#chanler

In the last Cooper Hewitt Short Story, we tweeted about birdcages and their passionate collector, Alexander Drake. April’s Short Story—by Stephen Van Dyk, Head Librarian at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library—confronts birds and beasts not confined to cages, but rather fantastical interiors and the illustrated pages of library books. Margery Masinter, Trustee, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Sue Shutte, Historian at Ringwood Manor Matthew Kennedy, Publishing Associate, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum “Strange beasts and fabulous birds appear at his beck and call,” reported the 1922 publication that accompanied an exhibition of Robert Winthrop Chanler’s work. About his persona, the publication continued, “Chanler, as a personality, has stoutly resisted that process of standardization which renders so many of us mere pitiful examples of quantity production.” And so characterized the fascinating life and boundary-blurring work of this eccentric artist. Robert