Paul Chalfin
Encyclopedia
Paul Chalfin was an artist
, interior designer, and architect
most known for his work on Villa Vizcaya
.
In 1894 Chalfin began studying at Harvard University
and left after two years to become an artist, enrolling at the Art Students League of New York
to study painting
. After graduation in 1898 he was accepted at the École des Beaux-Arts
in Paris
, France where he studied painting with Jean-Léon Gérôme, a historic genre painter who had previously taught Thomas Eakins
.
in 1899. In 1902 he received honorable mention for the Lazarus Scholarship for his mural painting on the subject of spring.
Chalfin returned to Massachusetts
in 1903 to succeed Walter T. Cabot as Curator
of Chinese and Japanese art at the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. While Curator he published a 27-paged catalogue entitled 'Japanese wood carvings, architectural and decorative fragments from temple
s and palace
s.'
In 1905, the Lazarus Scholarship committee granted him a three year scholarship to study mural painting in Italy, and in 1906 Chalfin moved to Rome where he lived at the American Academy. Over the next three years, Chalfin split his time between Rome
, Florence
, Venice
and Paris, studying and copying the works of Piranesi, Fra Angelico
and Tiepolo
, as well as copying a lunette
by Jacopo Pontormo at a villa in Florence, most likely Vertumnus and Pomona
. His final month abroad was in Paris, completing his scholarship by painting a large decorative panel entitle The Poet in 1908. In 1909, in honor of his work, the American Academy in Rome
named Chalfin a fellow.
on the landmark Villa Vizcaya
for the industrial magnate James Deering
. Deering was an heir of the International Harvester
fortune and had acquired substantial land on Biscayne Bay
in present day Miami, Florida
. Chalfin was responsible for the overall design, decoration and furnishing of the main house and garden while F. Burrall Hoffman
designed the house's structural elements. Chalfin would later claim in the New York Times that he designed everything at Vizcaya saying "Hoffman did the plumbing, I did the house", in an article that was later redacted to add the contributions of F. Burrall Hoffman as Associate Architect and Diego Suarez
's work on designing the Gardens.
The villa was completed for residency in 1916, and the formal gardens and acres of landscaped grounds completed in 1923.
, Chalfin never worked on another mansion. Little is documented of Chalfin's later career; he produced several drawings for unrealized houses on Miami Beach and decorated the apartment of actress Lillian Gish
, friend of James Deering. Chalfin returned to Vizcaya in 1934 to consult on rehabilitation of the property after a major hurricane. In 1940 Chalfin retired due to failing eyesight. Paul Chalfin died on February 15, 1959 at the age of 84 in a nursing home in Upper Montclair, New Jersey
. In 1956, Chalfin was made an honorary member of the American Institute of Decorators and was cited by the American Insitute of Architects for his work on the interior of Villa Vizcaya
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, interior designer, and architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
most known for his work on Villa Vizcaya
Villa Vizcaya
Vizcaya, now named the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, is the former villa and estate of businessman James Deering, of the Deering McCormick-International Harvester fortune, on Biscayne Bay in the present day Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida...
.
Early life
Paul Chalfin was born on November 2, 1874 in New York to Colonel Samuel Fletcher Chalfin and Jane Voorhees (Connolly) Chalfin.In 1894 Chalfin began studying at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and left after two years to become an artist, enrolling at the Art Students League of New York
Art Students League of New York
The Art Students League of New York is an art school located on West 57th Street in New York City. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists, and has maintained for over 130 years a tradition of offering reasonably priced classes on a...
to study painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
. After graduation in 1898 he was accepted at the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France where he studied painting with Jean-Léon Gérôme, a historic genre painter who had previously taught Thomas Eakins
Thomas Eakins
Thomas Cowperthwait Eakins was an American realist painter, photographer, sculptor, and fine arts educator...
.
Career
While studying in Paris, Chalfin also traveled to ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 1899. In 1902 he received honorable mention for the Lazarus Scholarship for his mural painting on the subject of spring.
Chalfin returned to Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
in 1903 to succeed Walter T. Cabot as Curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
of Chinese and Japanese art at the Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
in Boston. While Curator he published a 27-paged catalogue entitled 'Japanese wood carvings, architectural and decorative fragments from temple
Temple
A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s and palace
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...
s.'
In 1905, the Lazarus Scholarship committee granted him a three year scholarship to study mural painting in Italy, and in 1906 Chalfin moved to Rome where he lived at the American Academy. Over the next three years, Chalfin split his time between Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and Paris, studying and copying the works of Piranesi, Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico
Fra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"...
and Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo , also known as Gianbattista or Giambattista Tiepolo, was an Italian painter and printmaker from the Republic of Venice...
, as well as copying a lunette
Lunette
In architecture, a lunette is a half-moon shaped space, either filled with recessed masonry or void. A lunette is formed when a horizontal cornice transects a round-headed arch at the level of the imposts, where the arch springs. If a door is set within a round-headed arch, the space within the...
by Jacopo Pontormo at a villa in Florence, most likely Vertumnus and Pomona
Vertumnus and Pomona (Pontormo)
The fresco decoration of Vertumnus and Pomona in the Medici country villa at Poggio a Caiano is a masterpiece by Jacopo Pontormo. The villa is set among orchards and gardens, and served in summer as an outdoor respite to the heat in Florence.The fresco surrounds a lunette, high in a barrel-vaulted...
. His final month abroad was in Paris, completing his scholarship by painting a large decorative panel entitle The Poet in 1908. In 1909, in honor of his work, the American Academy in Rome
American Academy in Rome
The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
named Chalfin a fellow.
Vizcaya
In 1910 Chalfin began his most notable and successful project collaborating with F. Burrall HoffmanF. Burrall Hoffman
Francis Burrall Hoffman was an American born architect best known for his work with James Deering’s Villa Vizcaya in Miami, Florida.-Biography:...
on the landmark Villa Vizcaya
Villa Vizcaya
Vizcaya, now named the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, is the former villa and estate of businessman James Deering, of the Deering McCormick-International Harvester fortune, on Biscayne Bay in the present day Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida...
for the industrial magnate James Deering
James Deering
James Deering was an industrialist executive in the family Deering Harvester Company and subsequent International Harvester, a socialite, and an antiquities collector. He is known for his landmark Vizcaya estate, where he was an early 20th century resident on Biscayne Bay in the present day...
. Deering was an heir of the International Harvester
International Harvester
International Harvester Company was a United States agricultural machinery, construction equipment, vehicle, commercial truck, and household and commercial products manufacturer. In 1902, J.P...
fortune and had acquired substantial land on Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay is a lagoon that is approximately 35 miles long and up to 8 miles wide located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, United States. It is usually divided for purposes of discussion and analysis into three parts: North Bay, Central Bay, and South Bay. Its area is...
in present day Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. Chalfin was responsible for the overall design, decoration and furnishing of the main house and garden while F. Burrall Hoffman
F. Burrall Hoffman
Francis Burrall Hoffman was an American born architect best known for his work with James Deering’s Villa Vizcaya in Miami, Florida.-Biography:...
designed the house's structural elements. Chalfin would later claim in the New York Times that he designed everything at Vizcaya saying "Hoffman did the plumbing, I did the house", in an article that was later redacted to add the contributions of F. Burrall Hoffman as Associate Architect and Diego Suarez
Diego Suarez
Diego Suarez was a garden designer known for his work at James Deering's Villa Vizcaya in Miami, Florida. He also served as a press attaché and minister counselor for Chile in Washington, D.C...
's work on designing the Gardens.
The villa was completed for residency in 1916, and the formal gardens and acres of landscaped grounds completed in 1923.
Later life
Despite high praise for his work on Villa VizcayaVilla Vizcaya
Vizcaya, now named the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, is the former villa and estate of businessman James Deering, of the Deering McCormick-International Harvester fortune, on Biscayne Bay in the present day Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida...
, Chalfin never worked on another mansion. Little is documented of Chalfin's later career; he produced several drawings for unrealized houses on Miami Beach and decorated the apartment of actress Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
, friend of James Deering. Chalfin returned to Vizcaya in 1934 to consult on rehabilitation of the property after a major hurricane. In 1940 Chalfin retired due to failing eyesight. Paul Chalfin died on February 15, 1959 at the age of 84 in a nursing home in Upper Montclair, New Jersey
Upper Montclair, New Jersey
Upper Montclair is northern Montclair, which is usually reckoned as everything north of Watchung Avenue. Upper Montclair takes up approximately one third of Montclair, New Jersey-Education:...
. In 1956, Chalfin was made an honorary member of the American Institute of Decorators and was cited by the American Insitute of Architects for his work on the interior of Villa Vizcaya
Villa Vizcaya
Vizcaya, now named the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, is the former villa and estate of businessman James Deering, of the Deering McCormick-International Harvester fortune, on Biscayne Bay in the present day Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida...