New technological innovations and the burgeoning neoclassical style merged at the turn of the 19th century to develop into the fashion for “fancy” painted furniture and lavishly painted interior decoration. Wallpapers, painted murals, and decorative treatments in a neoclassical style transported viewers to far-off destinations, illuminated by new advances in interior lighting. Drama and illusion were the rage. This talk will focus on examples from the extraordinary collection of American folk art of Jonathan and Karin Fielding, which is on display in eight specially designed galleries at The Huntington. Renowned for its New England painted furniture, the collection includes examples of faux-painted surfaces, elaborate wood-graining, and smoke-decorated case furniture, boxes, and small objects. This talk will explore the range of styles and forms, including painted fireboards and architectural elements, set within the historical context of the period. The talk will also present a new project underway to conserve and install a group of painted wall murals from the parlor of the Trickey House in Westbrook, Maine. Painted in the 1830s by Jonathan Poor, the nephew and apprentice of the famous New England muralist and polymath Rufus Porter, the walls were moved to a house in Nantucket before being acquired by the Fieldings and donated to The Huntington in 2018. The walls show views of the Maine coastline and feature distinctive elements of Jonathan Poor’s work. They will be installed and open to the public next year.

Dennis Carr joined The Huntington as the Virginia Steele Scott Chief Curator of American Art in January 2020. For the previous 13 years, he was the Carolyn and Peter Lynch Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. His projects at The Huntington have included “Made in L.A. 2020: a version,” the biennial of contemporary art organized by the Hammer Museum, “Borderlands,” a reinstallation of the Virginia Steele Scott and Lois and Robert F. Erburu Galleries of American Art, and the recent exhibitions “Gee’s Bend: Shared Legacy” and “Sargent Claude Johnson,” which featured an accompanying catalogue. He holds graduate degrees in the history of art at Yale University and the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, and was a 2019 fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership.