As its title suggests, “Decorative Bustle” is a raucous explosion of color and pattern. Drawing Center’s summer show throws into the mix almost anything you can think of that fits into the “decorative” category. As a result, there really is something for everyone here.
The title of the show is an art history joke. Owen riffed on his Jones’ famous Victorian Manual. Grammar of decorationBut while Jones tried to create a system that implied liking and politeness, the show, curated by Emily King and Margaret Ann Logan and Duncan Tomlin, was unsystematic and highly eclectic. is. From William Morris wallpapers to Japanese woodblock prints, from graffiti tags to scrimshaws, the show is like a stream of consciousness riff on its subject matter, and has remained breathless among the media for centuries. Change the channel.
Not without critics.in the New York Review of Books, critic Jed Pearl unleashed a more than 3,000-word attack on the show, declaring it emblematic of the degeneration of modern tastes. But even Perl admits that “there’s real fun here.”
Take a look at some of the ‘decorative hustle and bustle’ highlights below and judge for yourself.
Installation view “Decorative Bustle: Exchange, Power and Pleasure from the 15th Century to the Present” at the Drawing Center in New York.Photo: Daniel Terna
Installation view “Decorative Bustle: Exchange, Power and Pleasure from the 15th Century to the Present” at the Drawing Center in New York.Photo: Daniel Terna
Installation view “Decorative Bustle: Exchange, Power and Pleasure from the 15th Century to the Present” at the Drawing Center in New York.Photo: Daniel Terna
Installation view “Decorative Bustle: Exchange, Power and Pleasure from the 15th Century to the Present” at the Drawing Center in New York.Photo: Daniel Terna
Installation view “Decorative Bustle: Exchange, Power and Pleasure from the 15th Century to the Present” at the Drawing Center in New York.Photo: Daniel Terna
Albrecht Dürer after Leonardo da Vinci, Second knot, interlaced roundel with Amazon shield in the middle (Before 1521).Metropolitan Museum of Art, George Coonor Collection, Bequest of Marianne Coonor, 1984
Wolfgang Hieronymus von Boehmer Leaf decoration lion and rabbit From “Neue-ersonnene Gold-Schmieds Grillen” (New design of gold ornaments) (1698). Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Owen Jones, Design (1/51) Examples of Chinese ornaments (1866–67). Victoria and Albert Museum, London. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
David Culp Double Eagle Presentation Fraktur (c. 1815). American Folk Art Museum.American Folk Art Museum/Art Resource, New York
unknown painter, A unique example of transitional Navajo weaving in the “Germantown” tradition, featuring American flag panels and Idazzler (ca. 1868–1910).private collection
Emma Petway these bend quilt (2021). private collection.Photo by Daniel Terna
Wendy Redstar, Peelatchiwaaxpáash / Medicine Crow (Raven) (2014). Brooklyn Museum. © Wendy Redstar
From Toyohara Kunichika’s “Edo no Hana Five Youths” (1864). Courtesy of Ronin Gallery, New York
Unknown artist, Scrimshaw (19th century).Whaling Museum and Education Center
“Ornamental Bustle” is on display at The Drawing Center in New York until September 18, 2022.
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