Ralph Carpenter standing at the entrance to Hunter House. The historic house, which opened in 1953, was the first in a series of preservation projects undertaken by Mr Carpenter and was characterized by J. Carter Brown as "Ralph Carter's magnum opus and the jewel in the crown of the Preservation Society of Newport County.”
:Ralph E. Carpenter, a respected connoisseur and collector of American decorative arts, a leader in architectural preservation and the author of an influential early study of colonial New England furniture, died in Newport on February 2. He was 99.
He died of natural causes, said his wife, Roberta Carpenter.
For more than a half century, Mr Carpenter was actively involved in the restoration of some of Newport's defining structures, including the White Horse Tavern (1673), Trinity Church (1726), the Redwood Library (1748) and the Brick Market (1761). His career in architectural preservation began in the 1950s when he directed the refurbishing and furnishing of Hunter House (1748), one of America's Colonial treasures, for the newly formed Preservation Society of Newport County.
In The Arts and Crafts of Newport, Rhode Island, 1640–1820, published in 1953, Mr Carpenter detailed and highlighted the quality and originality of pre-Revolutionary furnishings. Before his book, collectors worldwide gave scant attention to American-made artifacts, dismissing them as inferior to European works. By focusing on generations of the Townsend and Goddard families' wooden creations, Mr Carpenter asserted that Newport was home to some of the most elegant and refined furniture in the world. Many others came to agree that this assessment was correct.
In a review of a major exhibition of John Townsend's furniture at New York's Metropolitan Museum in 2005, art critic Robert Hughes called Townsend "America's first real artist," adding, "This was a Newport invention. There is nothing at all like it in English or European furniture." Referring to one of the distinguishing features of Townsend and Goddard pieces, the exhibition's curator, Morrison Heckscher, once declared, "He has blocks and shells in his blood."
Ralph Emerson Carpenter Jr was born in Woonsocket, R.I., on October 6, 1909. He was a descendant of William Carpenter who, along with Roger Williams and others, founded Providence in 1636.
He graduated from Cornell University in 1931 with a degree in mechanical engineering, then moved to New York City, working in insurance and investment banking. He retired as senior vice president of Reynolds Securities in 1978. Because of his expertise in and encyclopedic knowledge of the decorative arts and antiques and not content to spend his days on the golf course, Mr Carpenter then joined Christie's as a senior American decorative arts consultant, a position he held for 30 years.
Christie's deputy chairman John Hays characterized his colleague: "No one is more passionate or thoughtful about American antiques than Ralph Carpenter…He lifts the business to a whole new level with his elegance and grace."
The furnishings in his Newport home were of the highest quality, acquired over a half century of careful and constant searching. Townsend and Goddard pieces were everywhere to be seen, along with museum-quality paintings and antiques. One guest who participated in a weekly bridge game there commented, "I always feel a bit nervous when the card table chair I'm sitting in costs twice as much as the Jaguar I arrived in."
Mr Carpenter's real love was Newport. Visiting the town after World War II, he found it drab and dilapidated, but containing Colonial gems not seen anywhere else in North America. Working with founding members of the Preservation Society of Newport County Katherine Warren, Maxim Karolik and John Nicholas Brown, Mr Carpenter was instrumental in establishing the importance of faithful rehabilitation. His 50-year dedication to the detailed and correct restoration of those buildings is one of his most valuable contributions, according to Pierre duPont Irving, chairman of the society's board. "Ralph was one of the most passionate and informed advocates of historic preservation I have ever known," he said.
In addition to his support of the Hunter House restoration, Armin B. Allen, a former chairman of the society, credited Mr Carpenter's role in creating the Newport Symposium as one of his lasting legacies. He said, "The symposium brought collectors and scholars from around the world together for a few days each spring. Together, they were able to explore the riches of Newport and better appreciate the city's distinct contribution to American culture."
J. William Middendorf II, former secretary of the navy and ambassador to the Netherlands and the Organization of American States, was a friend of Mr Carpenter for 60 years. "I saw Ralph last week," Middendorf recalled. "He said, 'Bill, I'm in my 100th year, but I have six projects I'm working on for Newport.' He always took the initiative. His enthusiasm and drive were an inspiration for everyone who knew him."
Among Mr Carpenter's last projects was a series of programs to honor Dr John Clarke, one of Newport's founders and the author of the 1663 Rhode Island Charter, granted by King Charles II.
Known for his wit, gracious manners and easy charm, Mr Carpenter was a social man, with a far-reaching network of friends and arts colleagues, clearly represented by the many clubs and associations he joined.
On the scholarly side, he was a member of the American Antiquarian Society, the Walpole Society and the Society of the Cincinnati, among others. In 1992, he founded the Newport Symposium, a yearly gathering of experts in many fields of art and decoration and an international audience eager to share knowledge and a certain level of taste; the symposium is still sponsored by the Preservation Society of Newport County and Christie's. His social milieu brought him to the University Club in New York, Blind Brook in Purchase, N.Y., the Everglades in Palm Beach; in Newport: the Spouting Rock Beach Association, the Reading Room, the Clambake and the Newport Country Club.
Mr Carpenter embodied the more formal sartorial standards of his generation: always appearing in public in well-cut, elegant bespoke attire. Even in his later years, when the casual look was much the rage, he donned a coat accompanied by a silk ascot at the neck. "He reminded me of a movie star from the 1940s," remembered one admiring grande dame of Newport.
Ralph Carpenter is survived by his wife, Roberta; a daughter, Cynthia Linton of Chicago; a grandson, Robert Linton, and three great grandchildren, Bryan, Evan and Sabrina Linton. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport or the Preservation Society of Newport County for the collection and maintenance of Hunter House.
A memorial service for Mr Carpenter will be held in Newport in the spring.
