Art deco

[blinker]

If you're in or near Boston, the Art Deco exhibit at the MFA is worth a visit. It's not necessarily a cultural must-see like their major exhibits of great painters, but it's a lot of fun. They included paintings, jewelry, furniture, classic examples of art deco industrial design and textiles, a Frank Lloyd Wright stained glass window, and a lot of other neat stuff. One thing that I particularly liked was how the last room in the exhibit included a whole bunch of pieces inspired by New York City.

After the exhibit, a whole bunch of us went back to Dean and FJ's place to hang out and try some homemade ice cream from their new ice cream maker. For people who've only been making ice cream for a week or so, they're doing a very good job of it.

In other news, our new living room furniture arrived on Thursday and it looks great when the cats aren't sleeping on it. As soon as we get a coffee table, the living room will be fantastic and we'll be able to have our long-delayed housewarming party.

I start work tomorrow. I'm very excited and a little bit nervous that I am going to be introduced to too many people and it'll be impossible to remember their names. Still, I think it's going to be good.

Comments

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

So I guess you gave up on keeping them off the furniture?

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

It's not that we've given up, it's that we haven't yet had any success. Kelly tried leaving library books on the chair while we were out today and we came home to find Morgan napping on the library books.

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

Asia likes sleeping on books, too. I don't know why; it cannot be comfortable.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Cats have odd (or at least different) ideas of what is "comfortable". I had a cat who would sleep on top of the upright piano while I was practicing.

[spwebdesign.livejournal.com]

When I went to NYC last week to visit Tommy Katopodis, Scotty Heald got quite a shock. Scotty sat down on a sheet-like thingy that Tom had laid out on the couch. This sheet gives a shock on contact and is meant to discourage cats from climbing up on the furniture. I can get details from Tommy if you'd like.

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

I'm intrigued, but unfortunately my wife said "no!".
At first I thought it was a disbelieving no, as in "is that really possible?" but further discussion revealed that it was more of a "we're really not doing that" no.

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

Cats, as I'm sure you know, are of the opinion that any furniture is enhanced by a cat sleeping on it. That includes computer monitors if they can balance.

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

These cats are actually pretty picky about the furniture (the big one more so because he's not much of a jumper). The real reason they're so enamored of the new couch and chair is that the living room, which doesn't yet have window treatments up, gets the best sunlight in the house.

[missdimple.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the Art Deco tip. zz and I are huge fans. It lets me know what he and I will be doing during a future date. :)

Hmmm sounds like

[chiefted]

The exhibit that was at the Legion of Honor out here in SF.

Did they have the design mode for Rockefeller Center?
That and the dresses were wonderful (guess thats the girl side in me, liked the dresses more than the car)

Re: Hmmm sounds like

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

Quite possibly the same exhibition. It was organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London according to the MFA's web site.

The other women in our party, all of whom are far more girly than I am, were all really into the car. But the dresses were cool too.

[pinkfish.livejournal.com]

fj and I were into the dresses.

But I was especially into the cocktail service.

The car was "eh!" for me.

Re: Hmmm sounds like

[rsc.livejournal.com]

jwg and I looked quite wistfully at the dresses --especially the purple one -- knowing full well that we couldn't come close to fitting into any of them and that they wouldn't be danceable anyway.

[stevenredux.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the new gig and thanks again for the interview.

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

No problem. I'm looking forward to seeing the article when you finish it.

[unzeugmatic.livejournal.com]

I saw what must have been this exhibit at the V & A when I was in London last year, although it couldn't have been identical -- the London exhibit included the actual glass-brick entryway to the Savoy Hotel, which was donated to the museum when the hotel was torn down (early 60s?) and had been in storage since. I'd be surprised if they shipped that overseas. Did this exhibit include a film clip of Josephine Baker?

I was quite familiar with the later mass-produced deco stuff (I have an apartment full of it), but what enthralled me about the exhibit I saw was the furniture from the early days of the movement -- luxurious streamlined stuff made of things like sharkskin.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

We saw the V & A exhibit in 2000. Although I don't remember a whole lot of details from that, this one was different. I'm pretty sure that in addition to the Savoy Hotel entryway, it had one of the Paris Metro entry gates.

[slinkr.livejournal.com]

They did not ship the entryway to the Savoy Hotel over to Boston, nor did they have a film clip of Josephine Baker. They did have a whole bunch of Paul Colin's Baker-inspired images though.

I thought of you when I got to the last case in the exhibit and there was a Fiestaware pitcher on the top shelf.

[unzeugmatic.livejournal.com]

A general description of the exhibit I saw is available here (http://www.culturevulture.net/ArtandArch2/ArtDeco.htm). That page includes an unfortunately small photo of the Savoy Hotel entry that barely hints at its glamorous opulence.

I thought of you when I got to the last case in the exhibit and there was a Fiestaware pitcher on the top shelf.

Even more dramatically (and classically) deco: Just last weekend I bought a green Tea Room depression glass creamer (circa late 20s). There's a picture of this item in pink here (http://pages.sewing-machine-manuals.com/173/PictPage/59175.html). That photo, however, has poor aspect -- it's squashed. The actual creamer has slightly taller and thinner proportions. (And I paid nowhere near half the price they're charging for that set.)

The next major Art Deco exhibit will be held in my living room.