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The exhibition Matières de Rêves: Stuff of Dreams reveals important treasures from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, on view in America for the first time while the Parisian museum is under renovation. These masterpieces of French decorative arts go beyond the realm of utilitarian into aesthetics of richness, elegance, surrealism, and sensuousness. “These are works of art that speak unashamedly to the heart,” notes cocurator Penelope Hunter-Stiebel. “They are tactile as much as visual. One explicit example is the monumental canopied bed made for the courtesan who inspired Emile Zola’s most scandalous novel.” The exhibition travels to Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR, February 2 to April 28, 2002; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, June 1 to August 11, 2002; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL, September 22, 2002, to January 5, 2003. Portland Art Museum, tel. 503.226.2811.
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Brooch, ca. 1900. Design by Paul Vever (1851–1915) and Henri Vever (1854–1942). Gold, enamel, sapphires, and topaz. H. 2 3/4", L. 3 1/5". The flowing tresses of the pensive female obscure the words that represent her thoughts, “Un Peau, Beaucorp, Passionément, Pas du tout,” the French equivalent of the emotional puzzle, “She loves me, she loves me not.” Courtesy of Portland Museum of Art.
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Clock of Marie Antoinette, 1788, by Pierre Phillipe Thomire (French, 1751–1843). Gilt bronze, Sèvres porcelain, and marble. H. 19 4/5 in., W. 25 3/5 in. This clock decorated Marie Antoinette’s bathroom at the Palace of Tuileries. What makes this piece extraordinary in the realm of neoclassical decorative sculpture is the fact that the figures are facing the same direction, thus betraying the characteristic rigid tradition of symmetry. Courtesy of Portland Museum of Art.
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Bed of Emilie Valtesse de la Vigne, ca. 1875, design by Edouard Leivre. This grand bed, constructed of brilliantly varnished bronze, was made for the famous courtesan of the French Second Empire, Valtesse de la Bigne. She was the inspiration for Nana, the ignominious heroine of Emile Zola’s celebrated novel. Courtesy of Portland Art Museum.
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French drawings, a field that has grown healthily in terms of collecting and scholarly interest in the last thirty years, are featured in two upcoming exhibitions. On view at London’s Wallace Collection is Poussin to Cezanne: French Drawings from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford from January 16 to April 7, 2002. Fifty works by Watteau, Boucher, Ingres, Manet, Cezanne, and others are part of the collection’s first comprehensive showing in London. For information, call 011.44.207.563.9500 or visit www.the-wallace-collection.org.
The Dahesh Museum of Art in New York presents French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin, on view February 19 to May 18, 2002. Butkin is a Cleveland collector who, since the 1970s, has charted a new course in collecting both famous and “recovered” French masters. “I collect drawings, not names,” she maintains. For information, call 212.759.0606 or visit www.daheshmuseum.org.
American Modern, 1925–1940: Design for a New Age at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia is comprised of objects drawn from the Metropolitan’s collection and documents the evolution of American design between the two world wars. On view January 12 to April 7, 2002—take a look at objects that speak of American life in the 1920s and ‘30s, from streamlined Electrolux vacuums to Norman Bel Geddes’s “Patriot” radio adorned with stars and stripes. For information, call 215.972.7600 or visit www.pafa.org.
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In an interactive display of nineteenth-century games at the New-York Historical Society, try your hand at the Wall Street-inspired amusement “Bulls and Bears”; this game’s Gilded Age strategy toward competition and success may still ring true. The Games We Played: American Board and Table Games from the Liman Collection, an exhibition of 150 games assembled by New York City collectors Ellen and the late Arthur Liman, illustrates the changing values of a bygone era in a fun way. From April 2, 2002, to January 5, 2003. For information, call 212.873.3400 or visit www.nyhistory.org.
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