Maine Antique Digest, December 2016

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Maine Antique Digest, December 2016 39-C
- FEATURE -
Books Received
by M.A.D. Staff
These are brief reviews of books recently sent to us. We
have included ordering information for publishers that
accept mail, phone, or online orders. For other publishers,
your local bookstore or a mail-order house is the place to look.
Meanderings of a Quilt Collector / Les Vagabondages d’une
collectionneuse de Quilts by Jane Lury (QUILTmania,
2016, 320 pp., hardbound, $55 plus S/H from QUILTmania,
] or 1-888-365-7377).
“The squirrels appear to forget where they have hidden even
their choicest nuts; human collectors seem always to know
where our best things are, and to be ever ready to parade them
as evidence of wealth and/or wisdom,” observes Jane Lury
in her new book. This New York state collector and dealer
who exhibits quilts at antiques and textiles shows in the U.S.,
Europe, and Japan is, like most dealers, a collector first.
Lury’s book about her collection marks the mileposts on her
meanderings, and she has journeyed far and wide. She doesn’t
collect quilts of one color or one pattern, or quilts from one
country. She wants them all and has bought them here and abroad.
In her pursuit of colorful textiles she has also collected facts
to document her finds. From her careful notes, she presents a
useful time line at the back of the book that provides a thumbnail
history of quilting and of the manufacture and printing of
cotton, silk, and wool. She also provides a useful bibliography.
It is nice to have these facts accessible in a few pages, but
seeing such a wide-ranging collection of quilts though Jane
Lury’s keen eye is the dividend of this book. Lury likes early
embroideries from Portugal and India and the early cottons
painted with the tree of life. She tells how to distinguish English
quilts from American quilts (by the binding and construction).
She points out the intricacies of broderie perse and tells us how
much she loves the rich colors of 19th-century English chintz.
She shows how inner borders were “fussy cut,” meaning that
the fabric cutting was planned with much thought about how
the pattern could best be used. And then she goes on to show
how mismatched parts, or designs not well centered or not quite
symmetrical, give life to the quilts, especially when the fabrics
are fabulous and the design has power.
Two Diamond in a Square quilts from Wales, circa 1870, are
suggested as possible connections to the design of Amish quilts
of the same era. She notes that scholars have suggested that
Welsh coal miners lived near Amish farmers in Pennsylvania.
The riot of English chintz quilts, not seen often in the
American marketplace, are eye-openers. It is a treat to see so
rich a collection—a veritable museum without walls—while
seated in a comfortable armchair. What fun it must have been
for Lury to have all these quilts unfolded for photography and
then to arrange all the images, remembering each acquisition
and sharing the stories for this book. Reading it is educational
for the novice, but quilters and collectors will be enthralled.
Included at the back of the book are instructions for making
three quilts: a Center Medallion quilt; a wool quilt with a
Lemoyne star block, an hourglass block, and a sunflower block;
and a quilt of tiny triangles. They suggest how much work goes
into making a quilt. Because Lury often shows and sells quilts
in France, the text is printed in English and French.
L.S-C.
Otis Kaye: Money, Mystery, and Mas-
tery by James M. Bradburne and Ger-
aldine Banks, with an essay by Mark
D. Mitchell (New Britain Museum
of American Art, 2014, 187 pp., soft-
bound, $25 plus S/H from University
Press of New England, [www.upne.
com] or 1-800-421-1561, or from New
Britain Museum of American Art,
] or [860] 229-0257).
The works of Otis Kaye (1885-1974)
are filled with “visual puns, one-liners,
and clues to the events that marked—
and often scarred—his life.” Much about
Kaye’s early life remains a mystery,
including his baptismal name (his father
took the name “Kaye” when he immi-
grated to Illinois from Germany in the
1880s), whether he ever studied art, and
exactly when he and his German wife and
their two children moved to the U.S. from Germany
(where Kaye had gone with his mother around 1904,
following his father’s death). It is known that in the
1920s Kaye began painting small trompe l’oeil works
in oil, and throughout his life he “remained obsessed
with trompe l’oeil currency and continued to depict
currency in every medium.”
Otis Kaye was an expert engraver who also painted
landscapes, farm scenes, and portrait sketches. He
and his wife, Alma, separated around 1935, and Alma
and the children returned to Germany. Kaye did not
exhibit or sell his paintings during his lifetime; he
worked as an engineer until the end of World War II
and was “a nomadic semi-recluse afterward.”
The Grammar of Ornament: A Visual Reference of
Form and Colour inArchitecture and the Decorative
Arts by Owen Jones (Princeton University Press,
2016, 496 pp., hardbound, $45 plus S/H from
The 2016 reprinting of Owen Jones’s 1856
Grammar of Ornament brings his theories,
observations, and studies of architectural ornament
from around the globe into the 21st century with color
plates; an introduction, updated annotations, and
contextual notes by design historian Iain Zaczek; and
an updated, modern design. Jones’s original text has
been left intact alongside the annotations and notes
added to the plates. (Two separate indexes reference
the original and the new text.)
Jones’s goal was to bring the various cultural design
styles together for study in the hope that designers and
students would discover an “ever-gushing fountain
in place of a half-filled stagnant reservoir” from
the variety of “languages” expressed. He included
ornamental designs from around the world and
various design periods. With 2370 color plates, the
new look will certainly appeal to today’s designers
and students and will expand the reach of this seminal
work, which influenced 20th-century designers such
as Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Art Deco: Living with theArt Deco Style by Judith
Miller (Miller’s, 2016, 240 pp., hardbound,
$39.99).
This book celebrating Art Deco, “the first truly
international style,” is a good one for browsing.
Miller gives readers a glimpse at the wide reach of
the Art Deco style as seen in furniture, ceramics,
glass, silver, metalware, clocks, plastics, sculpture,
posters, and textiles. The introduction discusses
the development of the movement after World War
I and the 1925 Paris exhibition where Art Deco
designs and ideas were showcased to the world.
The book features examples of work from the
best-known and most influential artists, designers,
and workshops/companies. Brief artist bios
and introductory text provide a backdrop to the
featured pieces. “A Closer Look” sidebars feature
single pieces in detail. Code letters included at the
end of captions correspond to a range of values
printed at the front of the book. A glossary, a list of
resources (auction houses, museums, and dealers,
with contact information), and acknowledgements
of pieces illustrated (many with contributors’
websites) round out this book that may inspire
decorators and collectors to take another look at
the fascinating world of Art Deco.
This book accompanied a 2015 exhibit of Otis
Kaye’s work at the New Britain (Connecticut) Museum
of American Art. Coauthors James M. Bradburne and
Geraldine Banks write about what is known of Kaye’s
life and discuss in detail the 30-plus works that were
in the exhibit. Reproduced in the back of the book are
thumbnail images of almost all of Kaye’s artistic out-
put (most of which is in private collections). The final
appendix presents Kaye’s annotated clippings from
Life magazine, offering a fascinating glimpse into the
mind of this intriguing artist.