For anyone who is interested in an in-depth, up-close, inspection of Federal-period furniture, go visit the Yale Furniture Study. It has about a thousand pieces specializing in this style. I had a one-hour appointment and a tour by the assistant curator focussed on my personal interest. Here’s the website http://www.artgallery.yale.edu/pages/collection/study/study_furniture.html
Here’s a photo of just one aisle.
See my related post in Joinery, “A place for dowels.”
Replies
Just me so don't get mad..
What a waste.. All that fine work locked up in some cellar and nobody can use it!
I agree with you on this one . Furniture is made to be used. No body can appreciate it in those conditions.
Philip
The Met Museum in NYC has their collection stored in a series of glass cases in the back bottom corner of the American Wing. It's hardly a great setting, and is more like a warehouse than a museum, but it would otherwise be totally hidden from the patrons. So long as we can get access to it I'm all for them preserving and collecting it.
I don't know about the Yale Furniture Study, but I do know that it is possible to even get hands on access at the Metropolitan Museum. I wrote the curator, and arranged an appointment. The piece was removed from the display and taken to a seminar room where I was able to take pictures and make measurements.
O.K. in spite of my objections, in those conditions a museum is doing exactly what it is supposted to do by putting the pieces available first hand to those who are truely interested. Lots of other museums could take a lesson from this.
Philip
But the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a whole other floor with furniture, some of it in room settings. In the glass cases you are looking at the study collection. The good stuff is out in more typical museum displays.
Edited 11/2/2005 9:53 pm ET by SteveSchoene
True. But I found I liked a lot of the homelier stuff better. Probably because it's closer to my skill level. And you could get closer to a lot of it. I spent plenty of time upstairs too though. What's funny is I've been going there for decades but only just discovered that whole area. I was always more fascinated by the Egyptian stuff (as a kid) and the Islamic stuff (as an adult).
I'm with you!!!
They should let me in there to pick out my 5 most favorite pieces.
Doug
Well it may seem to be a waste. but just think ahead into the next century or two. Just as many rare coins have kind of disappeared or the stock pile of vintage cars in existence so to will the furniture antiquities be gone someday unless someone preserves them. Furniture or anything that is subject to everday use will not survive in the long run (read centuries) and if we want a record of our history someone has to preserve some small piece of it.
Thanks, Ted, you said it very well. Furniture that is in private hands is lost to anyone who wants to study that style. Museums, galleries, and places like the Yale Furniture Study provide public access to examples of styles for study, learning, and further innovation.
Thanks very much for your posting, John. I'd heard about the Garvan collection at Yale for years but until your posting had no idea how fabulous the collection really was nor how helpful it could be particularly as it's arranged in the Furniture Study. You can see so much more and compare so many more details with this approach than with the typical period room approach say at museums such as Colonial Williamsburg or Winterthur.
You appear to be interested in period furniture. Take a look at the book, Objects of Desire by Thatcher Freund which traces the history of three antiques sold at the Armory Show some years ago. There are great comments and insights that really bring those pieces to life including comments about the "Garvan carver" featured in the Yale collection. I think you'll enjoy it.
Hi Larry,
My local library has the book, "Objects of Desire," and I'll check it out. Thanks for the tip.
To ALL,
In case I didn't make it clear, the Yale Furniture Study does more than let you look at the pieces. The curator opened drawers and doors for my closer inspection. She also dug out more details about the pieces from their files.
What a waste.. All that fine work locked up in some cellar and nobody can use it!OK I'll back off.. I see from the posts that you can at least look at the objects.. My apology... For what that's worth...Sorry, I have this thing about stuff hidden away and somebody just looks at it every 100 years or so... AND all them dead bugs and animals...
Hi Larry,
I've just finished "Objects of Desire" that you recommended. It was fascinating!
My wife and I have collected antiques for over 40 years. So it was really interesting to follow the lives of a few pieces of furniture through the world of antique pickers, runners, dealers, auctioneers, and collectors. As I read, I thought, "Gee, this reminds me of Tracy Kidder's "Sould of a New Machine" which also walked the reader through and arcane world filled with interesting, real people. I would recommend the book highly to anyone with an interest in the wonderful world of antiques.
Best regards, John
I know the book but have never read it. I'll pick it up on my nexsdt trip to the library. I'm curious to see the relationship between the world of antiques and the development of a new computer.
"Objects of Desire" Woodworking..
Wife..Now what order?
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