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« This new-born word is rococo » Généalogie et fortune du rococo aux États-Unis

  • Etienne Tornier
Published/Copyright: December 30, 2017
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Abstract

This article deals with the use of the term ‘rococo’ in the English language and more specifically in the United States, where it is today used to describe both the style of eighteenth-century cabinetmakers, and American mid-nineteenth-century furniture. Yet, the term was not favored by furniture makers and dealers before the end of the nineteenth century. Offering a precise analysis of the roots of the term in the United States, this article sheds light on its semantic evolution since the 1830s, through a variety of sources including newspapers, art journals, and ephemera, and in relation with the fluctuating taste of middle- and upper-class American households throughout the nineteenth century.

  1. Crédits photographiques : 1 Photo : Etienne Tornier. – 2 Brooklyn Museum. – 3, 4 Public domain. – 5 New Orleans Museum of Art. – 6, 7 The Art Journal, 5, 1879, 293 et 296. – 8 C. Ives, The Dream City Portfolio, 1893, n.p. – 9 Exposition internationale de Saint-Louis 1904. Section française. Rapports des groupes 38, 42, 43, 44, Paris, Comité français des expositions à l’étranger, 1906, 122. – 10 Rococo Ornaments for Decorative Purposes, dans : The Decorator and Furnisher, septembre 1897, 175. – 11, 14 Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB Library, University of California, Santa Barbara. – 12, 13 Paris, Les Arts décoratifs, Bibliothèque des arts décoratifs.

Published Online: 2017-12-30

© 2017 Etienne Tornier, published by De Gruyter

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