bringing Cape Cod artifacts and painting murals of the sea. When the United States began fighting in World War II, Hunt brought a new angle to his work: he could show anyone how to “transform old furniture into new” (with a sponsoring line of paints from Du Pont, of course), so people could continue to conserve and recycle as the wartime government had enjoined. His booklets for Du Pont Nemours, How to Transform Old Furniture into New in 1943 and Transformagic in 1945 were immensely popular, especially after Life, House Beautiful, and Mademoiselle magazines published feature stories and photo spreads about Hunt and his furniture decorating techniques. His "Peter Hunt's Workbook" was published in 1945 by Ziff-Davis Publishing Company to great success. (see images 7 and 8) To recognize a Hunt original, collectors should luck for his rounded cursive signature "Peter Hunt" or "anno Domini" with the year. Works: How to Transform Outdated Furniture, E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., 1943 Peter Hunt's Workbook with text and pictures: Complete Handbook on Decorating Old and New Furniture, Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, 1945. Peter Hunt's How-to-do-it Book, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1952 Peter Hunt's How-to-do-it Book, Peter Hunt's Cape Cod Cookbook: A Cape Cod Treasury of Favorite Recipes Illustrated by the Author, Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1954 Articles Cape Cod Compass, 1963, "Winter is Best" Design, November, 1950, "Peter Hunt’s Painting Magic".

Creator:
Peter Hunt (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 77 in (195.58 cm)Width: 22.5 in (57.15 cm)Depth: 18.5 in (46.99 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Wood
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1940-1949
Date of Manufacture:
1944
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Minor fading. some yellowing, fading, signs of wear and use.
Seller Location:
Brooklyn, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU4190326219472

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