Mulberry Jam

I seized a copy of the October 1929 issue of Vanity Fair in a junk shop years ago, and have treasured it ever since. Knowing what happened at the end of that pivotal month, I read the articles and advertisements with fascination for a vanished moment of prosperity and modern aspiration. It also intrigues me by raising the question, what is modern? . . . → Read More: Modern in Principle

Last week Mark and I went to the final day of the exhibit on Modernism at the Corcoran Museum downtown. I’d love to tell you to go see it; I wish we hadn’t waited until the very last minute to go see the show. It was a top-quality blockbuster. One thing that amused me about the show– after spending the full afternoon there, I realized how little styles have changed in architecture and domestic design since modernism was new in the 1920s. Any number of items could have come straight out of last month’s Dwell magazine. It seems funny that modernism nowadays is in fact deeply conservative! . . . → Read More: When Modernism Was Young

I hate to be mean, but this may in fact be the ugliest piece of furniture I’ve ever seen. The company calls this little item a “Belvedere Bombay Chest”. (And here I thought the term was bombe, from the French.) By their own admission, the makers have applied no fewer than five decorative techniques to create this mind-bogglingly awful thing: “marbleized painted top, decoupaged flowers, gesso stripes, mirror mosaic front, and seashell encrusted foot board.” Not to mention the opalescent drawer pulls, silver rococo carvings and gilt bun feet. Wow. It’s so over-the-top awful it achieves a kind of legendary quality. . . . → Read More: Hand-Painted Awfulness