Fanciful Painted Furniture

141 Cambridge Street Boston, Mass. 02114-2702 Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Boston, Massachusetts Permit No. 58621

by BY NANCY CARLISLE Senior Curator of Collections

Peter Hunt (1896-1967), a decorator and antiques dealer, fell in love with Provincetown, Massachusetts, when he first visited in the early 1920s. He returned again and again during the summertime and became a year-round resident in 1942. During his first winter in Provincetown, Hunt decided to use the quiet time to paint an old chest in the style of a Sicilian wine cart he had once owned. He loved the colors and motifs and the intensity of the decoration of

Sicilian carts. And he discovered that he loved fixing and painting old furniture. Over time, Hunt found inspiration in traditional pieces not only from Italy but also from Mexico, the state of

Tyrol in western Austria, Sweden, Russia, and Egypt. He found eager buyers for his refurbished pieces among

Cape Cod’s summer visitors. Before long, national magazines featured his work. By the 1950s he had a thriving business and employed many Cape Codders who created painted furniture inspired by folk art. These furnishings were sold to tourists as well as in department stores in New York City and Chicago. Hunt published his first book, How to Transform

Outdated Furniture, in 1943. Peter Hunt’s Workbook followed in 1945 and in 1952 he published Peter Hunt’s

How-To-Do-It Book, in which he promises that if you have

“a love of color and a merry heart,” you too can produce charming repurposed furniture. Before delving into the “how to” of repairing and painting old furniture, Hunt laid out a series of edicts, among them: w Do not slavishly copy—any motif that is a copy is bad. w Do not create matching sets of furniture. Each one should be its own thing. Unrelated items will work in harmony. w Let your decoration tell a comedic story. w Consider context—paint wheat or a mouse on a breadboard, save flowers for pieces in the living room. w If you have whimsy, be whimsical, but don’t force it. w Most importantly, if you’re not having fun decorating furniture “just stop right there, because as sure as death the result will be a tired, dreary affair.”

The table shown here, decorated with faux lobster place settings and teetering wine glasses, is from Hunt’s workshop. It came to us from the estate of Christopher Monkhouse, a longtime friend of Historic New England. Monkhouse used it to decorate his summer cottage in Machias, Maine.