"American Furniture, 1650-1840" by Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley

American Furniture, 1650-1840 Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley

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Series:: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Format:: Hardback
Publication date:: 24 Nov 2020
ISBN:: 9780876332962
Imprint:: Yale University Press
Dimensions:: 336 pages: 279 x 229mm
Illustrations:: 333 color + b-w illus.
Sales territories:: World

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The creation of an American furniture style at a crossroads of transatlantic trade

American Furniture, 1650–1840: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art is the first publication dedicated to one of the finest collections of its type in the country. Best known for furniture by artisans from Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania, the museum’s collection includes significant examples from cities and regions farther afield. Interpretive texts for each work focus on design sources, showing how early American furniture participated in an international visual language. A vibrant local economy was bolstered by coastal trade bringing Caribbean mahogany and European imports that continued to influence local production. By the 1740s Philadelphia had developed a distinctive idiom and led the developing nation in style and aesthetics. This volume provides an important resource for scholars of American furniture, illuminates the cultural and mercantile life of the fledgling nation, and offers a lively introduction to the donors, curators, and personalities who have shaped the institution from its earliest days to the present.

Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley is the Montgomery-Garvan Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.