My Usual Haunts
I had a boss at a previous job (in which I traveled around the US quite frequently) who made the observation that you always could find me in a strange city. "Simply call the local art museum and have him paged, he'll be there." Pretty accurate observation, I must say.
So I walked over to the Denver iteration. Lots of Native American and modern. A couple Monets, a Singer Sargent. Small decorative arts exhibit, nice display of furniture that showed the evolution of styles from the 15th century up to the 20th, rather than having each century encapsulated by itself with no frame of reference. Nicely done.
The real treat came in the museum shop. It's always interesting to me to see how different curators or whomever is in charge stock the shop. Well I saw an item I've never seen anywhere before. Hand embroidered pillow shams, 14 or 16 square, done in India. Lots of funky designs and there it was. A straight CFA Voysey knock-off. Google the name if you don't know. Gorgeous and relatively inexpensive. It's going on the back of the Morris chair seat. They also had a kinda odd Rennie Macintosh knock-off pillow too. Had three roses; square, round and oblong. And then leaves from the door design for the Willow Street Tearoom thrown in. Wasn't balanced, just seemed slapped together. But the Voysey! Looks just like it came off a tapestry. I'm a happy camper.
Funny thing was when I asked the 20-something staffer about the pillows, I was referred to an older gentleman who I was told "knows everything." Voysey. "Who?" Rennie Macintosh. "Who?" I guess "Early 20th Century UK Arts & Crafts" would not be his best subject on Jeopardy.
So I walked over to the Denver iteration. Lots of Native American and modern. A couple Monets, a Singer Sargent. Small decorative arts exhibit, nice display of furniture that showed the evolution of styles from the 15th century up to the 20th, rather than having each century encapsulated by itself with no frame of reference. Nicely done.
The real treat came in the museum shop. It's always interesting to me to see how different curators or whomever is in charge stock the shop. Well I saw an item I've never seen anywhere before. Hand embroidered pillow shams, 14 or 16 square, done in India. Lots of funky designs and there it was. A straight CFA Voysey knock-off. Google the name if you don't know. Gorgeous and relatively inexpensive. It's going on the back of the Morris chair seat. They also had a kinda odd Rennie Macintosh knock-off pillow too. Had three roses; square, round and oblong. And then leaves from the door design for the Willow Street Tearoom thrown in. Wasn't balanced, just seemed slapped together. But the Voysey! Looks just like it came off a tapestry. I'm a happy camper.
Funny thing was when I asked the 20-something staffer about the pillows, I was referred to an older gentleman who I was told "knows everything." Voysey. "Who?" Rennie Macintosh. "Who?" I guess "Early 20th Century UK Arts & Crafts" would not be his best subject on Jeopardy.
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