Wednesday, September 10, 2008

House Proud: Nineteenth Century Watercolor Interiors from the Thaw Collection




Oh, to be in New York right now attending the House Proud exhibit at Cooper-Hewitt. Hopefully I'll get the chance. But in the meantime, I did find some images on the web.

The exhibit celebrates the impressive collection of nineteenth century watercolor interiors assembled by Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw- one of the largest of its kind in the States. The rendered interiors include rooms at Carlton House, Buckingham Palace, and Schloss Fischbach (the paintings put my small collection of anonymous watercolor interiors to shame!) On display through January 25, 2009, the show is sure to be of interest to you collectors or those interested in design history.

(For additional reading, you may want to consider
House Proud, the companion book to the show. I've got my copy on order. Thank you too to a few readers and Paul Pincus for alerting me to the exhibit.)


The Dressing Room of King Ludwig I at the Munich Residenz; Franz Xaver Nachtmann, Germany, 1836.


The Japanese Salon, Villa Hügel; Rudolf von Alt, Austria, 1855.


The Chinese Room in the Royal Palace, Berlin; Eduard Gaertner, Germany, 1850.


The Blue Room, Schloss Fischbach; Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Klose, Germany, 1846.

Image at top: The Circular Dining Room at Carlton House; Charles Wild, England, 1819.

16 comments:

  1. I've been meaning to order the catalog too! Love the examples you selected here. Exquisite details.

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  2. Courtney- I'm really hoping that the book is worthwhile. I just can't imagine it won't be!

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  3. Oh, I want this. What I really want is a book with the entire collection. How many paintings are on display? Do you know?

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  4. stljoie- I think the collection is comprised of 75-80 works? I don't know, though, if the whole collection is one display or not. Hopefully I'll get my book soon and I'll let you know.

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  5. Architectural Digest has a piece on this...He donated 85 painting, only one is American, a library. It says a selection is being shown.
    The AD article is beautiful and worth getting.

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  6. stljoie- Thanks for this information- I'll grab a copy of AD.

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  7. Thank you for this one Jennifer.
    Whoever said that the distant past has nothing more to offer us hasn't seen the Chinese Room at the Royal Palace in Berlin! There is more to inspire in these watercolours than in 12 months of any shelter magazine.

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  8. Toby- Yes, we have a lot to learn from history. Who wouldn't be inspired by these interiors??

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  9. Wonderful, wonderful! Your blog is so educational and I love it! I always learn something new when I visit!

    Best Regards,\
    MimiLee <><

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  10. wow - you are good! i love the way you research your topics and thread them together. genius!

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  11. Great looking exhibit!
    And that Paul is such a smart and sweet guy.

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  12. We should do a bloggers convention there - wouldn't that be fun and wonderful? love the images you chose!

    Joni

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  13. I'm heading for NYC this weekend and didn't know about the show. Thanks for the lead.

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  14. These are indeed wonderful watercolours. It's interesting to note the very little difference between the "Japanese" Salon and the "Chinese" Room. Both have Chinoiserie wallpaper, and indeed the former appear to have (plaster?) statues dressed in Chinese clothes. I suppose they weren't too fussed about geography!

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  15. Such beautiful images~thank you!

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  16. Glad you all like them. I can't wait to get my book so that I can pore over the images.

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