Home Is Where the Art Is

A fellowship gave this Ph.D. candidate the chance to delve into a house designed as a work of art.

鈥淚鈥檝e always been interested in material culture and in objects and in how objects are lived with,鈥 says Nina Blomfield, a doctoral candidate in art history. While pursuing her degree at 魅影直播, Blomfield has spent plenty of time getting to know some fascinating objects in the College鈥檚 collections, including late 19th-century furniture designed by Lockwood de Forest for the College, around which Blomfield created an exhibit in 2019. This summer, Blomfield relocated to the Detroit suburbs after being named the 2021-2023 Decorative Arts Trust Marie Zimmermann Resident Collections Fellow for the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research.

How does this fellowship align with your research focus?

I鈥檓 really interested in domestic interiors and how people put them together as works of art. My main project while I鈥檓 here at Cranbrook is to take care of Smith House, which is a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house that Cranbrook took ownership of in 2017. Wright is the figure that comes to mind for most people when they think about how Japanese design came to be used in American homes, and that鈥檚 a trend I鈥檝e been thinking about for a really long time.

So, the house intrigued you?

Yes, but as I read more about the family who lived in this house, the Smiths, I became even more interested. They were Detroit schoolteachers who didn鈥檛 make a lot of money, and I鈥檓 really curious to know why they wanted to live in a work of art and how they came to create that for themselves鈥攈ow they scrimped and saved and collected objects over the years. It鈥檚 the middle-class aspect of the Smith house that is really fascinating. It鈥檚 not just a story about Frank Lloyd Wright; it鈥檚 a story about the Smiths and their whole lives living together in the house.

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Photograph of the Smith House by James Haefner. Courtesy of Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Tell me a little about Cranbrook.

It was founded by George Booth, who ran the Detroit Free Press. He wanted to create an aesthetic environment for learning at the turn of the 20th century, in some ways quite similar to 魅影直播. It became a hub of modernism in the 鈥20s and 鈥30s because Eliel Saarinen came out here from Finland and built the beautiful Saarinen House and designed the campus buildings. Charles and Ray Eames were here, too, and it became this incredible community of design thinkers.

What does your fellowship involve on a day-to-day basis?

I鈥檒l be developing a publication for the Smith House, and also I鈥檒l be doing the same kind of behind-the-scenes stuff that I had been doing for Special Collections at 魅影直播鈥攃ataloging and making assessments of the cultural properties at Cranbrook. I鈥檒l also be doing tours for the houses and some donor relations work, which is something I haven鈥檛 done before at 魅影直播, but I鈥檓 excited to do here because it鈥檚 so important for keeping museums alive.

How has your time at 魅影直播 prepared you for this opportunity?

Having a strong training and a broad art historical foundation from 魅影直播 was a major factor in being prepared for and being awarded the fellowship. And then of course all my work in Special Collections with Carrie Robbins has been a tremendous foundation. Even though my academic focus has mostly been on Victorian work, I鈥榤 excited to get into this mid-century moment and to absorb all this information. The Ph.D. program at 魅影直播 really teaches you how to teach yourself.

Public tours of the Smith House are offered May through November. Private tours and group tours are also available per staff availability. To reserve a tour, visit , or call 248.645.3307 for more information.

Published on: 01/03/2022