Volume I: Narrative History

Chapter 11: Epilogue Edwin Thanhouser: Art Collector

In addition to his interest in travel, Edwin Thanhouser became an avid art collector. While he was in England during the winter of 1924-1925 he purchased a pair of small landscape paintings, probably by an artist named Gill. Note The spark was ignited, and for the next 15 years he set about covering the walls of his Sands Point residence with paintings. On November 20, 1941, Edwin Thanhouser wrote the introduction to a 24-page précis describing his art collection, noting in part:

This is a catalogue of my hobby. I had wanted to pursue it for a longer time than I care to mention, and finally caught up with it about 15 years ago. Now it is all about me - in the living room, the dining room, through the hallway, and up the stairs. It makes me wonder, sometimes, whether I am in fact the pursuer, or the pursued.

The collection represents one man's taste, my own. Each painting was chosen first because I liked it and then it was subjected to the most critical test of all: it came to live with us. Many other paintings have hung here but they could not stand that test: they would appear less and less attractive as time went on, until at last they seemed flat and colorless or tawdry and inharmonious, whereupon they were sent away. Those that remain, however, like old friends, grow more intimate and enjoyable every day.

The nucleus of the collection consists of paintings from the brushes of that famous little band of artists whose activities centered about Barbizon, France, near the forest of Fontainebleu, during the middle years of the 19th century. They went straight to nature in disregard of academic tradition, treating their subjects faithfully and with poetic feeling for color, light, and atmosphere. At least one work by each artist associated with the Barbizon School is included in the collection, as follows: Millet, Corot, Rousseau, Diaz, Daubigny, Dupre, Troyon, and Jacque.

Each painting in the collection, like its artist, has a personality of his own. On the pages to follow I set forth some of the qualities and characteristics which have appealed to me and which have added to my enjoyment of this absorbing avocation.

E.T., Sands Point, November 20, 1941.

An unattributed newspaper clipping preserved by the Thanhouser family is from this period:

One of the most interesting events of the season on the agenda of the Douglaston Art League took place Tuesday evening when a group of members visited "Wampage Shores," the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Thanhouser, at Sands Point, Point Washington, to attend a special private showing of famous paintings....

Over 300 paintings have passed through Mr. Edwin Thanhouser's hands in the process of forming his collection. It represents the taste and intelligence of a man who was wise enough to select one illustrious corner in the great field of art and develop his collection to adequately represent it. Placed in a beautiful home, hung in the intimacy of the living room and the dining room, and individually lighted, the paintings make up a small group of great masters....

The unnamed reporter wrote that: "A most noteworthy painting is one of the Valley of the Goats by Corot. This is because it is a dreamlike landscape, neither cold nor sober in color as are those of his first period, nor yet the familiar pattern of his second period, but showing accuracy of perception in its strength and beauty in its color."

Besides paintings described in his catalogue distributed to the guests, Edwin Thanhouser displayed works from other schools, including a Whistler canvas depicting the view from Battersea Bridge, a Blakelock with autumn foliage, an Inness, a painting titled Early Spring by H. Bolton Jones, a Constable work, two paintings by Gill, and one by Moreland. "A French village scene, lovely in color, is by Cazin, and the Market Place of Arras is by Laloue," the report also noted. A few years later, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc. included an important consignment of Edwin Thanhouser's paintings in one of its auction sales.

During the course of research for his book, Shakespeare on Silent Film, published in 1968, Robert Hamilton Ball sought out Edwin Thanhouser. Subsequently, he wrote: "When I met him in 1947 his chief interest was in his collection of paintings of the Barbizon School, rather than his reputation as the producer of the immensely popular The Million Dollar Mystery...." Note Ball went on to interview Thanhouser about the several Shakespeare plays he had dramatized for the screen.

In the summer of 1945 the Thanhousers sold their Sands Point residence. By that time Edwin was nearly 80 years old, and the burdens of opening and closing the place each year, staffing it with servants, and maintaining the spacious grounds were more than the couple wanted to bear. The sale was made at a loss, but Edwin had the satisfaction that the deficiency was more than compensated for by the profit on the sale of his art collection at Parke-Bernet Galleries a few months later on December 13, 1945.

Edwin and Gertrude Thanhouser, circa 1951. Image courtesy Thanhouser family archives (1951)

After they sold their Sands Point mansion Edwin and Gertrude Thanhouser lived in a hotel in Great Neck, Long Island, until they went on their customary winter travels. Upon their return they leased an apartment at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City, moving a year or so later into the One Fifth Avenue Hotel, which was to remain their home for the rest of their lives. Edwin continued his interest in art, and the walls of their New York residence resembled a gallery.