BOOKS
Learn about new publications in the decorative arts field in these articles from our member magazine, The Magazine of the Decorative Arts Trust. Please feel free to contact the Trust to feature your upcoming books.
Summer Reading Recommendation: Ceramic Art
BY JESSIE DEAN
‘Ceramic Art’ is the first volume in Princeton University Press’s ART/WORK series, which invites readers to reconsider a section of art history through the lens of materials and conservation. The eight essays in this anthology, edited by Caroline Fowler and Ittai Weinryb, demonstrate the enchanting and elusive nature of ceramics across time and cultures.
The Finest Regency Porcelain Painter: Thomas Baxter in Worcester
BY CHARLES DAWSON
There is no greater name in the history of English Regency porcelain painters than that of Thomas Baxter. His whole life was given to the art of porcelain painting, and his work at the Worcester Flight & Barr factory, the subject of a new book, is among the choicest of the era.
Historic Odessa Collections Published
BY PHILIP D. ZIMMERMAN
One hundred of the objects in the Delaware’s Historic Odessa Foundation’s Wilson-Warner House and the Corbit-Sharp House are addressed in detail in the new book 𝘈 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵: 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘖𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢, with four chapters exploring the town’s early settlement, families, craftsmen, and preservation.
Global Objects: Towards a Connected Art History
BY JESSIE DEAN
The concepts of material, function, and meaning guide a thorough and nuanced review of the world of decorative arts in ‘Global Objects: Toward a Connected Art History’ by Edward S. Cooke, Jr.
Sculpture at the End of Slavery
BY CAITLIN MEEHYE BEACH
A new book interrogates how a wide range of objects—from antislavery medallions to statues of bondspeople bearing broken chains—gave visual form to narratives about abolition in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Wonders of Eyre Hall: Illuminating the Treasure of Virginia’s Eastern Shore
BY J. THOMAS SAVAGE, JR.
With the publication of The Material World of Eyre Hall: Four Centuries of Chesapeake History, Eyre Hall on Virginia’s Eastern Shore steps to the front of the line as one of America’s best-documented historic properties.
New Book Explores Luxury after the Terror
BY IRIS MOON
Luxury After the Terror explores the production, circulation, and survival of French luxury after the death of Louis XVI by focusing on decorative arts makers with strong ties to the monarchy and how they navigated the Terror and the world that it remade.
Book Review: The Story of the Country House
BY JESSIE DEAN
From its charming cover alone, this recent publication from Yale University Press caught our eye, but when multiple members recommended it, we knew The Story of the Country House: A History of Places & People by Clive Aslet was worthy of your attention.
The Astonishing Sculpture of Luisa Roldán
BY KATE BURNETT BUDZYN
On the cover of Catherine Hall-van den Elsen’s new monograph—the first in Getty Publications’ Illuminating Women Artists series—is Our Lady of Solitude, an image of a female figure gasping in tears
Summer Reading Recommendations: Stories About Craft, Glass, and Time
BY CARRIE GREIF
This summer, read Craft: An American History, In Sparkling Company: Reflections on Glass in the 18th-Century British World, and Marking Time: Objects, People, and Their Lives, 1500–1800.