Gilded New York: Design, Fashion, and Society
Museum of the City of New York November 2013 — May 2017
The gilded decades of the late nineteenth century were a vital and glamorous era in New York City. The new industrialists, many of whom built fortunes during the Civil War, demonstrated their wealth by erecting vast Fifth Avenue mansions filled with precious objects and important painting collections — and of course, by hosting elaborate fetes and balls.
This is the moment of Mrs. Astor’s “Four Hundred,” the rise of the Vanderbilts and Morgans, Maison Worth, Tiffany & Co., Duveen, and Allard. Gilded New York, co-curated with Donald Albrecht and Phyllis Magidson, examines the social and cultural history of these years, focusing on interior design and decorative arts, fashion and jewelry, and the publications that were the progenitors of today’s shelter magazines.
“At the turn of the 19th century, status was everything. New York high society was coming of age. Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Astors, and other wealthy families fashioned their homes in the image of European aristocracy. Balls and dinner parties dominated the scene. Gilded New York showcases the lavish furnishings, clothing, and interiors of a new elite whose love of over-the-top style continues to influence our culture."
— Elle Decor
The exhibition was the first to be shown in the newly-funded Tiffany & Company Foundation Gallery, a completely renovated space fitted with new lighting and state-of-the-art exhibition cases. Architect William Georges designed the lush interior with Gilded New York in mind. The exhibition was the culmination of Tiffany’s support for this multi-year project.
“The staggering sums spent on art at last week’s auctions were interpreted by dealers and critics alike as evidence of a new Gilded Age. At such a moment, it may be useful to take a hard look at the old one, the late 19th-century period defined by the aggressive buying sprees of a few newly minted industrialists.”
— Karen Rosenberg, New York Times
Gilded New York: Design, Fashion, and Society
Exhibition Catalogue
In this lavishly illustrated catalogue, the curators of Gilded New York examine the social and cultural history of these years, focusing on interior design and decorative arts, fashion and jewelry, and the publications that were the progenitors of today’s shelter magazines. Essays by Donald Albrecht, Jeannine Falino, Phyllis Magidson, Susan Johnson, and Thomas Mellins. New York: Monacelli Press in association with the Museum of the City of New York, 2013, Hardcover, 240 pages, 9x11; ISBN 9781580933674
“Forget the 1 percent. Consider them gracious and empathetic compared with the denizens of Gilded New York during two decades of excess from 1885 to 1905. This lavishly illustrated volume illuminates the mansions, costumes and other accouterments of the people whose philanthropy helped produce the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Opera, but whose self-indulgence also gave big money a bad name.”
—Sam Roberts, New York Times
“Through jeweled tiaras and gold Ascot pins, family portraits gleaming with trompe l’oeil satin, and photos of the homes of the nouveau riche, the authors illustrate the transformations wrought by manna storms of wealth, the social mobility they encouraged and the cultural institutions they fostered, many of which continue to be cherished.”
—Julie Lasky, The New York Times Gift Guide
“This cast of characters offers up endless entertainment. It is comprehensive, juicy and filled with gorgeous photos. In addition, it really showcases just how disproportionate life was in New York at the time. Like all good history lessons, there's a lot of insight on these pages that feels very relevant today. It paints a pretty fascinating portrait of those few in riches while so many more were in rags.”
—The Huffington Post
Lectures & Workshops
An Aristocracy of Wealth: New York’s Gilded Age Society through the Decorative Arts, Park Avenue Armory, December 1, 2014
New York's Gilded Age, NEH Summer Institute on American Material Culture: Nineteenth Century New York, Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture, July 2015
Gilded Lives: New York Fashion and Design, 1880–1914, American Decorative Arts Forum of Northern California, San Francisco, August 20, 2013
Dilatory Domiciles: New York’s Gilded Elite on Long Island, Preservation Long Island, January 27, 2018