VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents a MFAH Special Lecture -  French Marquetry: Learning by Looking, Saturday, December 10. The exhibition Life & Luxury: The Art of Living in Eighteenth-Century Paris includes several masterworks of French marquetry. Learn more from Alton Bowman when he visits the MFAH today for two sessions devoted to the topic (10 am and 2 pm).

Marquetry, first described during the 16th century, is decorative work in which elaborate, organic patterns are formed on a surface such as furniture with wood veneers, shell, or ivory. The complexity and opulence of marquetry rose to new heights during the 18th century by the hand of André-Charles Boulle, cabinet-maker to King Louis XIV of France.

Join furniture conservator, designer, and fabricator Alton Bowman to view examples of marquetry in the Life & Luxury exhibition. Then observe a demonstration of a marquetry donkey; view other traditional wood-working tools; and hear about Bowman’s experience at l’École Boulle in Paris, where the art of marquetry is taught today as it was during the 18th century.

About the Speaker
Furniture conservator and master craftsman Alton Bowman is a professional associate member of the American Institute of Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works.

Pictured:  Clock movement by Jean-Romilly, Case attributed to Charles Cressent, Bracket by Jean-Joseph de Saint-Germain, Clock on Bracket (Cartel sur une console), c. 1758, gilt bronze, enameled metal, and glass, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.