Replies

1. 
   SteveSchoene | Sep 28, 2007 04:46am | #1

   Both factors are correct.  Urban location defines the market and makes it economically possible for a craftsman to produce highly refined pieces.  It also puts him into the information flow where what is stylish is more widely diseminated among both craftsmen and customers.  Urban customers tend to be richer. 

   Since the urban customers were richer, craftsmen who had developed the top level of skills with their tools would naturally gravitate to the markets where they could make the most money using them. 

   Quality is a more subjective matter and has many dimensions.  One is "workmanship".  The issue isn't tools--18th century craftsmen making high style furniture had first rate tools.  They also knew how to use them well and quickly. 

   But in terms of the finely tuned perfection contemporary gallery craftsmen turn out finer joinery, flatter surfaces that are finely finished on all sides.  They have to have designs and workmanship that manufactured furniture can't achieve, but must sell in a market place where many have the aesthetic of machine perfection.   (This is an over simplification since there are many aesthetic threads being followed.)   In those terms even some of the finest 18th century furniture may look crude on close examination, with unfinished, even rough surfaces in places that don't show.  Surfaces that aren't truely flat, and parts that may not be entirely symetrical are also seen.  Construction that doesn't always consider wood movement. 

   Another important dimension is design, and in a sense it is more important that mechanical craftsmanship.  While as a general rule there is no accounting for taste, I can't quite convince myself that a preference for a Townsend shell secretary instead of a Herter Brothers desk isn't purely a matter of opinion.  I can't comment much on contemporary furniture making since my interests have been directed toward period reproductions.  It was clear to me early on that contemporary furniture is MUCH more difficult to do well, not the least because, as with all art, originality is a crucial aspect. 

    

2. 
   joelm | Sep 28, 2007 05:27am | #2

   In order to have fancy furniture you need rich customers. Lots of them. you find more of them in cities than in rural areas. Well made furniture, if not very fancy runs a much better chance of getting destroyed over time than a fancier piece. With more trade there is a better chance of specialization. It's much easier in a city to keep a bunch of carvers busy, a tool shop with specilized tools, specialized finishers, etc. For a rural cabinetmaker they need to be masters of far more trades. In urban areas it makes no sense to do something you aren't an expert at because specialists can do it faster and cheaper and usually better. Even today in the New York Market just about every cabinetmaker and woodworker I know will take on any job, but sub out anything they can't do efficiently. In larger shops (which are more likely found in urban areas) you get specialization within the shop for the same reason.

   But what about Townsend? He must have had some well heeled customers to make the stuff he did but I am willing to bet he also was part of a large enough woodworking community to support specialists.

   I had a thought a few years ago that I don't have time to research that the reason different regions of the country had subtle differences in style of feet and other furntirue details wasn't because of a different design approach, but more that in a region only one or two people carved all the details of the high end furniture that survived and those folks worked for many many different shops.

   Joel
   http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com
1. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Sep 28, 2007 01:47pm | #3

   Joel,

   the reason different regions of the country had subtle differences in style

   If I remember correctly, Jefferey Greene talks about possible reasons for style differences in his book.  One of which is the rapid growth of cities vs. rural areas of the country during the 18c. 

   Given that more immigrants settled in the cities and regionalization of different ethnic origins may have contributed to differences in elements of style.  I believe there were many more English settlers in Philadelphia, a larger Dutch concentration in New York.

   Another factor was economics, i.e. New England styles tended to be more conservative than New York & Philadelphia where affluence demanded more elaborate decoration.

   Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres

    

   A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!

2. 
   SteveSchoene | Sep 28, 2007 03:39pm | #4

   To some extent the high-end woodworking community in NewPort can be seen in the geneology of two families the Townsends and Goddards.  But it doesn't appear that they were specializing as carvers or finishers.  Goddard and Townsend carvings were not made by the same person--styles are sufficiently distinctive to see that.  Michael Moses (Master Craftsmen of Newport, 1984 )argues that all the carvings on John Townsend authenticated furniture show little difference over a 37 year span, and there are no examples of the same carving on work showing construction practices of other cabinet makers.  Newport was apparently behind some larger cities and no town records show carvers nor do ads appear for carvers until the late 1790s.  Specialization was occurring to be sure; earlier generations in the Townsend line had worked as both house carpenters and cabinet makers. 

3. 
   slashdev | Sep 28, 2007 03:46pm | #5

   "If I can do it, it's not art."  Red Green

    

   "If I can do it, it's not quality."  /dev   ;)

1. 
   KiddervilleAcres | Sep 28, 2007 03:59pm | #6

   /dev,

   I'll have to cat that one!

   Playing on the Solaris box,Bob @ Kidderville Acres

    

   A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!