Good-bye, Mr. Chippendale
Posted in Reviews on Wed Dec 20, 06 by Kyle under Books and Decorative Arts.
I recently found a book at the San Francisco library titled Good-bye, Mr. Chippendale by Terence Harold Robsjohn-Gibbings. Before I had even turned beyond the copyright page something caught my eye that told me how wide a gulf stood between the period when this book was written and the present era.
The book begins with a disclaimer that:
This book has been produced in full compliance with all government regulations for the conservation of paper, metal, and other essential materials.
This simple perfunctory sentence said a lot about the mentality and material circumstances of the United States at the time. In fact, the book dates from 1944, nearly a year before the end of World War II on September 2, 1945. Material deprivation and the rationing of materials needed to fuel the war effort was still in full effect and this siege mentality seeps into the book. The author elaborates on two main thematic points throughout the course of the book.
The first theme is a snappy, verging on glib and flippant, anecdotal summation of the history of interior decoration in America especially vis-à-vis the establishment of the antiques collecting “industry”. Which you are soon informed, as if the title of the book did not make it abundantly clear, he throughly deplores…
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Ornamental Design Media Blitzkreig
Posted in Discourse on Thu Sep 21, 06 by Kyle under 19th Century and Decorative Arts.
If the New York Times says it, and no-one on Apartment Therapy listens can it still be true? After nearly a century of egregious contempt from high-style minded critics it looks as if the century that brought us the domestic use of electricity, the telephone, the bicycle, photography, film, the recording of sound, canned food, flush toilets, large scale public transportation, the study of psychology, department stores, metal and glass as structural building materials, and pre-perforated cross-stitch cards may finally be getting some serious attention in regards to its aesthetic output.
If you didn’t see it, the New York Times published a little missive headlined After Midcentury Modern, What’s Old Looks New today contemplating the future of trends in the high end design and antiques collecting market…
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Brocade Home Catalog Arrives
Posted in Discourse on Mon Sep 18, 06 by Kyle under Decorative Arts.
I was a total sucker and ordered the Brocade Home catalog that I mentioned in an earlier post . It came in the mail a couple of days ago. What can I say, curiosity got the better of me and now even though I’m on another corporate mailing list, at least I had something better in my mailbox than the weekly Comcast junk mail that I normally receive…
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Rococo Revival 2006 Style
Posted in Discourse on Tue Aug 29, 06 by Kyle under Decorative Arts.
I am starting to see the stirrings of a Neo-Rococo Revival within the past year or so. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see the Mid-century Modern or the Industrial-Loftcondo-DWR- Minimalism craze abating any time soon but I have the feeling that the zeitgeist is broadening some to let in a little more ornament and sophisticated whimsy.
The Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie twins have been coming out with various products in this vein for a couple of years now. Anthropologie has reproduction chairs and sofas in a simplified Louis VX style. Urban Outfitters’s Baroque and Rococo inspired offerings utilize either a stark black and white Gothic edge or a more contemporary bright and saturated pallet. I personally find the Anthropology furniture and accessories to be a bit too tepid and saccharine sweet for my taste. While the Urban Outfitters style is more fun and eye popping, they don’t offer enough to make any kind of integrated decor. They work better as fun accent pieces against a more neutral and modern background.
Now according to Apartment Therapy Restoration Hardware has entered the fray with its new Brocade Home collection…
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