Evans To Give
Talk On 1800s
Artisan Kahle
Jeffrey Evans, president of the Virginia-based auction house Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Inc., will deliver a lecture titled “Artisans of Rockbridge County: Matthew Kahle” at 5:30 p.m. on March 25 in the Mason Taylor New Room in Payne Hall at Washington and Lee University.
Matthew Kahle is best known for creating W&L’s “Old George [Washington]” statue, carved for then-Washington College between 18421844.
The event, hosted by Washington and Lee University’s Institutional History Museum and Galleries, is free and open to the public, but attendees are encouraged to RSVP in advance, as space may be limited.
Light refreshments will be served before the program at 5 p.m. in the Mason Taylor New Room, and a question-andanswer session will follow in the Washington Hall Galleries. A limited number of copies of the Chipstone Foundation’s American Furniture journal, featuring Evans’ article on Kahle, will also be available to purchase.
Based on decades of research by Evans and Kurt Russ, executive director of the Mountain Valley Preservation Alliance, Inc., the lecture will explore the work of Kahle and his peers in the early 19th century.
Evans will begin with an examination of Kahle’s cabinet shop in Lexington and a survey of his work, spotlighting his “Old George” sculpture. The discussion of Kahle’s cabinetwork will include the iconic pie safes produced in collaboration with tinsmith John Henson and their unique, politically charged punched-tin panels.
Evans will also delve into other Rockbridge County woodworkers and their products, including Andrew Varner, who made furniture for W&L; Samuel Runkle Smith, an early partner of Kahle and accomplished chairmaker who supplied chairs to W&L and Virginia Military Institute; and Thomas Chittum, who sold assorted furniture to VMI.
A licensed auctioneer for more than 50 years, Evans specializes in the decorative arts of the Shenandoah Valley; his firm conducts catalogued auctions, hosts educational seminars and provides expert-specific museum services.
Evans has served as guest curator and authored the accompany catalogues for a number of exhibitions, including “Safes of the Shenandoah Valley” with Russ at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester.
