Decor Arts Now

By Lynn Byrne.   After I posted my piece on Christopher Spitzmiller’s apartment, I received an email comment stating that I dropped too many designer names and styles without adequate background information.  I couldn’t help it!  The place had such great stuff.  Still, since this is a blog on how knowledge of the decorative arts and past great designs inform top design today, I feel it is my mission to go back and fill in some gaps.  

The commentator wanted to know more about Albert Hadley, Frances Elkins and Nancy Lancaster (in my October 14 post, I noted that Nancy Lancaster is the founder in the US of English Country Style and I show pictures).  Reams have been written about each of them.  They all are the subject of at least one book just on them and they could each be the subject of their own post.  But, if you want to learn more and you are only going to get one book,  this is the one to buy:

A serious design afficiando should know the work of all of the designers in that book (Nancy Lancaster is discussed in the chapter on John Fowler; the other designers mentioned in the Spitzmiller post have their own chapter).  Plus the book is illustrated with lovely watercolor renderings by the author (a notable decorator himself).  Mine is a coveted signed copy, but you can get an unsigned one starting at $19.93 on Amazon.

My friendly emailer also wanted to now the characteristics of Regency style.  In short, the Regency style roughly covers the period between c. 1811-1830.  It s a relatively formal style.  Furniture is weighty with large expanses of polished wood, some gilding and ebonizing.  The ornamentation is classical.  Key motifs are the sphinx, caryatid (a figure of a woman used as a column) and classical columns.  Thomas Hope was the name most linked to the style.  There are exotic references to Greek and Egyptian motifs.  The most exotic building done in Regency style is the Royal Brighton Pavilion (and this will be the subject of a future post).  To help you recognize different period styles, I would advise getting “The Abrams Guide to Period Styles for Interiors” for a quick and easy reference.

It is by Judith Gura.  My post on October 14 covers a recent lecture she gave on masters of design.  You may want to check the archives.

Finally, if terms like caryatid throw you,  you need a great furniture dictionary.  I recommend the “Boyce Dictionary of Furniture”.
  All of these books are available on Amazon.  Hope this helps.  In the future, I will try to do more short explanations and links when possible to additional information.

I was going to write this post about how designers get their ideas and the current exhibition at the Japan Society of the superlative textile designs of master Japanese textile designer, Serizawa.  I will still do that, but in researching the post, I discovered that his work is available for purchase online for, in many cases, under $300!  For example, Serizawa and his studio, created fabulous stenciled calendars, beginning in 1945.  The calendars feature a mix of  Japanese and Okinawan design but also draw from Western manuscript decoration. I plan to purchase a folio of 12 stenciled calendars from 1961, plus a sack for storage from Baxley Stamps, for $145!  Yep, that is 12 beautiful handmade images (one for each month) on handmade, untrimmed Japanese mulberry paper, sized 11.2″ X 14.5″ for a total of $145 (plus the usual tax and shipping). Several years were available, all charming–I chose 1961 because it is my birth year (ok, that was too much info!)

Mine will be framed and hung as a series in my stair hall.  Of course I will post a picture when they are installed.  What a fresh departure from the standard botanicals and other flora and fauna typically seen hung as a group.

Also available, among other images, were different versions of Serizawa’s Aesop fables, and Phonetic Alphabet. His work is also available at Art of the Print.   You can even buy a 2010 desk top calendar in the Serizawa manner at the Tortoise General Store for $18.  I am getting one of those too.  As you can see, I am totally enamored.

So who is Serizawa?  He is considered one of the greatest artists of 20th century Japan and was designated a Living National Treasure in 1956.  Part of the Mingei movement, which essentially means folk art, Serizawa used stencil-dyeing techniques to create visually captivating works of art such as screens, kimonos, book covers and wall hangings.  He used all natural dyes and fabrics, such as cotton, silk and hemp.  His work has been exhibited world wide and this current exhibition at the Japan Society, located  in NYC at 333 East 47th street,  between First and Second Avenues, is a tour de force.  One can’t help but be inspired by his color combinations, patterns and motifs. Serizawa’s work is both fresh and classic all at the same time.  Here are my favorites from the exhibition (photos courtesy of the Japan Society and exhibition catalog):The fish motif is a classic.  Below is  a close up of another kimono with a gorgeous royal blue, black and white coloration showing scenes from a Japanese village with a toile de jouy feel.I might have to do my next room  in those colors, or maybe find a similar fabric!  I also liked his simplified seashell motifs in very unusual browns, rusts and golds  for the subject matter. In case you are inspired to use some of these patterns or colors in a room, I did a quick whip around the web to see what products are available.  Digging the fish motif?  Well try the Candace Wheeler designed carp stencil available at Burrows .  How about applying it in white on red walls?  The Alexander Girard designed curtains at Urban Outfitters have a color palette similar to the seashell kimono. And Osborne and Little  carries a nice blue Asian inspired toile wallpaper  (available to the trade), pattern name Palais Chinois, collection Pompadour (photo courtsey of British Homes and Gardens November 2009).

The Serizawa exhibition runs through January 17, 2010.  If you can’t attend in person, the catalog available online through the Japan Society is very comprehensive.