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

[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.