American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts, 1790-1840

With the twist of a kaleidoscope, American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts,1790-1840 transforms our understanding of early American culture and style. Fancy provided an alternative to the time-honored tenets of restrained classical style. Although Fancy's creative powers have long been recognized in bold expressions of poetry and prose, its impact on the material world has been largely overlooked until now. Fancy was one of the most progressive movements in American cultural history, and it inspired a myriad of expressions in a variety of media, many of them previously classified as folk art.

Americans eagerly gravitated to the engaging new style and enriched their minds and their homes with dazzling colors, eye-catching patterns, and animated forms. A broad range of novel furnishings—Fancy furniture, Fancy textiles, Fancy ceramics, Fancy metalwork, and Fancy glass—nurtured Fancy’s lively character not only in the home, but in the workplace as well. By recontextualizing the forgotten world of Fancy artifacts, this thought-provoking and lavishly illustrated volume adds a new layer to America’s rich artistic legacy and establishes an interdisciplinary model for decorative arts studies.