Discriminate Doorknobs: The Delineation of Space at The Breakers
BY SÉBASTIAN DUTTON
Both the public and private spaces in The Breakers in Newport RI are glittering showpieces of architecture and design, seemingly down to the smallest detail.
Versailles in Newport: Jules Allard’s Staircase Railing at Marble House
BY MATHILDE TOLLET
Richard Morris Hunt’s drawings, plans, and scrapbooks indicate clear comparisons between the French “serrurerie” and the works visitors admire in Newport mansions.
Portraiture and Meaning: Studying 18th- and 19th-Century Painting at the Smithsonian
BY PATRICK JACKSON
My research at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) centered around a portrait of the Onondaga Iroquois chief Ossahinta by the Syracuse, NY, painter Sanford Thayer.
An “American” Mirror at the Clark Art Institute
BY KATHLEEN M. MORRIS
The looking glass arrived at the Clark as “Probably Salem, MA, c. 1820,” but a hidden label identified the maker of the looking glass as Georg Steinhäuser, who operated in Bremen, Germany.
Recovering Rocaille: Tracing Stylistic Imbrication in 18th-Century French Ornament Prints
BY ASHLEY BOULDEN
I examined and documented a wide body of prints and drawings that anchor my investigation of the circulation of ornament in 18th-century at the Morgan Library and the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City, as well as the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montréal, Canada.
Mid-Century Textiles and Global Design at the Cranbrook Academy of Art
BY VISHAL KHANDELWAL
For the last leg of my dissertation research on mid-20th-century industrial design in India, I analyzed collections at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, keen to understand how the renowned textile innovator Marianne Strengell’s teaching at Cranbrook informed the work of design students Helena Perheentupa from Finland and Nelly Sethna (née Mehta) from India.
The Folded Spaces of Two Pueblan Colonial Desks
BY CELIA RODRIGUEZ TEJUCA
I embarked on a trip to Puebla, Mexico, to complete my research on a pair of 18th-century desks and bookcases that reinforce the aesthetic connections between East Asia and the Spanish-American viceroyalties during the colonial period.
A Tale of Two Families: An Engraved Tea Service in Antebellum Georgia
BY KAYLI RIDEOUT
Studying a 19th-century silver tea service from Augusta, GA, bearing the mark of “Clark & Co.” in the MESDA collection further encouraged my exploration in Southern identity studies through material culture.
