By Karen Gonzalez
The word may conjure images of primitive styles and rustic furniture, but as the 67th annual Antiques Forum demonstrates, the pieces are actually quite elegant.
New Findings in the Arts of the Southern Backcountry, which runs from Friday, Feb. 20 through Tuesday, Feb. 24, is the second of a two-part series that coincides with an exhibit at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum called “A Rich and Varied Culture: The Material World of the Early South.”
WANT TO GO?
The 2015 Antiques Forum presents a host of celebrated curators, collectors and dealers who will share their newest interpretations and discoveries.
Scheduled speakers include:
- Dale L. Couch, curator of decorative arts at The Georgia Museum of Art’s Henry Green Center
- Robert A. Leath, chief curator and vice president for the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts
- Jeffrey S. Evans, president and chief auctioneer at Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates
In addition to the formal program, Forum guests may register for optional hands-on workshops with the Colonial Williamsburg collections as well as private tours of historic homes in the region.
“When we began to assemble the objects for the backcountry portion of the exhibition, we were very surprised–it was not primitive at all. It was, in fact, quite sophisticated. The decoration on the furniture and pottery especially is extraordinary. The diverse cultural expression contrasts dramatically with what you see in the Chesapeake.” said Margaret Pritchard, a senior curator who co-chairs the forum with Ronald L. Hurst, Colonial Williamsburg’s vice president for collections and museums.
What, or where, is the “backcountry”?
The southern backcountry includes the piedmont regions of Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia, extending south all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. It also extends into parts of Kentucky and Tennessee.
The first English settlers quickly made homes along the east coast. Immigrants who came later went farther inland, bringing their traditions and trade skills with them.
Backcountry pieces show an innovative use of raw materials in ways that are not found in the colonies along the seaboard.
“We met a lot of new collectors through our research for this exhibition and several are speaking at this forum. We’ve also identified some backcountry pieces in our own collection we didn’t understand before. It was a great learning experience for us,” said Pritchard.
When does an antique become a museum object?
“It depends on the nature of the museum,” according to Pritchard. “Colonial Williamsburg is a history museum. For example, one of the pieces that we have borrowed for this exhibit is a cast-iron punchbowl. That object may not be considered an object of beauty or interest for many museums, but for us it has tremendous interest because it demonstrates craftsmen fulfilling their needs by using the raw materials available to them. If the object tells a story, it is interesting to us.”
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