American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts, 1790–1840

Brilliant colors and wild patterns will be on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum April 3–June 20, 2004. Organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum, American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts, 1790-1840 features more than 200 of the most ornamental and emotionally engaging artifacts ever produced in this country, including furniture, textiles, costume, ceramics, glass, metals, paintings and prints.

American Fancy offers playful visuals not seen before in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Baker/Rowland Galleries. As visitors first enter the exhibition, they are surrounded by an audio-visual theater introducing the exhibition’s primary concepts. Upon strolling further through the galleries, visitors encounter the bright colors, vibrant patterns and imaginative designs that stirred the senses during this era of American history. A projector near the ceiling creates 12-foot kaleidoscopic images on the floor, depicting the “Kaleidoscope-Mania” that swept the nation in the early 19th century. From kaleidoscopes, visitors enter the two-story “Fancy Store,” and examine goods that were purchased during the era. Do-it-yourself home decorators will enjoy a section presenting types of decoration including marbling and graining, smoke painting, vinegar painting, scumble glazing, stenciling, and landscape painting.

Scholars in the field have long categorized the colorful and playful artifacts in the exhibition as “folk,” but during the period they were actually called “Fancy” and were mainstream designs for the 19th-century homes of the middle class.“ American Fancy will be the most invigorating and visually stimulating exhibition yet in the Museum’s new galleries,” said MAM Director and CEO David Gordon. “The exhibition’s ambitious and innovative design does more than display historic decorative arts; it captures the feeling of the era.” The exhibition begins with a presentation of Fancy’s 18th-century philosophical origins, before the concepts took form as Fancy goods in the 19th century. Additional topics covered include the surprising impact of the kaleidoscope on Fancy; the style’s unparalleled role in the marketplace; and the delightful range of decorative and sculptural techniques used by makers of Fancy goods.

The exhibition is accompanied by a lavishly illustrated book published by the Chipstone Foundation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. According to Jon Prown, the foundation’s executive director and chief curator, guest curator Priddy’s scholarly approach is both timely and innovative. “More than any other decorative arts work to date, American Fancy incorporates a wide range of scholarly perspectives to explain not only what things looked like, but also why these artifacts looked the way they did and how they were perceived by their original makers and users.” Employing an approach that is increasingly used in contemporary scholarship, the book integrates the research methods and analytical tools of diverse academic fields—including art history, material culture studies, literary, intellectual and scientific history, and psychology—to gain insight into Fancy and its relationship to early 19th-century American life.