Furniture masterpieces of Duncan Phyfe by Cornelius Charles Over 1890-1937

Author:Cornelius, Charles Over, 1890-1937
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Phyfe, Duncan, 1768-1854, Furniture
Publisher: Garden City, N. Y. : Pub. for the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Doubleday, Page & company
Published: 1922-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

arrangements for a portrait. Here, then, it was that Phyfe lived and worked, within a stone's throw of St. Paul's and almost within sight of the new City Hall, while before his eyes passed the varied pageant of the city's life, its parades, its fires and pestilences, its physical changes and growth.

The fashions of the day were too strong to be combated, and as the years went by Phyfe found it necessary to drift further and further away from the original distinction of style which had characterized his work. His earliest pieces, derived almost wholly from Hepplewhite and Sheraton, are worthy of a place beside any of their European contemporaries. The severe simpKcity which was characteristic of much of it was not a sudden break from the simple but dignified furniture, Chippendale in origin, which was popular in the post-Revolutionary years of the eighteenth century. The influence of France, very strong in New York, and noticeable in costumes as well, led him early to adopt many motives of Directoire and Consulate origin, but he combined them skillfully with those of his earliest practice, still keeping the delicate scale and fine finish of the latter. As this French influence increased, the heavier forms of the French Empire came into vogue, and in response to the demands of his clients, by this time numerous, Phyfe was forced to enter into a style of work which was much inferior to that of his earlier days. Even this heavier work, with its use of gilt metal, is well made from a craftsman's point of view and possesses a certain character in spite of its over-solidity. The still further change which came with the dark ages of black walnut led him into the labyrinth of bad taste from which there was no egress.

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