The Wharton Esherick Museum (WEM) is pleased to announce the opening of Voyage of Renewal: Wharton Esherick in Germany and Scandinavia, on view in the museums Visitor Center beginning Saturday, March 1. Voyage of Renewal pinpoints a trip to Europe in the summer of 1931 as a moment of creative rejuvenation in Wharton Eshericks career. Funded by friend and patron Helene Fischer, Esherick traveled through Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Along the way, he absorbed the sights and influences around him, from Norwegian woodworking and architecture to the Bavarian countryside. The exhibition draws from WEMs archives and collection, featuring one of Eshericks seven travel sketchbooks from the journey, historic photographs, a selection of souvenir postcards, and woodblock prints and printed textiles that he made from his sketches after returning home. The opportunity to take this trip came at a time when Wharton Esherick was emotionally worn, in his own words, flat as a desert, describes Holly Gore, WEM Director of Interpretation and Associate Curator of Special Collections. By the end of the 1920s, Esherick and his wife, Letty, were separating. Amidst this split, a catastrophic illness left Letty disabled, prolonging the households final dissolution for nine years. With Eshericks journey of 1931, we see his artistic and personal renewal, his prolific sketching, new directions in woodcarving, and feelings of well-being that he experienced among friends and artistic collaborators. Eshericks traveling companion for much of his European voyage was Hannah Weil, a German sculptor best known for her ivory carving. The two artists met through Helene Fischer, their mutual patron. Their friendship was intense to the extent that many people have speculated as to whether they were two sides of a love triangle, the third being York Fischer, Helenes son, whom Hannah Weil later married. While visiting Hannah in the tiny Bavarian town of Holzhausen, Esherick created a decoratively carved worktable for her with Yorks help. The table, onloan to the Wharton Esherick Museum from a private collection, is currently on viewin the Studio as part of Art, Work, and Everyday Life: A New Look at the Esherick Studio, an installation of new displays throughout the building. While over 70 Esherick works are away from the Studio, traveling in the exhibition The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick, WEM seized the opportunity to reimagine the configuration of Eshericks iconic space. Art, Work, and Everyday Life highlights both the artworks and the ephemera of Eshericks daily life, from work tables and easels to handmade ceramic dishes, and reintroduces the Studio as an ever-changing space of creative activity.These new displays draw primarily from WEMs collections and archives with the exception of the Hannah Weil worktable which anchors the center of the Studios main gallery with its warped, two board pearwood top outfitted with butterfly joints, a carved hole for Hannah to fit her carving vise, and striking prismatic oak legs. Surrounding the worktable are other objects not usually on view: an early carved chest, oil paintings, and the artists own painting easel. Art, Work, And Everyday Life also features new configurations in the Esherick Studio bedroom and kitchen. The addition of Eshericks personal effects, clothes by the bedside, dishes set on the table, remind us that Eshericks daily life played out over decades in these rooms, and that they were constantly in flux. Guided by historic photographs, these new displays offer visitors both a fresh look at Eshericks Studio and a compelling take on what it means to preserve this one-of-a-kind space in ways that respect Wharton Eshericks creative vision. Together, these two exhibitions kick off a year of programming at WEM that explores the concept of renewal in myriad ways, whether through personal restoration as with Eshericks European voyage, or through the experimental interpretion of his historic hand-built home and studio. Later this year, WEMs Annual Juried Woodworking Exhibition will feature contemporary artists and woodworkers interpreting renewal through a broad spectrum of material and conceptual approaches. Voyage of Renewal: Wharton Esherick in Germany and Scandinavia will run in the Vistor Center from March 1 to June 1. Art, Work, And Everyday Life: A New Look at the Esherick Studio will remain on view in the Studio until late 2025, when collection objects currently traveling return. The Wharton Esherick Museum in Malvern, Pa., is the home and studio of Wharton Esherick (1887-1970), an artistic polymath and foundational figure in 20th-century contemporary craft and American Modern design. Wharton Esherick is widely credited as the founder of the Studio Furniture Movement and was present at many of the landmark events which shaped the field of contemporary craft on an international level. Esherick worked primarily in wood and extended his unique forms to furniture, furnishings, interiors, buildings, and more. His motto, If it isnt fun, it isnt worth doing, is evident in the joyful expression of his work. A National Historic Landmark for Architecture, his hilltop studio/residence has been preserved much as it was when the artist lived and worked there. Advance reservations are required for a tour. For details visit www.whartonesherickmuseum.org.