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.
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.
Guide to Historic Artists’ Homes & Studios
BY TARYN CLARY
The Guide to Historic Artists’ Homes & Studios (HAHS), authored by program manager Valerie A. Balint (Princeton Architectural Press) was conceived as an easily accessible and visually-forward guide.
Summer Reading Recommendations: Collecting and Collections
Enjoy Collecting the Globe: The Salem East India Marine Society Museum, In Pursuit of History: A Lifetime Collecting American Arts and Artifacts, and Fine American Antiques in The Stanley Weiss Collection.
New Books on Dealers and Collectors
We review Duveen Brothers and the Market for Decorative Arts, 1880–1940 by Charlotte Vignon and Inside the Head of a Collector: Neuropsychological Forces at Play by Shirley M. Mueller, MD.