Winner, 1990 Berkshire Conference Book Award Art Nouveau in Fin-de-Siecle France: Politics, Psychology, and Style explores the shift in the locus of modernity from technological monument to private interior. It examines the political, economic, social, intellectual and artistic factors, specific to late 19th century France, that interacted in the development of art nouveau.
A completely revised edition, covering every period and development to the present, the designers and makers, the woods and other materials, the architecture and decoration. 2,000 photographs. Glossary. Bibliography. Index.
The eighteenth century in France saw the production of the world's most spectacular furniture. Curiously, there has been no major illustrated reference book for the general reader on this subject in over twenty-five years. This important new book fills that gap. An extensive introduction explains the organization and historical background of furniture makers of the period, traces the evolution of taste and style, and explores the roles of both architects and designers. The author concludes with a study of contemporary dealers and public auctions at the end of the eighteenth century. French Furniture Makers is illustrated with nearly 500 photographs, and includes a glossary of techical terms and a list of makers' marks reproduced to their actual size.
This beautifully produced volume is the first to survey the Metropolitan Museum's world-renowned collection of European furniture. One hundred and three superb examples from the Museum's vast holdings are featured. They originated in workshops in England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Russia, or Spain and date from the Renaissance to the late nineteenth century. A number of them belonged to such important historical figures as Pope Urban VIII, Louis XIV, Madame de Pompadour, and Napoleon. The selection includes chairs, tables, beds, cabinets, commodes, settees and sofas, bookcases and standing shelves, desks, fire screens, athéniennes, coffers, chests, mirrors and frames, showcases, and lighting equipment. There is also one purely decorative piece, a superb vase made for a Russian noble family who, according to one awestruck viewer, "owned all the malachite mines in the world." The makers of some of the objects are unknown, but most of the pieces can be identified by label, documentation, or style as the work of an outstanding European designer-craftsman, such as André-Charles Boulle, Thomas Chippendale, David Roentgen, or Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
