The Piano
James Scripps Booth was the oldest child of George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth. Born in Detroit and raised in their home on Trumbull Avenue, James was already twenty years old in 1908 when his parents moved into Cranbrook House. Throughout his life, James Booth divided his time between his twin passions for art and engineering. As a designer and engineer for the Scripps-Booth automobile company, James Booth spearheaded work on innovative vehicles from 1913 to 1923, when he left the company to pursue an independent career as a mechanical engineer and professional artist.
"The Piano" depicts an interior scene of music-making and music appreciation. One woman plays the piano, while the other leans on it to listen. The loose brushwork and limited color palette, both unusual in James Booth’s work, blur the outlines of the figures and objects in the room, unifying the ensemble.
In 1917, the painting belonged to the artist’s sister, Grace Ellen Booth Wallace.
Mariam Hale
2023-2025 Collections Fellow
Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
August 2024
Width (frame): 19 1/2 in (49.5 cm)
ProvenanceJames Scripps Booth (1912)
Grace Ellen Booth Wallace (circa 1917-circa 1949)
Cranbrook Foundation (after 1949-1973)
Cranbrook Educational Collumity (1973-present)
Credit LineCranbrook Center for Collections and Research
Cultural Properties Collection, Founders Collection
Gift of Grace Ellen Booth Wallace
Medium | MaterialsOil on canvas
SignedRecto, bottom left: James S. Booth '12
GenreObject TypeOil paintings (visual works)
Select Exhibition HistoryAnnual Exhibition of the Scarab Club
Detroit Museum of Art: Nov 17-Dec 20, 1914
James Scripps Booth: Artist, Engineer, Polymath
The Berkowitz Gallery, University of Michigan Dearborn: May 16-June 13, 2008
Select Bibliography and Archival Citation(s)Appraisal by Stalker & Boos (1975). Series II: Appraisals and Inventories. George Gough and Ellen Warren Scripps Booth Financial Records (1981-02). Cranbrook Archives, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, Bloomfield Hills, MI.
