Museum Course: Early American Furniture: More than Meets the Eye

Have you ever wanted to know more about American furniture and want to develop or enhance your connoisseurship skills?  Do you collect, want to collect, or simply love the look and historical appeal of antiques and interested in developing new ways to discuss and appreciate it?
Furniture is among the most common forms of decorative art, but often its origins, types of decoration, and period use remain obscured.  Early American furniture of the 17th through the 19th century is an exceptional area of inquiry because of its relationship to American history, its role in the history of collecting, and opportunities created by a soft market.  The development of connoisseurship, awareness of scientific advancements and methodology relevant to furniture, and the appearance of primary source material are important components of its study.  While sometimes described as “brown furniture,” American furniture is more exciting and diverse than that name implies.
Connoisseurship is developed through close inspection of objects, discussing what you have seen, and reflecting on what you have observed.  A key component of this course will be the opportunity to learn terms and concepts specific to early American furniture and discuss them in a small group setting.  Each session will be broken into sections: lectures will be followed by break-out sessions in small groups to encourage the application of information presented to the close study of individual objects.
Christine Ritok is an Associate Curator at Historic Deerfield.  She holds a BA in history and art history from Kalamazoo College, and an MA from the Parsons School of Design/Cooper-Hewitt Smithsonian Institution in the History of Decorative Arts & Design.  Before joining Historic Deerfield's staff in 2015 she was Associate Curator for Sculpture & Decorative Arts at the Museum of the City of New York, held curatorial positions at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and the Detroit Institute of Arts, and was a part-time faculty member of Parsons School of Design.