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Two Distinctive Decorative Movements, Driven by Rivalry
Between France and England, Explored in Exhibition
Decoration in the Age of Napoleon: Empire Elegance
Versus Regency Refinement on View September 3 Through April 2
“Clock in Bronze Doré Placed on Ebony
Base.” Original pencil and color on paper design from: French
Goldsmith’s Designs, ca. 1800. N.p., ca. 1804. Miriam and Ira
D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs, Art & Architecture
Collection. More images
New York, NY, August 27, 2004 -- Two distinctive
decorative movements -- now known as the Empire and the Regency Styles -- evolved
from the formal Neoclassicism of the late 18th century and were fueled by the
rivalry of France and England and their rulers: Napoleon I (1769 -- 1821), self-styled
Emperor of the French, and, across the English Channel, the Prince Regent and
future King George IV (1762 -- 1830). The exhibition Decoration in the
Age of Napoleon: Empire Elegance Versus Regency Refinement explores
the social and political conditions that created the decorative look of the
early 19th century. Key plate books, pattern books, periodicals, and individual
prints drawn primarily from the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division's Art &
Architecture Collection together create a visually arresting study of these
two styles. The exhibition will be on view in the Edna Barnes Salomon Room of
the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, from
September 3, 2004, through April 2, 2005. Admission is free.
"The new Empire and Regency styles were shaped by such forces as the cult of
personality and the use of pageantry and spectacle against a backdrop of social
upheaval and economic rivalry," explains Paula Baxter, organizer of the exhibition
and Curator of the Art & Architecture Collection. "This exhibition draws
on unique and remarkable materials from the Library's collections to illuminate
how powerful personalities can affect decorative modes, and how many elements
of the two styles we explore here still influence decoration today."
Divided evenly into two parts, Decoration in the Age of Napoleon begins
with the Empire style, highlighting works by Napoleon's principal architects,
Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, whose designs were inspired by new archaeological
findings in Greece, Rome, Pompeii, and Egypt. Plate books by several influential
English architects and decorators -- among them Thomas Sheraton, John Nash,
Thomas Hope, and George Smith -- illuminate the Regency style. Also on display
will be maps showing the boundaries of the rival empires, and five works by
British caricaturist James Gillray lampooning the key individuals.
Empire Elegance
Born from the merger of art and political aspiration, the Empire Style is a
reflection of Napoleon's desire for clean, new designs that incorporated his
preference for masculine and military effects. Upon assuming the throne in 1804,
he immediately launched an energetic art and design program, choosing two ambitious
visionaries, Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine,
to be his official architects and decorators. In 1812 they published what became
the most influential pattern book of the Empire Style, Recueil de décorations
intérieures. A line engraving from that book, depicting the Emperor's
throne room in the Tuileries, shows the importance Percier and Fontaine attached
to the interrelationship of architectural setting, furniture, and decoration.
The plate books on view in this part of the exhibition contain fine examples
of specific forms and furnishings popularized by the Empire Style: the table
de toilette, consoles, tented beds, and camp stools. Furniture was generally
rectangular and symmetrical, as depicted in Konst och Nyhets Magasin för
Medborgare af alla Klasser (1838), a Swedish magazine on display. An original
work in pencil and color on paper from French Goldsmith's Designs, ca.
1800 (1804) shows a handsome bronze doré clock on an ebony base, a hallmark
of the new style. Silk and velvet fabrics were draped, swagged, or suspended
from ceilings to achieve a graceful yet martial effect, and blue became a dominant,
thematic color. Military touches found their way into everything from the sabre
curve of chair legs to the tassels and pleats on men's and women's garments.
Napoleon's military campaign in Egypt and the highly successful archaeological
and scientific expeditions it inspired led to a craze for all things Egyptian
in design; among several plates on view is a beautiful hand-colored engraving
of an "Egyptian-style Bed," published in a contemporary French magazine for
ladies.
Even after Napoleon's final abdication in 1815, Empire Style furnishings, with
their distinctive air of elegance, continued to be produced throughout Europe
and America, making their way to artistically Francophile England and inspiring
the Regency Style.
Regency Refinement
Across the Channel, George -- though he publicly declared the French emperor
his "nemesis" -- kept a close eye on the decorative innovations in France, and
he sought ways to celebrate England's heritage through his own active patronage
of the arts. The Regency Style, though clearly influenced by the Empire Style,
introduced refinements to suit English tastes. Essentially based on elegant
Neoclassical designs, it added distinctive ornamentation and made furnishings
more comfortable through advances in technology.
The Regency years were marked by a continuous search for novelties in design,
and many of the remarkable engravings in the exhibition demonstrate this creativity
in vivid color. The evolving style may be seen in the late work of Thomas Sheraton,
and in Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1807),
from which several plates are on display. Stylistic innovations include more
intimate interiors, in which the color red dominates; the introduction of en
suite furniture; and the abundant use of fabrics such as silk damask and
flowered chintz. Chairs with sabre legs, elegant sideboards, revolving bookcases,
and couches with claw feet became popular. Examples in the exhibition include
hand-colored engravings from Thomas King's Illustrations of Fashionable Cabinet
Furniture (ca. 1840), of elegant sideboard tables and couches with elliptical
ends.
In matters of taste and fashion, the English had always turned to France, admiring
the latest styles from across the Channel. The exhibition shows a series of
fashionable dresses from Costume of the Ladies of England, 1810 - 1815,
a scrapbook of original fashion sketches of the period. George, who indulged
in a passion for militaria, enjoyed designing military uniforms (which then
translated into civilian wear). The Regency part of the exhibition contains
a number of colorful engravings from scrapbooks highlighting the uniforms worn
by British soldiers during that period. An avid collector of fine paintings,
furniture, porcelain, and bronzes, George also employed leading architects,
including John Nash and Humphry Repton, whose work is represented in various
fine hand-colored engravings of George's impressive Royal Pavilion at Brighton
and other royal residences.
As the synthesis of art and aspiration, the Empire and Regency
Styles continue to influence modern design and decoration and remain popular
period revival modes.
Decoration in the Age of Napoleon: Empire Elegance Versus Regency Refinement
is on view September 3, 2004, through April 2, 2005, at The New York Public
Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library in the Edna Barnes Salomon
Room on the third floor. Exhibition hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m.
to 7:30 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; closed Sundays,
Mondays, and national holidays. Admission is free. For more information about
exhibitions at The New York Public Library, the public may call 212-869-8089
or visit the Library's website at www.nypl.org.
Support for The New York Public Library's Exhibitions Program has been provided
by Pinewood Foundation and by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III.
