http://antique.morewrite.com For antique, vintage and decorative art lovers, buying and investing guide. Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:13:23 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The United States had a strong influence on international style, although it had not exhibited in Paris. Streamlining, developed in the United States, was a feature Art Deco. Speed was still smart, and it was evoked in Art Deco design by such devices as closely set, parallel, horizontal lines and ... http://antique.morewrite.com/2008/08/24/art-deco-modern-symbol-design-transatlantic-ingredient/ Modern design's first public impact was made by the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Indus- Erie's Modernes, held in Paris. Britain's mainly Arts-and-Crafts exhibit drew little interest. People had tired of the hand-crafted look and Medieval imitation. The hit of the show was France's exhibit in the brash new Style ... http://antique.morewrite.com/2008/08/24/art-deco-paris-draws-the-crowds/ Mark of Craftsman The style was essentially nostalgic, much of its detail and ornament inspired by the Medieval -for example, the large metal hinges fitted on the outside of cabinet doors. The products looked handmade: wood was often left unpolished; beaten metal showed hammer marks; dowels were often left conspicuously visible. ... http://antique.morewrite.com/2008/08/20/mark-craftsman-love-arts-crafts-victorian-style-rebellion-part-3/ Love of the Artistic Life The late loth century was a time when people were fascinated by the lives and lifestyles of artists. Many modelled their own homes on an artist's studio and the relaxed atmosphere of an artist's house with its comfortable chairs, collections of paintings and etchings hung in ... http://antique.morewrite.com/2008/08/20/mark-craftsman-love-arts-crafts-victorian-style-rebellion-part-2/ While Victorian householders were still revelling in the comforts and novelties that mass production offered, designers pined for the individual craftsmanship of earlier centuries. Oddly, their yearning for the past led to progressive styles that gave a foretaste of today. Cosily cluttered rooms with red flock wallpaper, heavy curtains and ample ... http://antique.morewrite.com/2008/08/20/mark-craftsman-love-arts-crafts-victorian-style-rebellion/ Beauty with usefulness was the aim of the Arts and Crafts movement's followers, and their homes made a striking contrast with the crowded rooms of the same time furnished in mainstream taste. Although seen as progressive in its day, the Arts and Crafts style, developed largely by William Morris, showed ... http://antique.morewrite.com/2008/08/20/a-progressive-late-victorian-living-room/ Heavy handed Decor Cosy family life remained the aim of mid- Victorians. This still demanded comfortable furnishings such as deep-buttoned chairs, ottomans and chesterfield sofas, but now everything had a heavier look, showed more wood — along the top of seat backs, for example — and bore fancy carving or fretwork. ... http://antique.morewrite.com/2008/08/19/the-celebration-of-industry-continue/ The enduring image of mid-Victorian style is a sombre drawing room with red flock wallpaper, heavy curtains and table covers trimmed with braids and fringes, thickly upholstered seating, and ornaments and knick-knacks jostling on the mantelpiece, on tables and on display shelves. In fact the clutter gathered gradually after 1850, ... http://antique.morewrite.com/2008/08/18/the-celebration-of-industry/ Two mid-Victorian fashions rejected the smothering cosiness. One was inspired by France, where nostalgia for the furniture of Louis XVI had produced a mishmash of pre-Revolutionary styles with a sprinkling of the brass or ormolu used in the Empire style. In Britain this vogue was imitated, and rooms decorated with white ... http://antique.morewrite.com/2008/08/14/art-d-cor-french-delicacies-and-medieval-fantasies/ Ornaments and knick-knacks crowded on every surface. Some were homemade, the result of the family's female members keeping themselves busy — idleness was regarded as close to moral turpitude. The ladies made arrangements of wax flowers and fruits to sit under protective glass domes. They created pictures from feathers or ... http://antique.morewrite.com/2008/08/14/ornaments-and-handcraft-knick-knacks-treasures/