Chronicles the origins of the Rococo style in furniture and traces its development in the New World.

American Rococo, 1750-1775 Elegance in Ornament

Arts & Photography

Heckscher, Morrison H.

Bowman, Leslie Green

Hecksher, Morrison H.

History & Criticism

Metropolitan Museum of Art

John Townsend (17331809) is one of the most revered cabinetmakers of Colonial America. He spent his life in Newport, Rhode Island, leaving a uniquely large body of documented work. This handsome and generously illustrated bookthe first publication ever devoted to Townsendlooks at the life and legacy of this extraordinary cabinetmaker.
The book opens with an overview of Newport and a discussion of other important cabinetmakers, including Job and Christopher Townsend, John’s father and uncle. John worked as an apprentice to his father before establishing his own shop when he was twenty-one. The catalogue section of this volume presents new color reproductions, including details of carving and construction and inscriptions and labels, of all thirty-five documented pieces by John Townsend. Comparative works by Christopher, Job, Job Jr., and Edmund Townsend as well as by John Goddard, another significant Newport cabinetmaker of the time, are also featured. Other documentation includes: a genealogical chart of the Townsend and Goddard families; wills and inventories of Christopher and John Townsend; a list of Townsend family furniture; names of John Townsend’s clients; and a list of all documented Newport furniture.

John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Antiques & Collectibles

The year 2008 marks the 150th anniversary of the design of Central Park, the first and arguably the most famous of America’s urban landscape parks. In October 1857 the new park’s board of commissioners announced a public design competition, and the following April the imaginative yet practicable Greensward” plan submitted by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted was selected.
This book tells the fascinating story of how an extraordinary work of public art emerged from the crucible of New York City politics. From William Cullen Bryant’s 1844 editorial calling for a pleasure ground of shade and recreation” to the completion of construction in 1870, the history of Central Park is an urban epica tale not only of animosity, political intrigue, and desire but also of idealism, sacrifice, and genius.

Creating Central Park

History

Americas

John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker is a landmark presentation of a supreme cabinetmaker. It offers a catalogue of the documented oeuvre of John Townsend (1733-1809), the great Newport cabinetmaker, and describes the community of skilled makers in which he worked. It gives an unparalleled views of the physical and economical realities of Newport and of the artisanal culture that nourished cabinetmakers who were among the best to ever work in America. Between 1756 and 1800 John Townsend signed his name to more than thirty pieces of furniture of his own making. These signatures document a remarkable body of work, securing for him a special place in the history of American cabinetmaking, precisely what he intended. The signed examples are, virtually without exception, pieces of the highest quality. His habit of adding the date suggests an acute historical awareness and a determination to document his legacy. Townsend seems to have sought perfection compulsively, and his hallmarks are precision, elegance, and fastidious attention to detail. Labor-intensive refinements are evident in the interiors as well as the exteriors of every documented piece. Here lengthy discussions of materials and construction practices elucidate the personal style that placed Townsend apart from other Newport joiners. John Townsend was among the most prominent of the large group of cabinetmakers that brought fame to Newport. Boston had long set the style in cabinetmaking and much else in New England, but in the 1750s and 1760s Newport experienced an extraordinary period of prosperity during which it challenged Boston standards. The bonnet-top high chest, the most fashionable and enduringly popular piece of eighteenth-century case furniture, had been developed in Boston. Newport took this innovation and made it altogether richer and more memorable by adding a shell motif to the blocking. This shell, so evident in Townsend's work, became the signature feature, the emblem of Newport furniture. There were at least ten other joiners, including John's father, Christopher, in the extended Townsend family. The cabinetmaker John Goddard, later widely renowned, married one of John's cousins. Complex business and familiar relationships existed between the various members of the family and their shops. This dense environment has been difficult to explore, and works by the lesser-known Townsends and Goddards began to be identified only in the 1980s. The Newport group of cabinetmakers is examined in detail in this publication, with period documents and maps that bring a new clarity to this complicated milieu. The collateral material includes a Townsend family tree, transcriptions of the wills of Christopher and John Townsend, and a history of the furniture that descended in the Townsend family. An essay on the critical fortunes of Newport furniture and a historical bibliography trace the growth of Townsend's reputation. Numerous works by John Townsend's contemporaries are illustrated, giving a detailed look at the differences and similarities among various approaches to the same forms. New photography allows Townsend's masterpieces to be seen more accurately and richly than ever before; numerous depictions of undersides and inlays are published for the first time. [This book was originally published in 2005 and has gone out of print. This edition is a print-on-demand version of the original book.]

Individual Artists

The rococo style was among the primary artistic contributions of the eighteenth century. Its manifestations throughout Europe have been comprehensively acknowledged and chronicled, but its influence in America, where it was probably the century's crowning design achievement (commonly referred to as the Chippendale style), had never been thoroughly examined. It was a lavish taste that found surprisingly fertile ground in the colonies, where affluent members of society, rejoicing in their hard-won prosperity, strove to adopt London fashions. The exhibition, "American Rococo, 1750–1775: Elegance in Ornament" was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the latter's motivations emanating from the desire to bring an exhibition of American Chippendale furniture to a city where such objects have always been in short supply. The book includes chapters on European origins and the American manifestations of the rococo, a brief discussion of firearms, and architecture, and medium-based explorations of objects made of paper, silver, wood, iron, glass, and ceramic. [This book was originally published in 1992 and has gone out of print. This edition is a print-on-demand version of the original book.]

American Rococo, 1750–1775: Elegance in Ornament

Chronicles the origins of the Rococo style in furniture and traces its development in the New World.

American Rococo, 1750-1775: Elegance in Ornament

Bowman, Leslie Greene

Harry N.Abrams, Inc.

Discusses the designs, histories, construction, and woods of a variety of chairs, tables, chests, desks, bookcases, and clocks

American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Late Colonial Period - The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles

Rogers, Mary-Alice

Metropolitan Museum Of Art (new York, N.y.)

American rococo, 1750-1775: Elegance in ornament

Distributed by Harry N. Abrams

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

• The only low priced guide to the newly installed American Art Wing of the Metropolitan available • Offers cleverly designed way-finding techniques including maps, gallery numbers, landmarks, and descriptions to guide each visitor with their most comfortable method • Features works by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Frank Lloyd Wright, John Singer Sargent, John Singleton Copley, George Caleb Bingham, Winslow Homer, James McNeil Whistler, and Fredrick Remington, among many others Published to celebrate the grand reopening of the American Wing of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this handy, beautifully illustrated book will be your personal tour guide through the galleries. Four visits planned by the museum's curators are presented, including Architecture, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts in Visit One, Historic Interiors and Decorative Arts in Visit Two, Paintings and Sculpture in Visit Three, and the visible-storage facility in Visit Four. Each tour is presented using maps, room numbers, descriptions and useful landmarks to help orient you through the galleries, pointing out iconic highlights of American art such as Augustus Saint-Gaudens's gilt-bronze Diana, the Frank Lloyd Wright Room, Emanuel Leutze's Washington Crossing the Delaware, and John Singer Sargent's Madame X along the way. Featuring more than 100 exquisite works of American art and historic interiors, this cleverly designed companion will be essential for all visitors to the wing - whether you have only an hour to spend, or time for a more in-depth exploration. Morrison H. Heckscher is the Lawrence A. Fleischman Chairman of the American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Walking Guide

Scala

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Heckscher, Morrison H.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Heckscher, Morrison H.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Heckscher, Morrison H.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

American Rococo, 1750-1775 Elegance in Ornament

John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker

Creating Central Park

John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker

American Rococo, 1750–1775: Elegance in Ornament

American Rococo, 1750-1775: Elegance in Ornament

American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Late Colonial Period - The Queen Anne and Chippendale Styles

American rococo, 1750-1775: Elegance in ornament

Creating Central Park

The American Wing at The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Walking Guide