Author Description

Marquetry is decorative work in which amazing puzzle-like patterns are formed by intricately cut and shaped wood chips--or veneers--that are glued in place to ornament the surfaces of furniture and personal objects. American Folk Marquetry: Masterpieces in Woodis the first volume to record the history of marquetry and the American masters who handed down the tradition from father to son. Never before has American folk marquetry been investigated, cataloged, or recognized as a distinct body of work. Until recently, documentation had not been discovered, names of marquetry makers were unknown, and a collection of important work was not available for study. Richard Mühlberger, former director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts, has written this beautifully illustrated volume after years of research and collaboration with collectors Robert and Marjorie Hirschhorn. Mühlberger traces history of marquetry from its earliest known examples in ancient Egypt through its high point in fifteenth-century Italy, where it was described as "painting in wood," and its popularity as conspicuous symbol of luxury at eighteenth-century Versailles to its arrival in the United States, where it gained a foothold at the start of the Guilded Age in 1865 and lasted, mostly as a hobby, for almost ninety years. The hours of labor necessary to ornament an object with marquetry were worth far more than anyone was willing to pay and, as a result, the gift of a piece of marquetry was priceless, representing a great investment of time and emotion. Mühlberger's chapters on the marquetry makers--the story of Frederick Stedman Hazen, whose unique secretary is decorated with 21,000 pieces of wood; tales of sailors' marquetry and prisoners' work; and the concept of marquetry as "male quilting"--are especially captivating. Many of the pieces illustrated are included in the exhibition "Masterpieces in Wood: American Folk Marquetry from The Hirschhorn Foundation," organized by