Early American Decorative Arts, 1620-1860 Book

Winterthur Museum is well-known for its dazzling decorative arts collections. Since 1952, Winterthur staff has worked to compile comprehensive training materials. Now, Rosemary Krill with Pauline Eversmann, two Winterthur educators, have created a general, highly accessible guide to interpreting early American decorative arts.

Booknews

The study of decorative arts has advanced from the mere tracing of the history of style to the study of objects in their original contexts, with thought given to who made them, who owned them, who could and couldn't afford them, how, when, and why things were used, and why things look the way they do. Trill and Evermann (curator and director, respectively, of education at the exceptional Winterthur Museum in Delaware) have written this comprehensive handbook of the collection with these contextual interests in mind. The only disappointment is that the plates of the collection are all b&w. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)