Artist Wharton Esherick (1887-1970) is best known for his sculptural wood pieces and the way he applied the principles of sculpture to designs for functional objects. His pioneering work has made him an inspiration to fine woodworkers worldwide, helping to elevate the medium from craft to major art museums. Much of Esherick's work is now on display in this rural studio he built on a mountaintop in Pennsylvania. This pioneering catalog documents, with beautiful color photography, more than 130 paintings, woodblock prints, sculpture, and utilitarian objects found at the Wharton Esherick Museum. One gains an appreciation for the range and depth of Esherick's work when these pieces can be studied individually.

This facsimile edition of a 1922 children's book features seventy-three dynamic and whimsical woodcut illustrations-the first woodcuts that the famed American craftsman Wharton Esherick produced. A high-quality replica authorized by the Wharton Esherick Museum, this book reveals the foundation of Esherick's direction as an artist. Edited by Museum director Paul Eisenhauer, it also features a foreword by Museum assistant curator Laura Heemer. The illustrations frame verses that introduce children to the principles of evolution, a highly controversial topic at the time: the book was published three years before the famous Scopes "Monkey" trial of 1925 that resulted in the inclusion of the teaching of evolution in public schools. Drawn by the excitement of the controversy, Esherick threw his passion into these illustrations. Afterward he would go on to carve over 300 woodcuts, leading to decorative carving, and ultimately, to Esherick's realization that he was a sculptor rather than a painter.

When Wharton Esherick built his famous studio in 1926, it was situated near two tulip poplar trees. These trees became "witness trees," witnessing the history Esherick made there. In the late 1970s, one of these trees was struck by lighting. In 2010, this mighty witness came down. As Esherick himself had made great use of poplar boards, the Museum invited over 40 select artists to create artwork from the fallen poplar. Since Esherick was influenced by hobbyists and professional artists, the Wharton Esherick Museum invited established, emerging, and student artists alike. Captured here in 120 brilliant color photos are the resulting works of art. Among them are furniture, furnishings, woodcut prints, a poplar splint basket, ceramics finished with a poplar wood-ash glaze, and, true to Wharton Esherick, a wide range of functional sculpture.