Utility and beauty : Robert Wellford and composition ornament in America / Mark Reinberger.

Main entry:

Reinberger, Mark.

Title & Author:

Utility and beauty : Robert Wellford and composition ornament in America / Mark Reinberger.

Publication:

Description:

190 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm.

Series:

The University of Delaware Press studies in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century art and culture

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-185) and index.
Wellford's life and business -- Wellford's craft -- Wellford's ornament: motifs and sources -- Wellford's competitors -- Application--the architectural context of Wellford's composition ornament -- Architectural change and the end of composition ornament.
Dust jacket.

Summary:

"Utility and Beauty: Robert Wellford and Composition Ornament in America is the first book-length treatment of this important decorative art in Federal-period America. Composition (or compo) was a plaster-like material which was pressed into finely carved molds, a process that produced exquisitely detailed ornaments that could be attached to architectural woodwork, especially mantelpieces. First popularized in England by architect Robert Adam in the late eighteenth century, composition ornament soon reached America where it became a significant part of interior decoration in the early republic.
Utility and Beauty examines the art and craft of composition ornament through the life and work of Robert Wellford (1775-1844) of Philadelphia, the foremost maker of compo in America."
"Composition ornament brought into American homes an abundance of neoclassical decoration, both architectural enrichments and figural imagery. Compo made available scenes and motifs from classical mythology and allegory, as well as nationalistic themes that proclaimed America's independence and rise among nations. Such themes made compo useful as well as beautiful, because the ornaments edified the viewer and conveyed patriotic and moral lessons. The book examines the iconography of Wellford's artistic work, which encompasses almost one hundred scenes or motifs. Copious illustrations depict the wide range of Wellford's work. Utility and Beauty also includes a catalog of 132 mantelpieces and other woodwork thought to have ornament by Wellford."--Jacket.

Resources:
Table of contents

ISBN:

0874137608 (alk. paper)
9780874137606 (alk. paper)

Subject:

Wellford, Robert, 1775-1844.
Wellford, Robert, (1775-1844)
Robert Wellford's Original American Manufactory of Composition Ornaments.
Robert Wellford's Original American Manufactory of Composition Ornaments (Philadelphie, Etats-Unis)
Composition ornament.
Interior architecture.
Decoration and ornament, Architectural.
Interior Design and Furnishings
Architecture intérieure.
Décoration et ornement architecturaux.
architectural ornament.
Architecture intérieure Décoration États-Unis.
Ornements (art) Composition États-Unis.

Added entries:

University of Delaware Press studies in 17th- and 18th- century art and culture.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 231409
Call No.: NK44.W451 R4 2003
Status: Available

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