Collection: Decorative Arts
Decorative Arts
The Decorative Arts collection encompasses European and American decorative arts (furniture, silver and other metalwork, wallpaper, ceramics, and glass) from the Medieval period to the present.
A major highlight of the department is the Charles L. Pendleton Collection of furniture made by 18th-century Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Newport cabinetmakers. Pendleton House, the wing of the Museum devoted to the exhibition of decorative arts, exhibits at least six pieces of furniture from the Townsend-Goddard circle of Newport cabinetmakers, including two of the renowned block-front, carved-shell desks-and-bookcases. Also on view in Pendleton House's period rooms are fine examples of English pottery, Chinese export porcelain, and a comprehensive survey of Rhode Island silver.
The Harold Brown Collection of French Empire furniture and objects with Napoleonic associations is another highlight of the department's holdings, as is the Lucy Truman Aldrich collection of rare 18th-century European porcelain figures. 360 examples of 18th- and early 19th-century French wallpaper from the M. and Mme. Charles Huard collection constitute the backbone of the Museum's wallpaper collection, which is among the finest in the world.
An extraordinary collection of silver (approximately 2,000 pieces) produced by Providence's Gorham Manufacturing Company from the mid 19th through the mid 20th century is the cornerstone of a fine collection of American silver that also includes work by colonial silversmiths such as John Coney, Paul Revere, and Samuel Casey.
The Museum's collection is particularly strong in the area of 19th-century decorative arts. Important highlights include furniture by the American companies of Vose and Coates, Herter Brothers, and Alexander Roux; the Englishman E.W. Godwin; and the French makers Guillaume Beneman and Hugnet Frères. Other highlights of the 19th century are works of art in glass by Lalique, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and Hector Guimard; ceramics by Wedgwood, Sèvres, and Doulton, and silver by Christopher Dresser, Charles Ashbee and the Gorham Manufacturing Company.
20th-century design in the collection includes furniture by Alvar Aalto, Verner Panton, Josef Hofmann, and Charles and Ray Eames; metalwork by Erik Magnussen; ceramics by Auguste Delaherche, glass by Frederick Carder, and wallpaper designs by Nancy McClelland, Alexander Calder, and Roy Lichtenstein. The mid 20th-century's revived interest in craft is represented by the work of Tage Frid, Wharton Esherick, John Prip and Peter Voulkos.
The RISD Museum of Art is a leading collector of American contemporary craft and studio furniture and many of the artists represented in the collection have ties (either as alumni, faculty or both) to the School. Among the many contemporary craftspeople whose work is in the collection are: Dale Chihuly, Michael Glancy, Akio Takamori, Kurt Weiser, Judy Kensley McKie, Jere Osgood, Rosanne Somerson and Alphonse Mattia.
