“In addition to transforming clients’ living spaces, Esherick built himself a studio and workshop on the hill behind his farmhouse, furnishing the premises entirely with his handiwork — from sofas and beds to wastebaskets and door latches — making it impossible to tell where Esherick’s private life ended and his art began.”
“Because these practical items were created to be used, their tactile qualities are often overpowering, creating a tantalizing urge to sit, to write, to hold, to touch.”
“Our hyper-technological age seems like the right time for a renewed appreciation of Wharton Esherick’s idiosyncratic, highly crafted, sculptural furniture.”
“Visiting the museum is like entering another world where every nook and cranny, from the buildings themselves to the items they contain, is an artistic journey.”
“Much of his work has an abhorrence for a straight line and a 90-degree angle, reveling in a sensuous bend wherever possible.”
“If your knowledge of outside-the-box furniture design starts and ends with Ikea’s iconic and ubiquitous Poäng armchair — I’m literally sitting in one as I write this — I need to introduce you to Wharton Esherick.”
Recent Press
Art, Work, and Everyday Life: A New Look at the Esherick Studio
While several of Esherick’s works travel with The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick, we are excited to offer visitors a chance to experience the Studio space in a new way with the installation of Art, Work, and Everyday Life: A New Look at the Esherick Studio. With over 70 Esherick works are on the road, we have the unique opportunity to showcase rarely seen objects from our collection and beyond. These new displays highlight both the artworks and the ephemera of Esherick’s daily life — from work tables and easels to handmade ceramic dishes — and reintroduce the Studio as an ever-changing space of creative activity. Learn more about the new Studio setup here!
Current Exhibition
Voyage of Renewal: Wharton Esherick in Germany and Scandinavia
March 1, 2025 – June 1, 2025
The summer of 1931 was a pivotal moment in Wharton Esherick’s career. Though he was on the verge of creating some of his most memorable furniture designs, his life weighed on him to the extent that he felt listless, in his words,“flat as a desert.” Renewal came in the form of a trip to Germany and Scandinavia that was funded by one of his great patrons, German American businesswoman Helene Fischer. Voyage of Renewal follows Esherick’s travels through Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Drawing on WEM’s archives and collections, the exhibition features one of Esherick’s seven travel sketchbooks from the journey, historic photographs, a selection of souvenir postcards, and woodblock prints and printed textiles that he made from his sketches after returning home. Through these materials, Voyage of Renewal gives insight into the people, experiences, and sights that restored his excitement for his art and life. The exhibition is in conjunction with the loan from a private collection of the Hannah Weil Worktable (1931) –now on view in the Esherick Studio–which Esherick designed and built for German sculptor Hannah Weil during his time overseas.
The exhibition is in the Visitor Center, which is open during our tour hours. Please note, guests wishing to enter the Studio must make advance reservations for a tour.
2025 WEM Artist-in-Residence Kelly Cobb
We are delighted to welcome Philadelphia-based textile designer and researcher Kelly Cobb as the 2025 WEM Artist-in-Residence (AIR).
Kelly Cobb is an Associate Professor of Fashion and Apparel Studies at The University of Delaware and the Director of the Textile RAD Lab. Her research examines the complexities inherent in apparel and textile supply chains through creative project-based work that reintegrates the wearer of clothes to local trades and economies, restoring integrity and kinship to the origins of materials and to the environmental resources and human labor involved in textile and apparel production.
Kelly is focusing her AIR research and thinking on WEM’s textile holdings, and the garments and weavings made by Letty Esherick. Through archival study, material experimentation, and public engagement, this project will highlight Letty’s creative life through her contributions as a weaver, garment maker, educator, and community builder.
“If it’s not fun, it’s not worth doing” –Wharton Esherick
The Wharton Esherick Museum celebrates and preserves the legacy of American artist Wharton Esherick, who worked primarily in wood to create furniture, furnishings, utensils, interiors, buildings and more.
A National Historic Landmark for Architecture, his hilltop studio/residence, with more than 300 of his works on exhibition, has been preserved much as it was when the artist lived and worked there.
We invite you to visit the Museum through a guided experience for which reservations are required.
Explore the Museum Digitally-
Check out the Wharton Esherick Museum in our digital guide on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.
The digital guide features a tour of the grounds with a variety of insights shared by WEM staff as well as audio clips of Wharton himself. Whether you are on our campus, or exploring from afar, take the digital tour to learn more about Wharton’s life and the structures he built or designed that make this site a National Historic Landmark for Architecture. Additionally, our guide has information on exhibitions, upcoming programs, highlights from the collection, and more.
WEM is delighted to join the hundreds of institutions–museums, galleries, sculpture parks, gardens, and cultural spaces–available to explore on Bloomberg Connects. All that in one free download from the App Store or Google Play.
Off the Shelf–
Wharton Esherick Museum Book Club
Calling all Esherick fans and readers! Off the Shelf is an Esherick-like twist on the classic book club! It provides the opportunity for bookworms, Esherick fans, and local community members alike to explore Wharton Esherick’s legacy through the artist’s own richly stocked bookshelves, as well as recently published books that illuminate Esherick’s artistic networks and enduring legacy.
Meetings are once a month and take place in Esherick’s 1956 Workshop and features an exclusive look into WEM’s special collections and archives to explore materials related to the month’s book. Discussions will be moderated by friend of the museum, WEM board member, and Director of West Chester University Special Collections, Ron McColl, and will feature occasional guest specialists.
New Publication: The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick
We are excited to announce a new publication to accompany the new exhibition, The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick. Published by Rizzoli, this 224 page book introduces Esherick’s visionary work to a broader public with essays by scholars Sarah Archer, Colin Fanning, Ann Glasscock, Holly Gore, and Emily Zilber and photographs by renowned architectural photographer Joshua McHugh. This book showcases seven decades of innovative woodwork and sculpture, fully contextualizing iconic works in Esherick’s own space and immersing readers in his creative world while capturing his unparalleled artistic contributions to the realms of furniture, architecture, prints, drawings, and sculpture.
Current Offsite Exhibition
The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick at Chazen Museum of Art
February 17, 2025 – May 18, 2025
This exhibition explores the interdisciplinary creativity of Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), the famed American artist best known as the father of the Studio Furniture Movement.
The Crafted World brings selections from this rich and rarely loaned collection to a broader public, including many objects never before seen except in Esherick’s home and studio. Detailing the artist’s career from his early woodcut illustrations for books by members of the avant-garde literati to his revolutionary reimagining of furniture forms as organic sculpture, works will be presented in thematic vignettes that invite visitors into Esherick’s story and bring the essence of his creative world into the gallery.
“A complete expression of one man’s intensely personal fusion of fine craftsmanship with the wild flights of the imagination.”
“Fun, neat, creative, colorful, comfortable, smooth, flowing, exciting, cool, twisty, wavy, and extraordinary.”
