Twin Peaks Prop – Special Agent Dale Cooper’s Artwork in Room 315 at The Great Northern Hotel

As part of my extensive research into Mark Frost and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, I maintain multiple open investigations into the details about my beloved television show. I may start a research project only to return to it years later. I’ve discovered that if I wait, sometimes the stars turn and the mystery is revealed. This is the case with artwork I’ve been seeking for more than three decades – the framed artwork with three male ring-necked pheasants prominently displayed in Special Agent Dale Cooper’s Room 315 at The Great Northern Hotel. I always knew it was something mass produced but it took removing the pheasants from the art to find a match.

HOW I FOUND THE ARTWORK IN ROOM 315 AT THE GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL

I’ve been seeking the original artwork from Special Agent Dale Cooper’s room at The Great Northern Hotel ever since I saw the Duwayne Dunham-directed episode 1.001 more than 30 years ago. I’ve looked for this artwork a few times using Google’s reverse image search function. I tried again this week and was so pissed off about the dumb “AI Overview” that I made it my mission to find the original.

If you join the quest of identifying Twin Peaks props, please do not believe AI overviews. Like weathermen, AI is wrong more often than it is correct. It is a long language model (LLM) that has memorized the internet – it’s not HAL-9000, nor will it ever be. Unfortunately, AI has messed up searching, and I find myself frequently frustrated with incorrect information being spewed by these terrible, environmentally destructive overviews [steps off soapbox].

For the recent search, the Google AI Overview said, “this selected region shows the iconic ‘Jade Gives Two Rides’ 3D pheasant and duck wall art featured in the Great Northern Hotel from the television show Twin Peaks.”

At this point, I almost thew my computer across the room.

Google’s dumb AI pulled a joke response to someone who asked a question posed on Reddit. This is a great example why you should never trust AI results. You have to do additional research and cross-referencing. Google took a joke someone made – “I believe it’s called ‘Jade Gave Two Rides.’ But scholars think the real title has been lost to time” – and turned it into fact. It’s wrong and dangerous for our world (and it needs to stop).

So my mission was simple – correct it by finding the actual artwork.

Episode 1.001 opens with a fantastic panning shot of Agent Cooper’s hotel room at The Great Northern Hotel. The episode’s credits flash on and off as the camera moves around the room. There are a few spots where I could grab a clean image without the credits, which is what I used to do reverse image searches.

I tried searching various image crops from these close-up shots but every search returned negative results.

It then dawned on me – what if the male, ring-necked pheasants were not a part of the original artwork? When I was searching for Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole’s mural from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, I ultimately found a match by removing David Lynch’s character from the scene. Would the same trick work for Cooper’s artwork? I removed both pheasants and ran another reverse image search.

Hell, God baby damn no – I found something!

The first result was from Worthpoint for framed artwork by B.D. Hartwell with the following description: “This Beautiful 31″ x 22″ Antique / Vintage Solid Wood Picture Frame. I believe the wood is Maple. It is definitely a hard wood with nice grain., holds 18″ x 27″ Print. The frame is a thick 2 1/2″ wide.The full color print depicts a Lake Side scene in the Fall by B.D. Hartwell. The leaves are turning yellow & orange and in the background is a little white cottage with its own dock in front. No glass.”

With an artist’s name in my possession, I continued my search.

B.D. HARTWELL’S “AUTUMN SPLENDOR”

The first place I looked was in vintage newspapers. Like other mass-produced artwork found at the Double R Diner and in Gersten Hayward’s apartment building, I figured I would easily find a match.

The earliest reference comes from The Toronto Telegram from August 20, 1960. An advertisement from Simpson’s department store listed B.D. Hartwell’s “Autumn Splendor” with a retail of $11.95 (on sale from $19.95). The overall frame measured 29.5-inches by 45.5-inches. There was even an image of Hartwell’s artwork used in the advertisement.

Since 1960 is the earliest reference I found, the image was most likely created in that year.

I found a second reference in an advertisement from Gimbels in The Pittsburgh Press on November 15, 1961. Hartwell’s artwork is mentioned again but the image shown is reversed.

Most likely, the crew used this piece in the show which measured 44-inches by 26-inches. It was framed differently for Room 315.

The framed piece had a gold-colored label with “Autumn Splendor / B.D. Hartwell.” You can see a shadow of that label in episode 1.001.

Aside from newspapers, I found a response to a question posed about the artwork on JustAntiques.com:

Agent: I understand you’re asking about the value of the artwork “Autumn Splendor” by B.D. Hartwell. Could you tell me if your piece is an original, a print, or a reproduction?

Customer: It’s a print with markings P 309 V4519-611 Illinois Midg Chicago 8 iLL on the back.

The small tidbit about “Autumn Splendor” being manufactured in Chicago, Illinois led me to Illinois Moulding Company, a division of Windsor Art Products of Pico Rivera, California and Windsor Decor of Canada in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.

According to a post on the Facebook group “Free Art Appraiser: Get Smart About Art” by David J. Bishop, the Illinois Moulding Company was originally founded by a Hungarian immigrant named Herman Molner.

“The Illinois Moulding Company of Chicago was the brainchild of Hungarian immigrant Herman Molner. He founded the firm in 1896. Windsor Art Products was the art publishing division of the company. Windsor, so the reports tell us, would license art for reproduction, then mass-produce works of their contracted artists. The idea was to make a line of “fine” art affordable to all. The company outlived its founder, who passed away in 1951. Windsor Art Products continued into the late 1960s or early ’70s.

Located in Chicago from the early 1900s to February 1978, Windsor Art Products produced reproductions of original art that they received rights to reproduce … thus it was a decorative arts publishing company. It had prints made and artists that gave proper brush strokes/etc. by pressing or embossing to simulate an original. This was not done to deceive but to make art affordable to the general population. The main company (Illinois Moulding Company) framed the pieces and usually had gold/metal nameplates identifying the pieces.”

Molner died in 1951 so his widow Mrs. Lillian L. Molner continued operating the company until her death on January 9, 1970 at the age of 90. At the time of her death, she was chairman of the board of the Illinois Moulding company, chairman of the board of the Windsor Art Products, Inc., of Los Angeles, and chairman of the board of the Windsor Wood Products, Inc. in Yreka, California.

Sadly, I’ve been unable to find any information about artist B.D. Hartwell. Sometimes artists with these mass-produced art companies used several different names to sign their works (see “Woodland Pond” from Annie Blackburn’s hospital room for an example). This gave the illusion that multiple “famous” artists created works for their collections. In a search, I found artwork attributed to B.D. Hartwell from 1934 but it’s a reproduction of a Robert Atkinson Fox piece, a Canadian artist who lived from 1860 to 1935.

But what about those pheasants?

MALE, RING-NECKED PHEASANTS ON B.D. HARTWELL’S “AUTUMN SPLENDOR”

Most likely, the pheasants were attached to the artwork hanging in Cooper’s room. My fellow Twin Peaks prop hunter and author Vinnie Guidera wondered if the crew found the piece with pheasants attached for if they were added during production. The mid 1950s and 60s had some interesting artwork for modern homes of the time. Ed and Nadine Hurley featured light-up artwork in their living room, which was a short-lived fad from the 20th Century.

After posting this article on the private Facebook group “Twin Peaks: Between Two Worlds,” Twin Peaks crew member Jon Danniells didn’t recall adding the pheasants to the artwork:

“The crew definitely did not add the pheasants; the piece was probably purchased at either the Rose Bowl swap-meet or a local thrift store; I know from first hand experience; even though it was a very long time ago, I would have remembered that.”

This means the piece was either sold as is or a previous owner could have attached them to the artwork (I’m leaning toward the former).

The pheasants used could have been something like these Japanese ceramic birds I found on Ebay.com. There are a lot of pheasant artwork (who knew these bird were that of a home decor item). I also found chalkware pheasants but I think these Japanese birds more closely match the artwork seen in the show.

The Ebay auction contained three different sized pheasants, measuring 10-inches, 7-inches, and 5-inches. These appear to match the three different sized birds from episode 1.001. The crew could have attached the birds using the wall mounts.

Without being able to see the original prop up close, we may never know how it was created. But it wouldn’t be the first time the Twin Peaks crew created something specific for the wonderful and strange show (see Agent Sam Stanley’s Whiteman Machine from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me).

“AUTUMN SPLENDOR” APPEARANCES IN TWIN PEAKS

After it’s closeups in Twin Peaks episode 1.001, you can find the artwork in episode 1.002 just before Agent Cooper returns home.

The artwork returns at the beginning of episode 1.006 when Agent Cooper gets up after speaking with Audrey Horne who is curled up in his bed.

At the beginning the second season opener, episode 2.001, Agent Cooper is seen laying on the floor of his hotel room after being shot three times. In the background, you can see the “Autumn Splendor” artwork hanging on the hotel room wall.

An alternate view is seen in the same episode when the Giant appears to Agent Cooper.

A final shot of the artwork is found toward the end of episode 2.001 when Agent Cooper is seen recording a message to Diane while laying in bed.

Cooper is seen sitting on his bed in episode 2.002 just before Major Garland Briggs pays him a visit. In the background, you can spot Hartwell’s “Autumn Splendor.”

The artwork is seen behind Cooper as Major Briggs describes intercepted messages.

The artwork is seen in episode 2.008 when Agent Cooper is visited by Audrey Horne after her father is arrested.

Audrey Horne eventually stands in front of the artwork while speaking with Cooper in episode 2.008.

Two episodes later in 2.010, the artwork is seen hanging behind Agent Cooper as he packs his suitcase.

A similar shot is found in episode 2.011 with Cooper in a bathroom standing in front of the painting with an open suitcase on his bed.

When Cooper enters his room during episode 2.015, you can see the artwork hanging next to the bed. This is just before he crosses the room to find Caroline’s death mask that Windom Earle places in Cooper’s bed.

When Annie Blackburn visits Special Agent Dale Cooper’s room in episode 2.021, there is a great shot of her standing in front of the artwork.

As Cooper and Annie cross the room to “rehearse” her Miss Twin Peaks Contest speech, we get a good look at B.D. Hartwell’s modified artwork.

As the couple sits down on Cooper’s bed, the artwork is seen hanging behind them.

In the final episode of the second season, episode 2.022, we see part of the painting when Doc Hayward and Sheriff Truman help Agent Cooper out of his bed.

After Cooper crosses the room to go brush his teeth, we see Doc Hayward and Sheriff Truman standing in Room 315.

After hearing a commotion in the bathroom, Hayward and Truman rush toward the bathroom door. This is the final time we’ll see the painting in the series.

Decades after the second season finale aired, fans got one final look at the artwork in a deleted scene from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. The scene was included in The Missing Pieces released in 2014. Doc Hayward and Sheriff Harry S. Truman are seen standing in Cooper’s room, similar to how we saw them at the end of episode 2.022.

They rush over to the locked bathroom door after hearing a noise from Cooper. This is the final time we will see B.D. Hartwell’s artwork. How I wish I knew where it was today.