newsletter/fall 2016 Volume 24, Number 2 Decorative Arts Society The DAS DAS The Decorative Arts Society, Inc. in 1990 for the encouragement of interest in, the appreciation of and the exchange of information about the decorative arts. To, is pursuea not-for-profit its purposes, New theYork DAS corporation sponsors foundedmeetings, Newsletter programs, seminars, tours and a newsletter on the decorative arts. Its supporters include museum curators, academics, collectors and dealers. Please send change-of-address information by e-mail to [email protected]. Board of Directors Editor President Gerald W. R. Ward Gerald W. R. Ward Senior Consulting Curator & Susan P. Schoelwer Senior Consulting Curator Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator Robert H. Smith Senior Curator Katharine Lane Weems Senior Curator of of American Decorative Arts and George Washington’s Mount Vernon American Decorative Arts and Sculpture Emeritus Mount Vernon, VA Sculpture Emeritus Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Boston, MA Boston, MA Treasurer Stewart G. Rosenblum, Esq. Robert C. Smith Award Committee Coordinator Jeannine Falino, Chair Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Secretary Independent Curator Freelance Writer/Editor Moira Gallagher New York, NY Rochester, NY Research Assistant Metropolitan Museum of Art Lynne Bassett New York, NY Costume and Textile Historian Program Chairperson Dennis Carr Emily Orr Carolyn and Peter Lynch Curator of The DAS Newsletter is a publication Assistant Curator of Modern and American Decorative Arts and of the Decorative Arts Society, Inc. The Contemporary American Design Sculpture purpose of the DAS Newsletter is to serve as Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA a forum for communication about research, Museum Boston, MA exhibitions, publications, conferences and New York, NY other activities pertinent to the serious Emily Orr study of international and American deco- Margaret Caldwell Assistant Curator of Modern and rative arts. Listings are selected from press Contemporary American Design releases and notices posted or received Judith Hernstadt Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design from institutions, and from notices submit- Museum ted by individuals. We reserve the right Committees New York, NY to reject material and to edit material for length or clarity. Charles F. Montgomery Prize and Karen Zukowski We do not cover commercial galleries. Award Committee Art Historian The DAS Newsletter welcomes submis- Wendy Cooper, Chair sions, preferably in digital format, by e-mail Curator Emerita of Furniture in Plain Text or as Word attachments, or Winterthur Museum on a CD. Images should be at high quality Wilmington, DE (400 dpi), as TIFFs or JPEGs, either color or black-and-white, with detailed captions. Nancy Carlisle The newsletter of the DAS is published Senior Curator of Collections two times a year. Submission deadlines for Historic New England 2017 are: March 31 for the spring issue; Boston, MA September 30 for the fall issue. Send mate- rial to: Ruth E. Thaler-Carter, DAS Newsletter Coordinator 2500 East Avenue, #7K Rochester, NY 14610 or: [email protected] Cover image: The DAS website may provide informa- Neo-Renaissance Pendant, gold, diamonds, tourmaline, pearl and enamel; tion about events that fall between issues. ca. 1880. Lucien Falize (1839–1897). Photo: ©Julien Vidal/Petit Palais/Roger- Viollet. In Bijoux Parisiens: French Jewelry from the Petit Palais, Paris (see Newsletter design by Plum Crane. Exhibitions, Cincinnati, OH; Taft Museum of Art). All content © Decorative Arts Society, Inc. DAS news DAS welcomes new president she was curator of special collections at the Chicago Public Library (IL) from he Decorative Arts Society, capacity, she oversaw the refurnishing 1978–1982. Inc. (DAS) of the U.S. has a new and reinterpretation of George Wash- Schoelwer holds a doctorate in Tpresident: Susan P. Schoelwer, ington’s “New Room,” reinstallation American Studies from Yale University, Robert H. Smith Senior Curator at of the greenhouse slave quarter, and a master of arts from the Winterthur George Washington’s Mount Vernon special exhibitions. She also edited The Program in Early American Culture (VA). She succeeds David Barquist, H. General in the Garden: George Wash- of the University of Delaware, and a Richard Dietrich, Jr., Curator of Ameri- ington’s Landscape at Mount Vernon, bachelor of arts in History from the can Decorative Arts, Philadelphia Mu- a volume of essays inspired by Mount University of Notre Dame. She attended seum of Art (PA), who stepped down Vernon’s recent exhibition on that the Attingham Friends 18th-Century this fall after serving in this role for the topic. Studies Program in 2015 and At- past 10 years. Before joining Mount Vernon, tingham Summer School in 2012, “I am delighted to pass the presi- Schoelwer was director of museum col- and was a Fellow in the Winterthur dential baton to Susan. Her dedication lections at the Connecticut Historical Program in Early American Culture - Society (Hartford) from 1998–2009. at the Win- rative arts will be a tremendous asset Her positions at the society included terthur forto and the enthusiasmDAS,” said Barquist. for the field of deco Florence S. Marcy Crofut Director of Museum Schoelwer has served as Mount Collections Development from 2007– from 1975– Vernon’s curator since 2010. In that 2009 and curator in 2009. Before then, 1977. From the president Greetings from new DAS president By Susan Schoelwer, Robert H. Smith Senior Curator, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon, VA t gives me great pleasure to write chapter of the Society of Architectural - Historians, and it was in this itera- contributors. I thank you all for your Ident, to fellow contributors. I am tion that I initially joined, while still a interest and support, and look forward honoredthis, my and first humbled letter asto DASfollow presi in the graduate student at Winterthur. Since to meeting you at future gatherings. footsteps of David Barquist, who has provided inestimable leadership to our from my association with the DAS. organization for the past decade. then,When I have I moenjoyedved to many Washington, benefits DC, In this issue By the time you receive this news- in 2010 to take my current position letter, the DAS will have already logged at Mount Vernon, the DAS played a two exciting fall outings. We gathered crucial role in my introduction to the DAS news 1 at Winterthur in October for Dennis city – offering, shortly after my arrival, Winterthur tour 2 Award recipients 3 Carr’s fascinating insights on Made in a memorable weekend program that the Americas: The New World Dis- introduced me to the decorative arts Opportunities 4, 12 cover Asia, and in November for Pat galleries at National Gallery, then Kane’s long-awaited Rhode Island Anderson House and the Cosmos Exhibition review 5 Furniture and Its Makers, 1650– Club. More recently, I was delighted to 1830. Together, these exhibitions participate in the 2014 Chicago trip, Book review 7 offered fascinating and fresh insights touring the fabulous Irish Decorative on American decorative arts, juxtapos- Arts show at the Art Institute of Chi- Acquisitions 9 ing hemispheric and local perspectives. cago, followed by wonderful mornings News 11 New adventures are on the horizon for at the Driehaus Museum and private 2017, so please watch for upcoming collections. People 13 notices. Events like these – and the connec- As David noted in his last newslet- tions that they engender – are at the Exhibitions 16 ter letter, the DAS was founded as a core of what the DAS aspires to offer Newsletter of the Decorative Arts Society, Inc. Fall 2016/1 DAS enjoys tour at Winterthur ennis Carr, Carolyn and Peter Lynch Curator Dof Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MA), led the DAS on a fascinating tour of the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library (Wilmington, DE) Made in the Americas: The New World Discovers Asia exhibition in October 2016. Photos by Stewart Rosenblum. Featherwork painting with whole and cut Scarlet Carr provides insights Macaw, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, White- into objects from tailed Jacobin, Violet Sabrewing, Great Egret, around the world Mexican Hermit, Great-tailed Grackle, Military (above) and how Macaw, Blue-gray Tanager, Montezuma Oropen- trade affected the dula feathers; colored and gilt paper; on paper spread of decorative and copper with ebony frame. Mexico, late 16th arts objects around century. Exported to Europe and believed to have the world (right). been owned by Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II (1552–1612); listed among nine Mexican feather paintings in 1607 inventory of Künsthammer (art cabinet) in Prague. Tour par- ticipants (right). Desk-and-bookcase (left), inlaid woods, incised and painted bone, maque, gold and polychrome paint; chinoiserie-style painting in gold on vermil- ion background with wood-and-bone Mudéjar designs, a Spanish-Islamic (Hispano-Moresque) style popular in viceregal Mexico. Half of a matching pair. Mexico, mid-18th century. Made in Puebla de los Angeles, a stop along route of Asian trade goods from Pacific Coast. Interior maps show hacienda in Ve- racruz, recalling those drawn by indigenous artists. Estate was one of earliest free African settlements in Mexico. 2/Fall 2016 Newsletter of the Decorative Arts Society, Inc. DAS recognizes excellence in decorative arts scholarship published in 2015 with Montgomery Prize and Smith Award he DAS has recognized three outstanding scholars in decora- Ttive arts publishing as recipients of its Charles F. Montgomery Prize and Robert Smith Award for 2016. Montgomery Prize The DAS chose Early Seating Upholstery: Reading the Evidence by Leroy Graves (Colonial Williams- burg Foundation, 2015) as the 2016 recipient of its Charles F. Montgom- ery Prize for the most distinguished contribution to the study of Ameri- can decorative arts published in the English language by a North American Heart’ in the Politics of Courtship in the scholar in the previous year. Boston ‘Fishing Lady’ Pictures” in Win- “This book presents a compre- intrusive upholstery techniques have terthur Portfolio (Vol.