Virginia Sectional Furniture: 1800-1860
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The historical timing of the development of Virginia sectional furniture corresponds closely with the growing divisions in the United States after ratification of the Constitution, especially between North and South. President George Washington became increasingly alarmed and openly condemned sectionalism as "geographical discrimination" in his Farewell Address to the nation in 1796. As president, Washington alienated his own kinsmen in the South, and Virginia in particular, where there was growing discontent with federalism, the growth of government, especially the increasing power of the Treasury to tax and control the nation’s money supply. In the development of "big house" sectional furniture in Virginia between 1800 and 1860, there was a demonstration by wealthy and powerful Virginians, by behavior, desire and design, for more control over events and more personal space in which to act. It did not matter if members of Virginia's political class were in public or private spaces, these powerful Virginians wanted their historic rights and personal prerogatives respected and protected. Sectional seating gave them the ability to decide who was sitting with whom and how closely, thereby controlling access, association and communication regardless of the nature of the place, space or event. The development of sectional furniture in Virginia is a classic case of human history influencing the thinking, and eventually the behavior of people, to include their creativity in design and determination to produce what they wanted. Virginia sectional furniture was Jeffersonian in its nature, rural in its roots, versatile in its purposes, and yet discriminating in its design.
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About the Book
Discover nineteenth century sectional furniture through the detailed field notes and on-the-spot photographs of long-time furniture collector and historian Hal Stuart. For eight years, Mr. Stuart studied a unique Virginia furniture form that was divided by families, obscured by vague description, and nearly wiped-out by the American Civil War. His discoveries are derided by many in the antique and decorative arts trades as trivial. Even Antiques Roadshow ignored his finds when they were in Richmond, Virginia in 2013. Now you can read and view for yourself fifteen different antebellum Virginia sectional furniture pieces. Below is what other people are saying and or writing about his work: Oscar Fitzgerald author of Four Hundred Years of American furniture, April 12, 2015, “Gilbert Rohde and/or Donald Deskey often get credit for inventing the form so I delight in sharing your information with the class.” Eve Kahn, “Antiques,” New York Times, April 10, 2015,”He has delved so deeply into the research that he has replicated the reddish finishes on sofas, by mixing red brick dust with lemon juice, linseed oil, vinegar, and buttermilk.” Lindley Estes, “Is the sectional sofa a Virginia invention?” Free Lance Star, July 8, 2013,” Hal Stuart, an avid furniture collector for 30 years, had found a piece that most furniture historians deny exists.” Thomas Williams, Sotheby’s of London, April 14, 2015, “Fascinating stuff.”
About the Author
Hal Stuart grew-up with a love of American history. His father took him to his first of many museums, at about five years of age, Memorial Hall in Deerfield, Massachusetts. From his earliest years, he enjoyed the graphic, decorative and functional arts. Mr. Stuart began studying antebellum Virginia sectional furniture in 2007 after buying a raw, un-upholstered sectional sofa frame at auction. He became intrigued by the linear design, simple, durable construction, and the many ways the three sections could be arranged for different social and/or work situations. Since his sectional sofa purchase, he has spent eight years studying other Virginia sectional furniture, culminating in the writing of this book. Mr. Stuart has proven antebellum Virginia sectional furniture was the first sectional furniture produced in the United States, in any quantity or quality, reversing decades of furniture history. Several articles have appeared in the New York Times, Maine Antique Digest, and southern newspapers, such as The Free Lance Star detailing his field work and scholarship. To date, the articles focused on Mr. Stuart’s many public presentations, co-curating of exhibits, and his on-going field studies into the numbers, styles, materials, construction techniques, distribution and evolving uses of Virginia sectional furniture. Over the years, Mr. Stuart has become an acknowledged expert on this unique “big house” Virginia plantation furniture form. This first book, in the form of an in-depth field study, is a third step forward, beyond the presentations and articles, chronicling how antebellum Virginia sectional furniture developed, evolved for more than half the nineteenth century, and then disappeared at the start of the Civil War. For decades, Modern-era designers, such as Le Corbusier, Donald Deskey and Gilbert Rhodes, were credited with the invention of sectional furniture. Modernist-era designers only “re-invented” sectional furniture, and yet in forms that are not as portable and versatile as their much earlier Virginian forerunners. Mr. Stuart lives with his wife Laura in a constant-state of restoration, ramshackle historic house in the Tidewater Region of Virginia. The Stuarts share their home with three rescued hunting dogs, Lady-Bird, Brownie-Lou and Ol’ Yellar. Mr. Stuart is a retired military officer and civil servant who served in both the Departments of the Air Force and Navy. He is also a retired real estate broker.