Casa del Herrero Appoints Nicole C. Caldwell to New Curator Position
Casa del Herrero [CDH] appointed Nicole C. Caldwell M.A., as their new Director of Collections, Conservation and Exhibitions, a role created specifically for her by Board Treasurer Gary Bradhering, which calls in her educational and field work expertise. She is responsible for the care, conservation, and interpretation of Casa del Herrero’s Steedman Family Collection of 15th and 16th century fine and decorative arts, furnishings, and archival papers.
Caldwell came to Casa del Herrero from her position at Hearst Castle where she did conservation and curatorial work in the Collections Department. A fourth generation Californian, she has 14 years of experience in the cultural heritage sector working in museums and historic homes in the U.S., Italy, India, Israel/Palestine, and the United Kingdom. She holds a MSt in Archaeology with distinction from University of Oxford (Saint Benet’s Hall), a Post Bac in Art Conservation from Studio Art Center International in Florence, BA from CSUS in Anthropology and Studio Art, and an AA from Cabrillo College.
We met at CDH to talk about her new role. Curiously when I arrived, she was reviewing projects with Albert Hinckley, Jr., the grandson of George Fox Steedman who had flown in to meet with her. I asked him for his thoughts on the new curatorial position. He said, “I think it’s an excellent idea. The Board is doing such great new things this year. I’m an architect, and I see this house as architecture, the finest Spanish Survival House in the U.S., and the garden is considered by many U.S. landscape architects as the pivotal garden where the garden traditions of France, England and Spain come together.”
Caldwell and I then moved to back patio for our interview. She shared that she found out about Casa del Herrero from reading a publication that, “…mentioned part of Hearst’s Gothic Spanish ceiling he had in the bedroom was in the entryway of Casa del Herrero. That is actually incorrect: it is not the same ceiling but is from the same town in Spain, and likely by the same artist. But this incorrect scholarship did lead me here as I contacted Mary Levkoff, the former Director of Hearst Castle who has a phenomenal background at LACMA, the MET, the National Gallery, and the Dorsey. We planned a road trip in March to Montecito, toured the Casa and were floored. It not your hidden gem, it’s really your Crown Jewel. In May, I was researching where to take my career, and went on the Casa website. There was a position I met the qualifications for, so I emailed my c.v. and applied. Gary Bradhering had been on my private tour and remembered me. He reached out, created this position and I had the job within six days, so it was meant to be!”
JC: How is the Casa is a miniature Hearst Castle?
NCC: Mary Levkoff (who also wrote the book Hearst the Collector, and to whom I am ever indebted to for her kindness and mentorship) said to me after we first visited the Casa back in March: “It is like what Hearst would have built if he was a normal person.” The Castle and the Casa have phenomenal overlap: both began construction in the 1920’s, both were made permanent residences in the 1930’s, and both were heavily influenced by Spanish Gothic and Renaissance architecture and Moorish tilework. Hearst and Steedman even bought the bulk of their antiques from the same antiques dealers Aurther Byne and Mildrid Stapley. All the art you see at Hearst Castle is represented in a smaller scale at the Casa; everything from a 15th century Spanish ceiling to polychrome reliquaries, and even ancient choir stalls.
What is your top priority for Collections, Conservation and Exhibitions?
For Collections, a fully fleshed out digital database and paper archive with all the provenance and history on each item in the Casa. For Conservation my top priority is getting the French 15th century mille fleur tapestry conserved and a support made for it. This piece has the tiniest flowers I’ve seen in this type of tapestry, and it is incredibly unique with hints of middle eastern influence in the design. And my top priority for a first exhibition would be to do a micro exhibition locally since the Casa is still relatively unknown to many of the people who live here. It will display a rich array of beautiful objects from the Casa that relate to the community we live in, from vintage Fiesta shawls to early Channing Peake work, and art from the golden age of Spain which had such an indelible influence on the architecture and aesthetic of this region.
Are there works that have not been displayed?
Yes many! And it’s an exciting time because not only are we using archival evidence to properly display things just as they were circa 1931-1934, but we will also make them available to the community with new exhibitions, programs, and seasonal display rotations.
What work of art or historic furnishing would you request to add to the collection?
We are very lucky that the family left just about everything in the estate, this is almost unheard of in historic house museums! Since our mission is to preserve Casa del Herrero as the Steedman Bass family left it, it is highly unlikely that we would acquire anything unrelated to the original collection of the family.
That being said, there is an important Art Deco statue titled, “The Flight of Europa” by Paul Manship that I would love to find. The bronze is present in the photographs from the 1930’s but is absent from the records from when we became a museum in 1994.
If it is no longer with the descendants, then it would be a brilliant and rare opportunity for a sponsor to donate a replica. Last week I even discovered a foundry that still creates replicas of this masterpiece!
Will you be doing hands-on art restorations yourself?
I am a trained objects conservator, so I will be doing some in-house treatments on the types of objects that I have worked on before such as gilded plaster, some metals, and outside stone. For everything else we will use conservators who are specialists in their areas of expertise.
What is the coolest element of your job?!
Getting to touch (with clean hands and/or nitril gloves) works of art that are centuries old!
What pieces of art are in your office?
I love tiles, so every museum or historic home that I visit I usually purchase replica tiles from their giftshops. I display these in my office and jokingly refer to them as my ‘museum of tile’.
Do you collect art for yourself?
Yes. I have an antique espresso and teacup collection, a small ancient coin collection, a leather-bound book collection, and I adore supporting small artists and illustrators I find on Instagram and Etsy. The crown jewels of my collections are: a Booths real old willow teacup from the 1906-1921 (the same that was used by Hearst at the Castle), a Marcus Aurelius silver coin, a leather bound edition of Tolkien’s Silmarillion, and a mixed media work by Saskia Tabea.
The historic houses and museums you visit frequently?
For California I would have to say Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, the Asian Art Museum and Legion of Honor in San Francisco, the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, and Vikingsholm in Lake Tahoe. Some of my bucket-list to visit historic homes include: the Adamson House, Scotty’s Castle, and Bellosguardo.
Anything else to share?
I think this is the prettiest region in all of California and I am absolutely thrilled that I get to live and work here! This is also a very exciting time to be joining the Casa, with our 100-year anniversary coming up in 2025 we will be embarking on a significant campaign of restoration and conservation for the structure, gardens, and art collection. It is an enchanting place to work, and I am ecstatic over the discoveries that are bound to be made in regard to the art collection.
