Decorative Arts 1900 Highlights from Private Collections in Detroit [SOLD]

“There are pieces here intended for use in everyday life (and indeed many still are), from the sturdy oak furniture of Gustav Stickley to the delicate glass lamp by Louis Comfort Tiffany, from the Charles Ashbee piano with its Shakesperian inscriptions to the forward-looking geometric designs of Josef Hoffmann. Some were manufactured for the homes of the growing middle classes, others were uniquely hand-crafted for the pure aesthetic pleasure of the most sophisticated avante-garde connoisseurs on both continents.  All are splendid well-preserved examples from the wide range of media used in the decorative arts.”

“As we approach the year 2000, the thought of the year 1900 has special resonance for us.  The turn of the last century can be seen as a convenient date for the beginning of modern times.  It was an era of great energy and variety everywhere, when many technological innovations allowed for increased communications and travel within the continents of Europe and America and transatlantic travel between the two.  By exhibiting together objects from Britain, America, and Europe, the exhibition offers the fruitful opportunity to see these works in the context of an emerging global society.

-From the Foreword

Decorative Arts 1900 Highlights from Private Collections in Detroit

Pete Baret and MaryAnn Wilkinson

The Detroit Institute of Arts

Softcover, 1993, 132 pages, beautifully illustrated

Catalog of an exhibition shown at the Detroit Institute of Arts November 7, 1993 - January 9, 1994.