Enfilade

As noted at Events in the Field, administered by The Decorative Arts Trust:

Alexandra Kirtley | Thomas Gross in Context: Black Artisans in Early Philadelphia

Online, DAR Museum, 9 September 2025, noon (Eastern Time)

Thomas Gross Jr., Double Chest (Chest-on-Chest), made in Philadelphia, 1805–10, mahogany, tulip poplar, and yellow pine with brass, 83 inches high (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1983-167-1a,b).

The work of cabinetmaker Thomas Gross (1775–1839) provides the centerpiece to the study and understanding of Black artists and artisans who contributed to the fabric of the prolific art community in early Philadelphia. This richly illustrated talk will share the documentary evidence of the names of those people as well as the work they made, from silversmiths, upholsterers, potters, and cabinetmakers to painters like David Bustill Bowser and his seamstress wife Elizabeth Harriet Stevens Gray Bowser.

Please note that this event is taking place online only; Alexandra Kirtley will not be present at the DAR Museum.

Registration is available here»

Alexandra Kirtley is the Montgomery-Garvan Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.