A Visual Dictionary of Decorative and Domestic Arts

With roots in the quest for orderly terminology by pioneer conservator (and Monuments Man) George Stout, beginning in 1938, and continuing through the Getty’s Art and Architecture Thesaurus of the 1980s, a 21st-century vocabulary is now available in A Visual Dictionary of Decorative and Domestic Arts. We thank respected conservator Nancy Odegaard and talented graphic illustrator Gerry Crouse for this guide to ‘just the right word’ to describe the indescribable details of candlesticks, frames, historical jewelry, and much much more. – Joyce Hill Stoner, PhD, Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Material Culture, University of DelawareThis visual dictionary is an excellent resource for curators, registrars, and collection managers for use in condition checking artworks or cataloging collections. – Diana Pardue, Chief Curator, Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZAs anyone involved in the cataloging of decorative arts knows, there are myriad ways for objects to be described. Nowhere, however, can one turn to an easily understood and comprehensive compendium of commonly employed terms. This volume sets out to change that by defining easily understood descriptive terms for common classes of material objects. These terms are then tied to exploded drawings of common classes of decorative arts to show the reader how they might be employed. Finally, a resource that provides a common descriptive terminology for everyday use. A must for the bookshelf of museum curators, serious collectors and auction professionals. – C. Wesley Cowan, Vice Chair, Hindman LLC and Founder Cowan’s Auctions LLC

Nancy Odegaard is Conservator at the Arizona State Museum and Professor at the University of Arizona. She utilized three scholar residency awards to conduct intellectual research on the parts or vocabularies for handcrafted domestic and decorative objects. In 2001 she conducted research while a research fellow at the Winterthur Library and Archives, in 2007 she continued research while a fellow at the Getty Conservation Institute, and in 2015 she added research as a fellow at ICCROM in Rome. Her books have received three Kress Publication Awards from the AIC. She has published over 200 chapters, journal articles, conference proceedings, newsletter pieces, posters, and electronic media. She is an elected fellow of the AIC and IIC, and has been an active member in AAM, ATALM, ICOM.

Gerry Wagner Crouse has worked in illustration and graphic media for over 20 years. She has extensive experience and training with scientific line-drawing illustration as well as 3D animation graphics. Her graphic artworks have been utilized by Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Buhl Planetarium, Houston Museum of Natural History Science Planetarium, Louisiana Art and Science Museum, and National Geographic Television. Currently, she works by contract with museums, tribal communities, contract resource management firms, planetariums, and educational agencies.

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