by David J LeBeau MFA AM(ASA)USPAP(06)©2008
The Newark Museum in Newark, New Jersey presented an exhibition entitled "Century of Revivals, Nineteenth-Century American Furniture from the Collection of The Newark Museum" (September 26, 1982 - July 5, 1983). The curator of that glorious exhibition was Mr. Ulysses G. Dietz. In his commentary printed in The Newark Museum Quarterly (Pg. 7, Vol. 31, Nos. 2-3-Spring/Summer 1980), Mr. Dietz states that, " ... By the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, a more literal approach to borrowing from the antique was taken, and the Empire or Regency styles of the early 1800s constituted the first of the new revival styles:” He goes on to say. " ... Revival styles in American furniture shared a common basis: All were in some way romantic evocations of past eras literalized in wood and fabric."
Indisputably, the most visible and influential figure of the latter half of the 19th century was Queen Victoria. Alexandrina Victoria was born May 24th, 1819, and upon the death of her uncle William IV in 1837 she ascended the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Subsequently, she acquired the title of Empress of India in 1876 and she died on January 22th, 1901. Her reign lasted sixty three years and seven months, longer than that of any other British monarch to date. The English decorative Arts period centered on her reign is known as the Victorian Period (1837-1901).
It has been the custom, in the professional upscale auction houses of England and the continent, to use the names of monarchs to denote the place and period of origin of an artifact. This was a rather simple and effective method when the objects being discussed behaved themselves and fit neatly into historically recognizable design cubbyholes. However, designs were adopted and adapted from those in use during the reigns of European monarchs, to use in far flung places by many cultures that did not owe allegiance to the thrones of Europe. A piece of furniture that owes its design genesis to an ébéniste or to an author of a book of furniture design published in London must be identified by its own chronological, geographic and stylistic origin. Thus, a dining table constructed in London in the late 19th century would be dated and identified as English by the phrase: "A Victorian Dining Table". However, due to the extraordinarily long reign and the swift adoption of new styles during the period, it is necessary to amend the phrase with the style name of the piece in question, i.e., "A Victorian, Rococo Revival, Dining Table". Furthermore, if evidence exists that conclusively indicates the precise year of manufacture, the phrase should be further amended as follows: "A Victorian, Rococo Revival, Dining Table, 1859". The appellation "Victorian" refers only to the period between 1837 and 1901 and only to the people and places governed by Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria never ruled the United States or any part thereof. Therefore, if it was made anywhere in the United States it is not “Victorian”. The use of one of the revival terms is the correct nomenclature. Thus a piece of Rococo Revival furniture manufactured in the mid 19th century in the city of New York is just that, a New York City piece in the Rococo Revival taste. It is in no way justifiably labeled as “Victorian.” However, a comparable piece made between 1837 and 1901 in the UK, or anywhere else in the British Empire, in fact, is “Victorian.”
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The 19th century is also the height of The Industrial Revolution which began in Britain in the late 18th century and spread rapidly to the rest of Europe and to the United States. Many important improvements in power production and use influenced the sciences and directly; agriculture, manufacturing, industrial production, and transportation. All of the above had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of Western civilization as evidenced by the accumulation of vast wealth by the moguls of banking and industry, the emergence of the middle class and the growth of industrial cities.
The introduction of steam power and the invention and use of electrical devices allowed subsequent advances in metallurgy, transportation, civil and industrial engineering. Which in turn, lead to the production of more inventions and new manufacturing techniques in all fields of endeavor.
Agricultural methods and yields were improved by mechanization and the introduction of chemical fertilizers. Steam powered tractors were employed in plowing fields. An early example of which was the double tractor system which employed a tractor placed on a side of a field with another on the opposite side. Rigged between them and joined by cables powered by winches on the tractors was a rig composed of several plow blades. This rig was pulled across the field and then moved to the adjacent section and then pulled back to the first tractor. This system could till a field of twenty acres in the time it took a horse and plow to till one acre. Thus increasing the yield and eliminating the need for the horse and the need to grow and harvest fodder and consequently reduced the number of men needed to work the farm. Which in turn created a flow of the populace from farms to the cities due to the mechanization of farming which caused the unemployment of many farmworkers.
The growth of the factories crammed with machinery and the resultant noise, dust and smoke created unhealthy working conditions and the low rate of pay to the workers and the slum conditions in which they were housed had a profound effect upon society by the degradation of the working class and the emergence of the middle class and the enrichment of the factory owners. The environment also suffered degradation from the effluent of the engines of progress and in the destruction of forests, prairies, waterways and wildlife by the mining, lumbering industries and the construction and operation of railroads required by the growing needs of cities and factories.
Furniture designers began to employ some of the new materials and manufacturing techniques such as; newly discovered tropical hardwoods, cast iron, the production and use of formed plywood, exotic animal products and the factory assembly line. Chemical based pigments and finishes were invented and produced due to the mechanization and improvements in coal mining and the advancements in chemistry. The importation of these commodities was facilitated by the use of transoceanic steam ships, and of steam locomotives and earth moving machines. These inventions and the introduction of new explosives by Dupont enabled the construction of the Suez and Panama canals which were opened in 1869 and 1914 respectively and the canals facilitated the expansion of international trade and naval power. Political expansion west of the Mississippi river in the United States and further colonization of foreign lands by the European powers were also made possible by the advancements in firearms design and manufacture by Colt, Gatling, Krupp, Remington, Sharps, Smith & Wesson and Winchester and others inspired, in part, by the military subjugation of India, the American Civil War, and the subjugation of the indigenous tribes in Africa and the American West.
Further influence on design may be traced, in part, to the decision to force the Japanese government to cease the policy of isolation (Sakoku) that began in 1635. Some Russian encroachments from the north had led the shogunate to extend its direct rule to Hokkaidō, Sakhalin and the Kuriles islands in 1807 but the policy of the exclusion of foreigners continued. It was determined in Washington, DC that it would be beneficial for American interests to have the Japanese began “normal” diplomatic and trade relations with the United States. To that end, Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy was ordered to sail his squadron of four warships, Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga, and Susquehanna, to Japan. The squadron arrived in Edo Bay, later renamed Tokyo, on July 8, 1853, whereupon the Commodore held a burial service for a deceased seaman which concluded with an naval artillery salute. Shortly thereafter, the Commodore disembarked with an armed contingent of officers and men to meet with Japanese officials. Upon his return the following year with seven ships, Perry formalized the Convention of Kanagawa on March 31, 1854 by requesting that the Shogun sign the "Treaty of Peace and Amity," establishing diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States. The Harris Treaty was signed with the United States on July 29, 1858 opening Japan to trade and other visitation. Within five years Japan had signed similar treaties with other Western countries.
The 19th century is also the first period in which many decorative art styles appear and are employed simultaneously. Revivals styles, not necessarily accurate reproductions, but the Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassic styles with modification of proportions and size as well as new forms required by new uses for furniture were made necessary by the costumes of the 19th century and the increase in the average size of people due to better diet introduced by the scientific and medical communities which provided advancements in pharmaceutical and medical research and by more efficient agricultural production. These modifications in furniture design and construction were made possible by technical advancements in manufacturing techniques and the improvements in metallurgy and tool design. All of these “improvements” and “advancements” were quickly embraced by furniture designers, craftsmen and the buying public. Some of the notably different and specific uses and forms were provide by men such as Belter, Singer, Thonet and Wooton and the communities of the Shakers.
Consequentially a social and artistic revolt resulted to combat what was perceived as the evils of industrialization. New forms of artistic expression were influenced by social reformers such as John Ruskin and William Morris, both of whom are credited with the introduction of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Latter designers of interiors like Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Louis Comfort Tiffany, the Stickleys and others as well as the architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright followed with socially conscious and innovative designs and methods of construction. Their inspiration often came from a distaste of the damages done to the environment, from the natural world and from the poetical ideals of the literature of the time. The “World Expositions”, we call them World's Fairs, and their displays of art and artifacts from exotic cultures provided further inspiration for the artists of the time. Two examples of foreign influence are Japanese wood block prints [ukiyo-e, (横絵)], and Islamic architecture both of which inspired Art Nouveau and the Impressionists. The first World Exposition was held in Paris in 1844, followed by The Crystal Palace of 1851 in London. Subsequently others followed in Paris in 1889, The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago 1893, another in Paris in 1900 and in St. Louis in 1904, in San Francisco in 1915 and notably the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, known as The Paris Exposition of 1925. The latter, codified a style that was already gaining popularity in Europe, it was based upon artistic principles of design that employed simple lines and embraced the use of modern materials, it took its name “Art Deco” from a contraction of the title of the 1925 Paris Exposition.
The Newark Museum in Newark, New Jersey presented an exhibition entitled "Century of Revivals, Nineteenth-Century American Furniture from the Collection of The Newark Museum" (September 26, 1982 - July 5, 1983). The curator of that glorious exhibition was Mr. Ulysses G. Dietz. In his commentary printed in The Newark Museum Quarterly (Pg. 7, Vol. 31, Nos. 2-3-Spring/Summer 1980), Mr. Dietz states that, " ... By the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, a more literal approach to borrowing from the antique was taken, and the Empire or Regency styles of the early 1800s constituted the first of the new revival styles:” He goes on to say. " ... Revival styles in American furniture shared a common basis: All were in some way romantic evocations of past eras literalized in wood and fabric."
Indisputably, the most visible and influential figure of the latter half of the 19th century was Queen Victoria. Alexandrina Victoria was born May 24th, 1819, and upon the death of her uncle William IV in 1837 she ascended the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Subsequently, she acquired the title of Empress of India in 1876 and she died on January 22th, 1901. Her reign lasted sixty three years and seven months, longer than that of any other British monarch to date. The English decorative Arts period centered on her reign is known as the Victorian Period (1837-1901).
It has been the custom, in the professional upscale auction houses of England and the continent, to use the names of monarchs to denote the place and period of origin of an artifact. This was a rather simple and effective method when the objects being discussed behaved themselves and fit neatly into historically recognizable design cubbyholes. However, designs were adopted and adapted from those in use during the reigns of European monarchs, to use in far flung places by many cultures that did not owe allegiance to the thrones of Europe. A piece of furniture that owes its design genesis to an ébéniste or to an author of a book of furniture design published in London must be identified by its own chronological, geographic and stylistic origin. Thus, a dining table constructed in London in the late 19th century would be dated and identified as English by the phrase: "A Victorian Dining Table". However, due to the extraordinarily long reign and the swift adoption of new styles during the period, it is necessary to amend the phrase with the style name of the piece in question, i.e., "A Victorian, Rococo Revival, Dining Table". Furthermore, if evidence exists that conclusively indicates the precise year of manufacture, the phrase should be further amended as follows: "A Victorian, Rococo Revival, Dining Table, 1859". The appellation "Victorian" refers only to the period between 1837 and 1901 and only to the people and places governed by Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria never ruled the United States or any part thereof. Therefore, if it was made anywhere in the United States it is not “Victorian”. The use of one of the revival terms is the correct nomenclature. Thus a piece of Rococo Revival furniture manufactured in the mid 19th century in the city of New York is just that, a New York City piece in the Rococo Revival taste. It is in no way justifiably labeled as “Victorian.” However, a comparable piece made between 1837 and 1901 in the UK, or anywhere else in the British Empire, in fact, is “Victorian.”
(Click Read More below for the rest of the article)
The 19th century is also the height of The Industrial Revolution which began in Britain in the late 18th century and spread rapidly to the rest of Europe and to the United States. Many important improvements in power production and use influenced the sciences and directly; agriculture, manufacturing, industrial production, and transportation. All of the above had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of Western civilization as evidenced by the accumulation of vast wealth by the moguls of banking and industry, the emergence of the middle class and the growth of industrial cities.
The introduction of steam power and the invention and use of electrical devices allowed subsequent advances in metallurgy, transportation, civil and industrial engineering. Which in turn, lead to the production of more inventions and new manufacturing techniques in all fields of endeavor.
Agricultural methods and yields were improved by mechanization and the introduction of chemical fertilizers. Steam powered tractors were employed in plowing fields. An early example of which was the double tractor system which employed a tractor placed on a side of a field with another on the opposite side. Rigged between them and joined by cables powered by winches on the tractors was a rig composed of several plow blades. This rig was pulled across the field and then moved to the adjacent section and then pulled back to the first tractor. This system could till a field of twenty acres in the time it took a horse and plow to till one acre. Thus increasing the yield and eliminating the need for the horse and the need to grow and harvest fodder and consequently reduced the number of men needed to work the farm. Which in turn created a flow of the populace from farms to the cities due to the mechanization of farming which caused the unemployment of many farmworkers.
The growth of the factories crammed with machinery and the resultant noise, dust and smoke created unhealthy working conditions and the low rate of pay to the workers and the slum conditions in which they were housed had a profound effect upon society by the degradation of the working class and the emergence of the middle class and the enrichment of the factory owners. The environment also suffered degradation from the effluent of the engines of progress and in the destruction of forests, prairies, waterways and wildlife by the mining, lumbering industries and the construction and operation of railroads required by the growing needs of cities and factories.
Furniture designers began to employ some of the new materials and manufacturing techniques such as; newly discovered tropical hardwoods, cast iron, the production and use of formed plywood, exotic animal products and the factory assembly line. Chemical based pigments and finishes were invented and produced due to the mechanization and improvements in coal mining and the advancements in chemistry. The importation of these commodities was facilitated by the use of transoceanic steam ships, and of steam locomotives and earth moving machines. These inventions and the introduction of new explosives by Dupont enabled the construction of the Suez and Panama canals which were opened in 1869 and 1914 respectively and the canals facilitated the expansion of international trade and naval power. Political expansion west of the Mississippi river in the United States and further colonization of foreign lands by the European powers were also made possible by the advancements in firearms design and manufacture by Colt, Gatling, Krupp, Remington, Sharps, Smith & Wesson and Winchester and others inspired, in part, by the military subjugation of India, the American Civil War, and the subjugation of the indigenous tribes in Africa and the American West.
Further influence on design may be traced, in part, to the decision to force the Japanese government to cease the policy of isolation (Sakoku) that began in 1635. Some Russian encroachments from the north had led the shogunate to extend its direct rule to Hokkaidō, Sakhalin and the Kuriles islands in 1807 but the policy of the exclusion of foreigners continued. It was determined in Washington, DC that it would be beneficial for American interests to have the Japanese began “normal” diplomatic and trade relations with the United States. To that end, Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy was ordered to sail his squadron of four warships, Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga, and Susquehanna, to Japan. The squadron arrived in Edo Bay, later renamed Tokyo, on July 8, 1853, whereupon the Commodore held a burial service for a deceased seaman which concluded with an naval artillery salute. Shortly thereafter, the Commodore disembarked with an armed contingent of officers and men to meet with Japanese officials. Upon his return the following year with seven ships, Perry formalized the Convention of Kanagawa on March 31, 1854 by requesting that the Shogun sign the "Treaty of Peace and Amity," establishing diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States. The Harris Treaty was signed with the United States on July 29, 1858 opening Japan to trade and other visitation. Within five years Japan had signed similar treaties with other Western countries.
The 19th century is also the first period in which many decorative art styles appear and are employed simultaneously. Revivals styles, not necessarily accurate reproductions, but the Baroque, Rococo and Neoclassic styles with modification of proportions and size as well as new forms required by new uses for furniture were made necessary by the costumes of the 19th century and the increase in the average size of people due to better diet introduced by the scientific and medical communities which provided advancements in pharmaceutical and medical research and by more efficient agricultural production. These modifications in furniture design and construction were made possible by technical advancements in manufacturing techniques and the improvements in metallurgy and tool design. All of these “improvements” and “advancements” were quickly embraced by furniture designers, craftsmen and the buying public. Some of the notably different and specific uses and forms were provide by men such as Belter, Singer, Thonet and Wooton and the communities of the Shakers.
Consequentially a social and artistic revolt resulted to combat what was perceived as the evils of industrialization. New forms of artistic expression were influenced by social reformers such as John Ruskin and William Morris, both of whom are credited with the introduction of the Arts & Crafts Movement. Latter designers of interiors like Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Louis Comfort Tiffany, the Stickleys and others as well as the architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright followed with socially conscious and innovative designs and methods of construction. Their inspiration often came from a distaste of the damages done to the environment, from the natural world and from the poetical ideals of the literature of the time. The “World Expositions”, we call them World's Fairs, and their displays of art and artifacts from exotic cultures provided further inspiration for the artists of the time. Two examples of foreign influence are Japanese wood block prints [ukiyo-e, (横絵)], and Islamic architecture both of which inspired Art Nouveau and the Impressionists. The first World Exposition was held in Paris in 1844, followed by The Crystal Palace of 1851 in London. Subsequently others followed in Paris in 1889, The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago 1893, another in Paris in 1900 and in St. Louis in 1904, in San Francisco in 1915 and notably the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, known as The Paris Exposition of 1925. The latter, codified a style that was already gaining popularity in Europe, it was based upon artistic principles of design that employed simple lines and embraced the use of modern materials, it took its name “Art Deco” from a contraction of the title of the 1925 Paris Exposition.
Carol DiGiovanni Said,
This comment has been removed by the author.
Posted on October 24, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Jerry Sampson Said,
Outstanding article! I've argued for years with people who said that they "didn't like the fussy decor of the Victorian period." When in fact they didn't understand that there were a variety of styles available during this period not just the fussy Rococo revival. That's why I love being an appraiser som many facets of history come together for the final conclusion. Good Job.
Posted on October 24, 2009 at 1:59 PM