Artwork Details
- Title
- Founding Fathers Writing Table
- Artist
- Date
- 2010
- Location
- Not on view
- Credit Line
- Gift of Fleur S. Bresler
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- wood
- Keywords
- Dress — accessory — eye wear
- Object — furniture — desk
- Object — written matter
- Object — other — key
- Object — other — writing tool
- Object Number
- 2021.48.11
Artwork Description
Silas Kopf made this writing desk with timbers from the historic estates of past US presidents. Among the fifteen species of wood, the most significant to the artist is the horse chestnut from a tree planted by George Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, more than two hundred years ago.
The marquetry desktop is intended to conjure an idea of Thomas Jefferson drafting the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776. The artist chose to represent “We hold these truths to be self-evident” from the document. Jefferson’s household included female relatives and enslaved workers, but the truths of “certain unalienable rights” in his draft did not extend to African Americans, Native Americans, or women.
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