In article <1028rrg3k9rq9d6@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
charter <junk@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>I am looking to identify and aquire a set of coffee urns / makers like
the
>ones shown in the "Nighthawks" painting by Edward Hopper (follow link
>below_. Does anyone know who made them? I beleive these were
manufactured
>in 1930's perhaps by Bunn.
The urns were a pair that Hopper had in his studio, and which he drew
rather frequently. In addition to mentions of them in various critical
discussions of "Nighthawks" in print, you can find a brief mention of them
at
http://www.sun-times.com/artcentury/hopper.html.
Since they appear in
sketches over many years, it probably is safe to assume that they were in
his possession when he died.
So finding out their maker should be fairly straightforward, if somewhat
time-consuming, and perhaps expensive.
Hopper died on May 15, 1967, in his apartment and studio, Number 3
Wa****ngton Square North, where he had lived since 1913. He was survived,
for ten months only, by his widow, Josephine Nivison Hopper ("Jo"), whom
he had married in 1924 and who was his principal heir. She was,
incidentally, the model for the woman in "Nighthawks," as she was for
women in many of his paintings. They had no children.
With this data in mind, it should be possible for you, or your
representative, to retrieve and examine the inventory of his possessions
that was prepared for the probate of his estate.
In New York State, an 1823 law mandated that all probates come under the
jurisdiction of the county surrogate's courts. Each surrogate's court has
a comprehensive index to all probate records, including the unrecorded
probate packets.
All probate packets, or estate packets, for 1967 for Manhattan are at the
New York County Surrogate Court, 31 Chambers Street, Room 402, New York,
New York 10007; (212) 374-8233. The Surrogate Court has a good digital
index of its records, so locating Hopper's packet should not be difficult.
If there was a subsequent auction of his effects, the firm that conducted
it, and the date and time of the auction, should be noted in an addendum
in the probate packet. If the auction house's records are still available
-- and in New York they should be -- you may be able to trace the actual
urns themselves, perhaps through several purchasers since 1967. In this
way, it is thinly possible that you could, probably for a vast sum,
purchase the actual urns depicted in the painting.
--
Regards, Frank Young
tipcat@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
703-527-7684
Post Office Box 2793, Kensington, Maryland 20891
"Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate... Nunc cognosco ex parte"
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