Jonathan Prown and Katherine Hemple Prown
The Quiet Canon: Tradition and Exclusion in American Furniture Scholarship

American Furniture 2002

Full Article
Contents
  • Figure 1
    Figure 1

    American furniture and decorative arts installation, Hudson-Fulton Celebration, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1909. (Courtesy, Metropolitan Museum of Art.)

  • Figure 2
    Figure 2

    Parlor from Marmion (Prince George County, Virginia) installed in the American Wing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, photograph ca. 1925. (Courtesy, Metropolitan Museum of Art.)

  • Figure 3
    Figure 3

    Gallery 283, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1934. (Courtesy, Philadelphia Museum of Art.)

  • Figure 4
    Figure 4

    High Street, Sesquicentennial of Independence, Philadelphia, 1926. (Courtesy, Library Company of Philadelphia.)

  • Figure 5
    Figure 5

    Chippendale Room, Girl Scouts Loan Exhibition, American Art Association Galleries, New York, 1929. (Courtesy, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A.; photo, Lawrence X. Champeau.)

  • Figure 6
    Figure 6

    Plan for reinstallation of the drawing room for the Samuel Powell House (ca. 1768–1772), Philadelphia, ca. 1927. (Courtesy, Philadelphia Museum of Art.)

  • Figure 7
    Figure 7

    American furniture and decorative arts installation, Hudson-Fulton Celebration, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1909. (Courtesy, Metropolitan Museum of Art.)

  • Figure 8
    Figure 8

    “The New England Kitchen in the Old Log Cabin,” Philadelphia Centennial, 1876. (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum.) This image appeared in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper on June 10, 1876.

  • Figure 9
    Figure 9

    American decorative arts installation, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, ca. 1928. (Courtesy, Yale University Art Gallery.)

  • Figure 10
    Figure 10

    American decorative arts gallery, Art Institute of Chicago, 2002. (Courtesy, Art Institute of Chicago.)

  • Figure 11
    Figure 11

    American Collections Gallery, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ca. 1999. (Courtesy, Milwaukee Art Museum.)

  • Figure 12
    Figure 12

    View of “An American Vision: Henry Francis du Pont’s Winterthur Museum,” National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., May 5–October 6, 2002. (Courtesy, Winterthur Museum and the National Gallery of Art.)

  • Figure 13
    Figure 13

    American Collections Gallery, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ca. 1976. (Courtesy, Milwaukee Art Museum.)

  • Figure 14
    Figure 14

    Albert Sack, The Fine Points of Furniture, Early American: Good, Better, Best, Superior, Masterpiece (New York: Crown Publishers, 1993), p. 185. (Courtesy, Sack Heritage Group.)

  • Figure 15
    Figure 15

    Sideboard, American, ca. 1853. Walnut with tulip poplar and white pine; marble. H. 106", W. 69", D. 28". (Courtesy, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; museum purchase with funds provided by Anaruth and Aron S. Gordon.)

  • Figure 16
    Figure 16

    Furniture installation from “Mining the Museum,” Maryland Historical Society, April 1992–February 1993. (Courtesy, Maryland Historical Society.)

  • Figure 17
    Figure 17

    Armchair attributed to Charles- Honore Lannuier, New York, ca. 1812. Mahogany and rosewood; brass inlay. H. 35". (Courtesy, Christie’s.)

  • Figure 18
    Figure 18

    Armchair, possibly by John Hemings, Monticello joinery, Albemarle County, Virginia, 1790–1815. Cherry; original under-upholstery and leather cover. H. 34 7/8", W. 23 1/4", D. 19 1/4". (Courtesy, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.)

  • Figure 19
    Figure 19

    “Reinventing the Past,” American Collections Gallery, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2001. (Courtesy, Milwaukee Art Museum; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 20
    Figure 20

    “Classical Chaos,” American Collections Gallery, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2001. (Courtesy, Milwaukee Art Museum; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 21
    Figure 21

    “Sign Language,” American Collections Gallery, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2001. (Courtesy, Milwaukee Art Museum; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 22
    Figure 22

    “Of the Maker, By the Maker, and For the Maker,” American Collections Gallery, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 2001. (Courtesy, Milwaukee Art Museum; photo, Gavin Ashworth.)

  • Figure 23
    Figure 23

    High chest of drawers, Colchester, Connecticut, ca. 1785. Cherry with white pine. H. 82 1/2", W. 41 3/4", D. 21 1/2". (Chipstone Foundation; photo, Sumpter Priddy, III.)

  • Figure 24
    Figure 24

    High chest of drawers, Boston or Salem, Massachusetts, 1755–1775. Mahogany with white pine with brass hardware. H. 85 1/2", W. 40 1/2", D. 20 3/4" "Gift of Friends of Art M1969.13". (Courtesy, Milwaukee Art Museum.)