Skip to Content
Closed now, next open Thursday. Closed now, next open Thursday.

A36: California Living Room, 1850-1875

Bright miniature living room with white walls and ceiling, wooden floors, large windows, double doors, and minimal furniture.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • Bright miniature living room with white walls and ceiling, wooden floors, large windows, double doors, and minimal furniture.

Date:

c. 1940

Artist:

Designed by Narcissa Niblack Thorne
American, 1882-1966

About this artwork

This miniature living room is based on the Casa Soberanes, an adobe house built in 1842. Part of the Monterey Historic State Park in California, it was opened to the public as a historic home in the early twentieth century. Narcissa Thorne was an avid visitor to such historic houses, and she sought to evoke the same history and nostalgia in her designs. The furniture here recalls the weighty mahogany items families transported across the country as they moved out West in the mid-19th century.

Status

On View, Gallery 11

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Artist

Narcissa Niblack Thorne (Designer)

Title

A36: California Living Room, 1850-1875

Place

United States (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1937–1940

Medium

Miniature room, mixed media

Dimensions

Interior, Scale 1 inch = 1 foot: 25.4 × 55.9 × 41.3 cm (10 × 22 × 16 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. James Ward Thorne

Reference Number

1942.516

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/45415/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share