Winterthur Museum hosting  furniture forum in April

The Winterthur Museum in Wilmington, Del., has scheduled a forum on Furniture Traditions of the Early American Countryside on Apr. 12-14. The program will include lectures, a craft demonstration, and workshops highlighting exciting new research on cabinetmakers in New England, the Shenandoah Valley, and the South

“It will inspire greater understanding of, and appreciation for, the many cultural crosscurrents that shaped life throughout 18th- and early 19th-century rural America,” according to a gallery statement.

The Winterthur Furniture Forums are a combination of tours, scholarly briefings, and demonstrations providing a deep dive into themed topic related to period furniture.

“The periodic forums provide an entertaining and informative deep dive into period furniture history, key pieces, major makers, original owners, attribution criteria, and differentiating construction methods, all organized around the chosen theme for each year’s meeting,” the gallery said.

“Several hundred attendees are drawn from academics, high-end collectors, top dealers, museum curators, museum conservators, and furniture makers. The forum is an excellent way to increase your appreciation for, and understanding of, American period furniture.”

For information, visit www.winterthur.org.

Chippendale exhibit

And now for something completely different …

The Leeds City Museum in West Yorkshire, England, is hosting an exhibit on Thomas Chippendale through June 9.

The exhibition is part of a year-long program to celebrate Chippendale’s 300th birthday. It’s being called the most comprehensive exhibition of Chippendale’s work ever presented, and includes furniture, accessories, drawings, documents and other material from collections throughout the United Kingdom.

“Alongside well-known masterpieces from public collections there will be rarely-seen furniture from private houses and some new discoveries, never-before exhibited,” according to a gallery statement. “The exhibition explores Chippendale’s life and work in five major themes: his family origins, training, career and the publication of the ground-breaking Director; his furniture in the Rococo, Gothic, Chinese and neo-Classical styles; the management of his commissions, including relations with clients; his workshops, including manufacturing and decorative techniques; and his legacy from the 18th-century to the present day.”

For more, visit www.chippendale300.co.uk.

This article originally appeared in the April 2018 issue.