Wallace Nutting (1861-1941)
Wallace Nutting was born in Rockbottom, Massachusetts, in 1861. He was ordained a Congregational Minister in 1887 and while he appeared to excel in this profession, he continually declined calls from one church or another all over the country. He finally settled in 1894 in Providence, Rhode Island, as minister of the Union Church. He resigned from Union Church after a nervous breakdown in 1904 and began to take photographs in earnest, moving around and eventually settling in Southport, Connecticut, in 1905.
For the remainder of his life he was variously an author who wrote on the windsor chairs, clocks, and furniture of early America, a lecturer; a manufacturer of modern versions of early American furniture, and foremost a photographer who took and cataloged more than ten thousand photographs, including a series of views of historic interiors and exteriors, which proved commercially successful.
Nutting began collecting period furniture from a love of the workmanship and form, and to use as props, background, and atmosphere for his interior photographs. Good antique furniture was hard to come by so it seems, and he recognized the opportunity to make and sell reproductions of hard-to-find original pieces. His own personal collection, which now resides in the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, Connecticut, became the inspiration for many of his reproductions. He marked the furniture with a paper label at first but soon began "branding" with block letters to thwart dealers who were removing the labels, mildly distressing the new furniture and selling the well-made reproductions as antiques.
His furniture factory made Windsor chairs and furniture in the Chippendale and Hepplewhite styles, and furniture from what he called the “Pilgrim Century” (1620-1700) for at least 20 years. Because he insisted on perfection in his furniture, he spent heavily for skilled craftsmen and in the manufacturing process and consequently his furniture enterprise never made money. He was fortunately able to cover his ongoing furniture business losses with the handsome profits from his book publishing and picture business.
Although Nutting described his furniture as “reproductions,” they are better described as “in the style of” as they better reflect the Colonial Revival aesthetic rather than being historically accurate.
Wallace Nutting was born in Rockbottom, Massachusetts, in 1861. He was ordained a Congregational Minister in 1887 and while he appeared to excel in this profession, he continually declined calls from one church or another all over the country. He finally settled in 1894 in Providence, Rhode Island, as minister of the Union Church. He resigned from Union Church after a nervous breakdown in 1904 and began to take photographs in earnest, moving around and eventually settling in Southport, Connecticut, in 1905.
For the remainder of his life he was variously an author who wrote on the windsor chairs, clocks, and furniture of early America, a lecturer; a manufacturer of modern versions of early American furniture, and foremost a photographer who took and cataloged more than ten thousand photographs, including a series of views of historic interiors and exteriors, which proved commercially successful.
Nutting began collecting period furniture from a love of the workmanship and form, and to use as props, background, and atmosphere for his interior photographs. Good antique furniture was hard to come by so it seems, and he recognized the opportunity to make and sell reproductions of hard-to-find original pieces. His own personal collection, which now resides in the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, Connecticut, became the inspiration for many of his reproductions. He marked the furniture with a paper label at first but soon began "branding" with block letters to thwart dealers who were removing the labels, mildly distressing the new furniture and selling the well-made reproductions as antiques.
His furniture factory made Windsor chairs and furniture in the Chippendale and Hepplewhite styles, and furniture from what he called the “Pilgrim Century” (1620-1700) for at least 20 years. Because he insisted on perfection in his furniture, he spent heavily for skilled craftsmen and in the manufacturing process and consequently his furniture enterprise never made money. He was fortunately able to cover his ongoing furniture business losses with the handsome profits from his book publishing and picture business.
Although Nutting described his furniture as “reproductions,” they are better described as “in the style of” as they better reflect the Colonial Revival aesthetic rather than being historically accurate.
 |  |