Decorating
Book Review
Chandeliers by
Elizabeth Hilliard
Bulfinch Press
The real estate agent
has asked us, "Are there any of the fixtures in the house you're
not leaving?" Without a moment's hesitation we answered: "The
chandelier."
We found our chandelier
in New York's Greenwich Village when driving by Eileen Lane's, a
shop specializing in Swedish Biedermeier furniture and antique alabaster
light fixtures. We knew we wouldn't find anything quite like the
honey-colored alabaster fixture (with twelve arms holding candle
cups) again.
Many times the first
item your eye is drawn to in a dining or living room is a chandelier;
it can be a starting point for a decorating scheme. Minimalism may
not be deadin home decorating, but it's lying low and the inclusions
of a chandelier, whether it is from wood, brass, glass or crystal,
has found its place once again. Today even the most sleek houses
and apartments are featuring chandeliers as centerpieces of pared-down
rooms.
ABC Home in New York,
a very popular emporium for decorators and their clients has been
carrying Murano Venetian glass chandeliers on their main floor for
a decade or more. There are few places within your home where you
couldn't find a place for such a beauty.
Chandeliers are evident
in paintings by van Eyck, Vermeer and Dou but the first reference
found to 'schanderliers' was in a 1714 London advertisement. Since
around 1700 they've been made on the Venetian island of Murano.
Historic examples (usually brass) of this decorative and useful
object were found in places of worship but simpler forms were found
made of wood, tin or wrought iron in modest households. More elaborate
forms were made from precious materials, such as gold and silver
in addition to cut-glass and lead-crystal versions. Contemporary
designs might be made from porcelain, plastics, straw hats or paper
such as the inventive materials used in Jo Whiting's, Marta
Baumiller or Ingo
Maurer's work. Glass artist Dale Chihuly's elaborate chandeliers
are focal points in public spaces.
Pieces by early American
settlers are rare today. In the early twentieth century, antique
iron examples were reduced to scrap metal due to the introduction
of electricity. Those that remained were used for wartime production
of armaments so the occasional piece found is rare.
Hilliard's book contains
more than two-hundred photos of elaborate fixtures rarely seen:
an electrolier in a Scottish house called Ardkinglas, a Murano molded
black glass with clear drops and one example with tulip-shaped flowers
of crimson and gold glass. There's a colored glass and gilded chandelier
decorated with glass fruit, gracing a kitchen design with flair
and bathrooms are not exempt from their charms.
Chandeliers is
a fascinating history of the craftspeople, social context, styles
and provenance of these central points of illumination. The book
has a thorough look at contemporary chandelier design as well
. Hilliard doesn't overlook
decorating or care tips once a choice of a chandelier is made. There's
a directory of shops, manufacturers (such as Preciosa
Lustry, Period
Lighting, Framburg,
Schonbek
or Barovier
& Toso) and designers to choose from.
You might remember the
scene from The War of the Roses with Kathleen Turner and
Michael Douglas ending their marriage (and their lives) atop a chandelier,
a last bitter division of marital spoils. Did the audience wince
because of the demise of the Turner and Douglas characters, or because
that beautiful object was lost?
|