Date: Fri 27-Feb-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: SHIRLE

Quick Words:

Montgomery

Full Text:

Cook, Evans are 1996 Winners of Montgomery Prize

NEW HAVEN, CONN. -- The winners of the 1996 Charles F. Montgomery Prize have

been announced by the Decorative Arts Society, Inc, a professional

organization of curators, academics, and others interested in American and

European decorative arts.

The Montgomery Prize, presented annually for "The most distinguished

contribution to the study of American decorative arts published in the English

language in the given year," was presented to two scholars, Edward S. Cooke,

Jr, for his book Making Furniture in Preindustrial America: The Social Economy

of Newtown and Woodbury, Connecticut (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University

Press, 1996) and Nancy Goyne Evans for her volume American Windsor Chairs (New

York: Hudson Hills, 1996).

Cooke's investigation of a region's joiners, the furniture they made, and the

neighbors who comprised their clientele synthesizes social history and

artifactual analysis to depict and explain the socioeconomic processes of

furniture making in rural New England in the last half of the Eighteenth

Century. While the focus is local, the methodology and conclusions have

significant relevance to scholars interested in decorative arts, colonial

history, and labor history. It is a model for the interpretation and

contextualization of objects.

Evans' definitive study of Windsor chairs, based on the author's indefatigable

research over 30 years, is a comprehensive examination of the distinctive

plank-seated turned-chair form. Evans is particularly effective in discussing

the British origins of the genre and then delineating the regional variations

in America. Throughout, she relies on obvious and subtle diagnostic traits to

sort and categorize over five hundred chairs. Her exhaustive research is also

evident in her checklist of over 2,400 craftsmen who made Windsor chairs. Epic

in scope, research, date, and even size (over 700 pages in length and weighing

over eight pounds), American Windsor Chairs has already become a classic

reference work for American and British furniture historians.

The Montgomery Award, presented annually to "the scholar whose first major

publication in the field of American decorative arts was judged the most

outstanding such work published in the given year," was not presented this

year. There were few first-time publications in 1996, and none of those met

the standards of originality, comprehensiveness, or impact found in previous

award winners. Noting a decline in quantity and quality, the committee felt

strongly that journal editors, acquisitions editors, and museum exhibition

curators should actively encourage publications by younger scholars.

The Montgomery Award and Prize are named for Charles F. Montgomery

(1910-1978), an inspirational teacher, creative curator, and innovative

scholar of American art. A graduate of Harvard College (Class of 1932),

Montgomery served on the staff of the Winterthur Museum during the 1950s and

1960s, and was director of that institution from 1954 to 1961. From 1970 to

1978 he was curator of the Gavan and related collections of American art at

the Yale University Art Gallery and professor of the history of art at Yale

University. His many publications include American Furniture: The Federal

Period (1966), A History of American Pewter (1973), and contributions to

American Art, 1750-1800: Towards Independence (1976).

The Award/Prize Selection Committee this year included Edward S. Cooke, Jr,

professor of the history of art, Yale University; Adrienne Hood, assistant

professor of history, University of Toronto; Nina Stritzler-Levine, director

of exhibitions, Bard Graduate Center; Neville Thompson, librarian, printed

book and periodical collection. Winterthur Museum; and Catherine Voorsanger,

associate curator of American decorative arts, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Gerald W.R. Ward, associate curator of American decorative arts and sculpture

at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, chaired the deliberations for the

Montgomery Prize.

While the committee found the Cooke and Evans publications to be the best of

1996, they also recognized several other meritorious publications. Among the

works considered for the Montgomery Prize, the committee found two works to be

close runners-up: Donald Fennimore's Metalwork in Early America: Copper and

Its Alloys from the Winterthur Collection (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique

Collector's Club, 1996) and J.J. Brody and Rina Swentzell's To Touch the Past:

The Painted Pottery of the Mimbres People (New York: Hudson Hills, 1996).

The Decorative Arts Society, Inc, is the only professional organization in

this country in its field. Its membership includes museum curators, members of

the academic community, collectors, and dealers. It provides a forum for those

interested in American and European decorative arts of all periods and

encourages research in the field. Toward these goals, programs are organized

throughout the year and a newsletter is published triannually. For information

on the society, contact Gerald W.R. Ward, associate curator of American

Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 455 Huntington

Avenue, Boston, MA 02115.

Requests for more information about the Montgomery Award and Prize or

nominations or review copies for the 1997 or future awards should be sent to

Edward S. Cooke, Jr, Charles F. Montgomery Professor of American Decorative

Arts, Department of the History of Art, Yale University, P.O. Box 208272, New

Haven, CT 06520-8272.