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In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement

In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement

Burke, Doreen Bolger, et al.
1986
512 pages
419 illustrations
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Director's Foreword by Philippe de Montebello
Contributors
Lenders to the Exhibition
Acknowledgments
Explanatory Notes

Preface

Artifact as Ideology: The Aesthetic Movement in its American Cultural Context
Roger B. Stein

Decorating Surfaces: Aesthetic Delight, Theoretical Dilemma
Catherine Lynn

Surface Ornament: Wallpapers, Carpets, Textiles, and Embroidery
Catherine Lynn

The Artful Interior
Marilynn Johnson

Art Furniture: Wedding the Beautiful to the Useful
Marilynn Johnson

A New Renaissance: Stained Glass in the Aesthetic Period
Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen

Aesthetic Forms in Ceramic and Glass
Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen

Metalwork: An Ecclectic Aesthetic
David A. Hanks with Jennifer Toher

Painters and Sculptors in a Decorative Age
Doreen Bolger Burke

American Architecture and the Aesthetic Movement
James D. Kornwolf

An Aesthetics of our Own: American Writers and the Aesthetic Movement
Jonathan Freedman

Dictionary of Architects, Artisans, Artists, and Manufacturers
Catherine Hoover Voorsanger

Selected Bibliography
Index
Photograph Credits

The Artist's Wife and His Setter Dog, Thomas Eakins  American, Oil on canvas, American
ca. 1884–89
1896
1878
1872
Daffodil textile, Candace Wheeler  American, Printed and woven cotton velvet, American
1883–1900
Bees-and-honeycomb textile, Candace Wheeler  American, Silk and wool, woven, American
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1883
Tulips panel, Candace Wheeler  American, Silk and metallic cloth appliqued with silk velvet and embroidered with silk and metallic-wrapped cotton threads, American
Multiple artists/makers
1883–87
Irises panel, Candace Wheeler  American, Silk embroidered with silk and metallic-wrapped cotton threads, metal sequins, and cut-glass beads, American
Multiple artists/makers
1883
Quilt (or decorative throw), Crazy pattern, Tamar Horton Harris North  American, Silk, silk velvet, cotton, and cotton lace, American
ca. 1877
Library Table, Herter Brothers  American, Rosewood, brass, mother-of-pearl, and abalone, American
1879–82
The Backgammon Players, Philip Webb  British, Painted pine, oil paint on leather, brass, copper, British
Multiple artists/makers
1861
Cabinet, Daniel Pabst  American, born Germany, Walnut, maple, white pine, glass, American
ca. 1877–80
The House Beautiful, Essays on Beds and Tables, Stools and Candlesticks, Clarence Cook  American, Illustrations: color lithographs and wood engraving
Multiple artists/makers
1878
Hanging Key Cabinet, Kimbel and Cabus  American, Oak, American
ca. 1874
Bedstead from the Henry Gurdon Marquand House, New York City, Bird's-eye maple, maple, and tulip poplar, American
American
1881–84
Table, Bird's-eye maple, maple, tulip poplar, American
American
1878–84
Wardrobe, Herter Brothers  American, Cherry, American
1875–1883
Peonies Blown in the Wind, John La Farge  American, Leaded opalescent glass, American
ca. 1880
Writing box, Lacquer with gold, mother-of-pearl inlay, Japan
Japan
18th century
Gourd-Shaped Bottle, Porcelain (Jingdezhen ware), China
China
mid-16th century
Showing 20 of 52

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Bolger, Doreen, and Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), eds. 1986. In Pursuit of Beauty: Americans and the Aesthetic Movement. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art : Rizzoli.