Monday, March 18, 2013

Dec Arts Are Hot*

There are thousands of blogs and websites out there dedicated to furniture and interior decorating - I try to stay away from them, honestly, because I can only handle having so many life fantasies at once.  (The one about cooking dinner from scratch five nights a week?  I'll keep that.  The one about walking into my dream home and seeing five pairs of wellies, neatly lined up next to each other in size order, under the wooden hall table and beside the raffia baskets of mittens and hats and scarves?  Sorry, it's just too much for me right now!)  But that doesn't mean I don't like decorative arts.  In fact, when I went to the National Gallery of Art the other week to check out Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop, I was waylaid by the most beautiful rooms full of masterpieces of American furniture from the Kaufman collection.

There's a difference between marking up every other page in the Pottery Barn catalogue and admiring these pieces, right?  After all, they're in a museum!  It's history, you know.  So that makes appreciating the collection totally okay.  Not sure if it's okay to wonder if I have a long-lost great-uncle somewhere who, when he dies, will leave me his incredible collection of antiques, but let's keep that fantasy between us, dear readers.







*My mother works at a museum and, when they did a furniture show, she came home and declared, "Dec arts are hot!  Brown furniture rocks!"  So I have to credit her for the title of this post - thanks, Mom!

14 comments:

  1. Love the post, and the title. Your mom is rad.

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  2. haha a few of her colleagues read my blog and they should get credit too! they were really excited about the exhibit :)

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  3. I love this! And yeah, for me, that perfect decor is a fantasy - even if I had time to arrange things and craft more, it would last for about two seconds before I knock something over, my husband puts his boots on it, or the cat eats it. But I'm hanging onto that fantasy, dangit! :D

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  4. I'll take one grandfather clock, please. :)


    P.S. Kudos to your mom for the post title. Haha!

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  5. i KNOW isn't it beautiful? but I really do feel like you are supposed to inherit things like that... that's what Lady Mary would say, anyway :P

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  6. oh man I definitely have the "realistic pet-friendly fantasy" and the "pure fantasy fantasy" delineation too!

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  7. If you like antiques and love a good deal, don't ever go to an auction house in England.
    Now I'm sure my sisters are plotting my death behind my back so they can have my leaded glass cabinet and stained glass church doors.

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  8. STAINED GLASS CHURCH DOORS? be still my beating heart.

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  9. Alex and I are going to see Faking It exhibit this weekend hopefully after we work at DCPS Saturday morning.... I never really go over to the furniture when I head to the National Gallery, though.


    Which brings me to something I should've figured out awhile ago. We should totally blate it up in DC sometime. Something art related. Did you know I have a minor in art history? It's a part of my soul that just dies to come out and play every once in awhile. So... let's chat. It would be fun. :)

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  10. well, the Faking It show it all the way on one side of the building - so if you come in the other side, you'll have to walk through :) and YES I would love to culturally blate! maybe coffee on Saturday in the Sculpture Garden if the weather works? let's email!

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  11. I've been to this furniture exhibit and was totally blown away too! Isn't it gorgeous? I think there was also a mustard-colored velveteen setee--do you remember it? I stared at it for a good 5 minutes I think!

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  12. And this is stuff I never actually admit on my own blog. My blog is for the fantasy, my comments and quips are for the reality :)

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  13. I don't, but I'll look back through my photos! I took a million - gorgeous.

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  14. Fun - I've not yet encountered that part of the National Gallery (and I've been there probably 4 times, but it's soooo big!). Also I heard an NPR story about that new photography exhibit and was wishing I had another DC work trip this year so I could go see it...

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