Studio Furniture of the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum

Book excerpt: Exquisitely photographed and beautifully designed, this complementary catalog of America's finest studio furniture highlights 84 pieces from the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery. Inside, the pages reveal the importance of wooden furniture in the modern American craft arena, and how first- and second-generation artists shaped the studio furniture movement. Artist statements accompany gorgeous photography of the Renwick collection and provide insight into the makers' training and professional experience, theories on art, artistic techniques, and even personal inspirations. Such artists include the patriarch of studio furniture, Wharton Esherick, and Wendle Castle, the maker of the most popular piece among gallery visitors-the infamous Ghost Clock. The treasures of the Renwick collection-Judy's McKee's Monkey Settee, Sam Maloof's Rocking Chair, John Cederquist's Ghost Boy, and George Nakashima's Conoid Bench-are also included among the many pieces from makers whose work is functional, artistic, and of the finest craftsmanship. About the Authors Dr. Oscar Fitzgerald earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in history from Georgetown University and served as director of the Navy Museum in Washington, D.C., until he decided to pursue full time his passion as a furniture historian and decorative arts consultant. He is currently on the faculty of the Smithsonian Institution/Corcoran School Master's Program in the Decorative Arts where he developed and teaches a core course on the studio furniture movement. His book, Four Centuries of American Furniture, which includes coverage of the studio furniture movement, is the standard reference work in the field. In 2004, he was awarded a prestigious James Renwick Research Fellowship, which funded research for an essay published in the 2005 issue of Furniture Studio. Paul Greenhalgh is a world-renowned scholar of the decorative arts and a leading figure in the international museum and academic world. He is currently director and president of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Corcoran College of Art and design, in Washington, D.C. His previous posts have included the presidency of NSCAL University, one of the leading Canadian institutions of art and design (2001-2006); head of research at the Victoria & Albert Museum (1992-94); deputy keeper of ceramics and glass at the V&A (1990-1992). Over the past two decades he has also written and edited a number of defining texts in the field of the crafts, decorative arts, and cultural history, including Ephemeral Vistas (1988), Modernism in Design (1990), Art Nouveau, 1890-1914 (2000) The Persistence of Craft (200), and The Modern Ideal (2005). He also curated the seminal exhibition Art Nouveau, 1890-1914 at the V&A in 2000.