THNOC releases groundbreaking study of early Louisiana furniture

The Historic New Orleans Collection proudly announces the release of its latest and most ambitious publication, Furnishing Louisiana: Creole and Acadian Furniture, 1735–1835, a long-awaited addition to the field of decorative arts scholarship.

This magisterial study evokes an era before mass production and ease of transport began to homogenize furniture design across America. From the early 18th through the mid-19th centuries, distinctive cabinetmaking traditions developed in the Mississippi River valley through a melding of French, Anglo-American, Caribbean, Canadian and African influences. Furnishing Louisiana stands as tribute to the region’s cultural diversity and remarkable artistry.

Louisiana’s earliest colonial furniture hewed closely to French models. Yet an influx of immigrants at the turn of the 19th century—refugees from the Haitian Revolution, Anglo-Americans drawn south and west in the wake of the Louisiana Purchase—had a striking impact on the region’s crafts. The fusion of acculturated European craftsmanship and contemporary Anglo-American fashion produced a novel aesthetic in the New World: the Louisiana Creole style. And while highly refined cabinet work emerged from cosmopolitan New Orleans, another tradition was developing to the west on the Acadian prairies. Informed by distant memories of France and recent memories of Canada and modified by Louisiana’s climate and available materials, Acadian furniture stands alongside Creole craftsmanship as an enduring reflection of a time, a place, and a people.

Featuring more than 1,200 full-color illustrations, Furnishing Louisiana presents a comprehensive catalogue of furniture forms produced in the upper and lower Mississippi River valley. The book also offers essays on the cabinetmakers, the hardware and the woods (both native and exotic), the art of inlay, the import trade at the Port of New Orleans, and the interior of the early Louisiana home.

Furnishing Louisiana will be available in mid-December 2010. The Shop at The Collection, www.hnoc.org or (504) 598-7147, is currently accepting pre-orders for the book, which retails for $95 plus shipping and handling fees. Online pre-orders receive a $5 discount on shipping.