In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries there was a new form of interior design happening all over in Europe and America especially in furniture. The style of the neoclassic era originated from the elements of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The break away from the Rococo style greatly influenced the neoclassic design. The Neoclassic era changed the style of furniture and was produced by two major furniture makers during this time, George Hepplewhite and Thomas Chippendale. The design and furniture of this time is still well know today the neoclassic era has inspired modern pieces that can be identified in furniture stores today.
There were distinct characteristics and elements that had influenced the style of furniture in the neoclassic era. “Symmetry, geometric forms, and decorative motifs such as swags, urns, and lyres were combined in the architecture of the period” (Ledes, 420). Symmetry was seen a lot in furniture and the interiors of buildings and homes either in rectangular or in oval form. In the early French neoclassic furniture focused on straight lines and fluted legs. “Chair backs were oval, circular, or rectangular, sometimes with a slight arc at the top of the crest rail; seats and arms also featured smooth arcs, as geometric shapes prevailed” (Crochet, 146). Furniture had gilt tapered legs with square or oval backs.
One of the most well-known furniture makers of the neoclassical era was Thomas Chippendale. Thomas Chippendale is the author of The Gentlemen and Cabinetmaker’s Director and was also the first to have his furniture named after him. Chippendale is most noted for works in Rococo, Chinese, and Gothic styles in his furniture. Some characteristics of his furniture were yoke backs with ears, claw ...
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...oduced at this time. In the early seventeen hundreds, cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale had introduced his styles from rococo, gothic, and Chinese. Each style had a yoke back with ribbanding, tracery, and fretwork of carved mahogany wood. Characteristics of the Chippendale style were the Marlborough leg, tapered leg with spade foot, and the most popular the claw and ball foot. Between the mid seventeen hundreds and early eighteen hundreds, George Hepplewhite was another notable cabinetmaker. Hepplewhite became noted for his works of chairs that had little and minimal carving compared to Chippendale. Hepplewhite’s shield, Prince of Wales, and heart shaped backs were his most famous works. Thomas Chippendale and George Hepplewhite have greatly influenced furniture styles throughout the neoclassical era and its elements. Their furniture still continues to be made today.
Elsie de Wolfe designed during the Victorian movement, however “had adopted the 1890’s preference for Neoclassicism” (Smith, 22). Unlike the cluttered and dark interiors of an average Victorian interior, her interiors were, “in the words of one visitor, ‘[models] of simplicity’” (Smith, 20). She redecorated the once cluttered dining room of her apartment in the 1890’s, stripping away the heavy Victorian decoration and replacing it with furniture and accessories to lighten the room. “Eleanor Brown’s style was based on French classicism, the prevailing taste in American society that had been established by Elsie De Wolfe twenty years before” (Smith, 100). Contrary to many of the decorators of her time, she also designed in the Directoire and English Regency style (Smith, 100), as French and English interiors were where she drew a lot of her inspiration from. In 1928, Brown designed an apartment for herself that included many styles, including Greek revival, Classical Revival, and even some late-Art Deco design. Dorothy Draper designed in the “classical late-Art Deco, Greek-Egyptian” (Smith, 105) style. In the 1930’s, she also started to design in the Neo-Baroque style. She “was the first American woman decorator to concentrate on nonresidential design” (Smith, 104). “According to Carlton Varney,… ‘Draper revolutionized the concept of design by breaking away ...
In the early twentieth century the Modern movement of architecture and industrial design came about. This movement was a reaction to the change within society and the introduction of new technologies. The ever changing world and technology meant artists to evolve alongside the changing world and this kind of ‘industrial revolution’ that was happening. Modernists ideas have seeped into every form of design especially architecture and design. Although most modernists insisted they were not following any style in particular, their work is instantly
...ire--a man creates a home for Americans that can stand the test of international comparison. When his work was published in a sumptuous monograph in Berlin, Germany, in 1910, it was the design of the Robie House that caught everyone's eye. European builders had been enmeshed in their dependence on historical forms. Wright and the Robie House of 1908 showed them the way to the fundamental patterns of modern architectural expression. So much so, in fact, that even the extremes of cubistic modern architecture, the "cigar-box covered with cold-cream" style may be traced back to the influence of Wright's Robie House." While this quote is specifically speaking of the home itself you cannot ignore that the interior pieces that were created for the home, especially this dining room set reflects the same sense of unique, eye catching, new style of modern functionality.
William Kent has been attributed as the Holkham hall’s architect, who was assisted by the Anglo-Irish architect Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694-1753); however there has been a discussion about how much involvement Kent had in the house’s design, something that will be discussed later. William Kent, 1681-1748, was an English architect, who also worked as a landscape architect, painter, and furniture designer. He spent 10 of his formative years studying in Rome, and then he returned to England to form part of Burlington circle. After those years, Kent developed a bold style influenced by the Roman and Central Italian traditions, which were the base to his tendencies in interior decoration and architecture, and he was determined to apply them into England. Holkham Hall was one of the first architectural projects that he worked with Lord Burlington, and Kent’s role and contribution through his designs showed clearly the Roman influence he learned from his trip.
Though the interiors he designed were created to be useful spaces, his focus was more on aesthetic than function . Within his individual objects of art such as chairs, tables, drawers, staircases and many others he focused more on the form of the object than on its intended use. Instead, Kuramata appeared to want the presence of the piece to surpass its function, something that is only possible when there is a symbolic value . One of the best examples of a work of art fitting these stipulations was his design of the Miss Blanche armchair (fig. 3) in 1988 . The chair is made of acrylic resin and embedded with artificial roses and aluminum . Kuramata’s title of the work, choice of materials, color contrast, process of creation and simple aesthetic combine to create a piece of work that forces the viewer to question whether or not it can even be considered a chair. This work of art allows the functionality to disapp...
The furniture represents the Birling families longing for status. In the early 1900s social status was virtually everything. This was because socialism dominated the whole of the United Kingdom. The vertical social ladder of status was what controlled who was a "somebody" and who was a "nobody".
Grant Wood started the movement that would be followed by greats such as Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry, and Andrew Wyeth. All four of these artists have a piece
...rchitecture into the early neo-classical/ baroque style. Wren’s style was one of simple magnificence. His style was composed more of in agreeable proportions rather than glorious decoration. Wren was believed to have contributed design ideas for many buildings for which he did not do final designs. Wren’s design concepts were carried into the early years of the eighteenth century by fellow architects, Hawksmoor, and his partner Vanbrugh. However, Wren’s relative simplicity, and his “Protestant plainness” in comparison with European “Popish” richness, was dominated in their designs by superimpose of rich applied decoration and a more complex and extravagant style.
During the late sixteenth century a new style of art, known as Mannerist, emerged through out Italy as a result of the Protestant Reformation. Mannerist distorted art was justified because it served mid way between the ideal, natural, symmetrical and the real, artificial, and unbalanced. The religious and political upheaval lead to the distinct Mannerist style know for being stylish, cultured, and elegant. Mannerist art is thought provoking, asking the viewer to ponder and respond to the spatial challenges and meaning found in the painting, sculpture, and architectural work. Mannerist painting and sculpture are characterized by complicated compositions, distorted figure styles, and complex allegorical interpretations. Meanwhile Mannerist architecture often employs classical elements in a new and unusual way that defies traditional formulas.
Creating zigzag patterned doors, curlicue stained-glass windows and rustic built-in furniture with heroic painted panels, the young designers developed skills they later used to found Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co., one of the most influential design firms of the late 19th century, whose wallpaper patterns are still popular today. And even though Morris lived in his dream home for just five years -- business pressures meant he had to sell it quickly -- it was the only house he ever built for himself and he he always regarded it as his favourite residence.
However, a problem arose when building these neoclassical structures. Neoclassical works are generally made out of stone, which takes time to carve out, the draftsm...
The essence of modern architecture lays in a remarkable strives to reconcile the core principles of architectural design with rapid technological advancement and the modernization of society. However, it took “the form of numerous movements, schools of design, and architectural styles, some in tension with one another, and often equally defying such classification, to establish modernism as a distinctive architectural movement” (Robinson and Foell). Although, the narrower concept of modernism in architecture is broadly characterized by simplification of form and subtraction of ornament from the structure and theme of the building, meaning that the result of design should derive directly from its purpose; the visual expression of the structure, particularly the visual importance of the horizontal and vertical lines typical for the International Style modernism, the use of industrially-produced materials and adaptation of the machine aesthetic, as well as the truth to materials concept, meaning that the true nat...
The reason for this piece is to attempt a comparison between two architectural examples that employ classical design from different stylistic eras of architectural history. The two styles I've chosen to discuss are the Renaissance and Baroque periods. An understanding of classical architecture needs to be made, as it is the fundamental style of any period that developed architecturally
Colen was born in June 1676 and died in September 1729. He was a Scottish architect, writer and has been credited as the founder of the Georgian era. Author of the “British Architecture” or “Vitruvius Britannicus”, this was his major contribution to the Georgian era and the book was published numerous times between 1715 and 1725. The book contained detailed drawings of buildings from all angles frequently from the elevation and plan views. It contains over 300 drawings including interior designs, perspective views and intricate ground plans of buildings. Colen took his inspiration for Vitruvius Britannicus from a younger Scottish architect called James Smith [c.1645-1731]. Colen praised the young architect in the second edition of the Vitruvius Britannicus by referring to him as “the most experienced architect of that kingdom” [page 10 Vitruvius Britannicus: “it was defigned by the molt experience’d Architect of that Kingdom, Mr James Smith, Anno 1692.] From 1712 until 1729 when he died, Colen Campbell had over thirty architectural structures built. His first was the Shawfield Mansion in Glasgow [refer to Figure 9] where we can clearly see the Georgian features such as the centred door, the large windows on the main floor and chimneys on either of the house coming to life. With the huge success of the Vitruvius Britannicus, a banker at the time “Henry Hoare” wanted Colen to
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the Art Nouveau style became an international movement. For the first time in decorative arts history there was a simultaneous movement throughout Europe and America. Art Nouveau brought the finest designers and craftsmen together in order to design buildings, furniture, wallpaper, fabrics, ceramics, metalwork and glasswork. Art Nouveau was considered more than a style, it was a philosophy. From this philosophy carefully designed articles for the home were designed intended to fit into the scheme of the whole Art Nouveau style. Line was the most important aspect of the Art Nouveau period. Art Nouveau was a rebellion against machine made articles of the 19th century that were copies of past designs. Art Nouveau was also a reaction against the old Victorian tradition. Art Nouveau designers borrowed from the past but because of the emphasis on line and adaptation of natural forms to design. Art Nouveau is easily distinguishable from any other period in decorative arts.