: "For most of us, the sheer tactile pleasure of running one's
fingers through wet, viscous paint is primarily experienced in
young childhood," senior curator Stacy C. Hollander writes in her
introduction to "Surface Attraction: Painted Furniture from The
Collection of The American Folk Art Museum."
An invitation to revel in the sensual qualities of paint - its
color, texture and pattern - as well as to ponder in a more
cerebral way the skill required to mix and creatively apply the
medium, motivates the show at the midtown Manhattan museum
through March 26.
"I've become very interested in the materiality of art making,"
explains Hollander, who a year ago presented "Blue," an
innovative look at one color in all its symbolic, cultural and
material dimensions.
"In 'Surface Attraction,' I wanted people to respond to painted
furniture in a new way, to forget about form and construction for
a moment and to look at surface as they might study a painting,"
she says, recalling the show's conception.
As a result, "Surface Attraction" is not so much a comprehensive,
chronological survey of regional types as an extravagant feast
for the eyes. Each one of the roughly 30 blanket chests, chests
of drawers, tables, chairs, clocks and boxes from the museum's
growing collection is a gem.
"We have a truly excellent collection of painted furniture that
has been primarily built through the gifts of a few prominent
collectors over the past quarter century," says the curator,
citing Howard and Jean Lipman, Cyril Nelson, the Historical
Society of Early American Decoration and Ralph Esmerian as key
sources.
Child's blanket chest, artist unidentified, probably New York
State, circa 1830. Paint on pine with iron hardware. Promised
gift of Ralph Esmerian.
Some of the pieces on view have seldom, if ever, been
exhibited. One, the earliest item in the show, is a circa 1690-1720
chest-over-drawer, the gift of the Historical Society of Early
American Decoration. From the Guilford-Saybrook area on
Connecticut's south-central coast, this remarkable survivor is
decorated in an overall floral pattern reminiscent of English
textiles of the same era. Surprisingly, an elongated portrait of a
man appears on its lower drawer.
