It is no secret that New Orleans and the surrounding region have long been a hotbed of creativity, giving rise to the careers of many artists, musicians, and writers, but little attention has been given to the remarkable decorative arts and craftsmen of this area. From the early 18th through the mid-19th centuries, distinctive cabinetmaking traditions developed in the Mississippi River valley through a melding of French, Anglo-American, Caribbean, Canadian, and African influences. Furnishing Louisiana: Creole and Acadian Furniture, 1735 1835 stands as a tribute to the region s cultural diversity and remarkable artistry.

Louisiana s earliest colonial furniture hewed closely to French models. Yet an influx of immigrants at the turn of the 19th century refugees from the Haitian Revolution, Anglo-Americans drawn south and west in the wake of the Louisiana Purchase had a striking impact on the region s crafts. The fusion of acculturated European craftsmanship and contemporary Anglo-American fashion produced a novel aesthetic in the New World a Louisiana Creole style. And while highly refined cabinet work emerged from cosmopolitan New Orleans, another tradition was developing to the west, on the Acadian prairies. Informed by distant memories of France and recent memories of Canada, modified by Louisiana s climate and available materials, Acadian furniture stands alongside Creole craftsmanship as an enduring reflection of a time, a place, and a people.

This elegant, beautifully designed work boasts more than 1,200 full-color illustrations, a comprehensive catalogue of furniture forms, and contextual essays on cabinetmakers, materials, techniques, trade, and the interiors of early Louisiana homes.

H. Parrott Bacot, professor emeritus of art history at Louisiana State University, served as the curator/director of the university s art museum for thirty-three years. There he amassed significant collections of Louisiana fine and decorative arts. He has authored or coauthored numerous exhibition catalogues, articles for learned journals, and three books. Bacot has lectured at a majority of the antiques forums in America, including those of Colonial Williamsburg and the Henry Ford Museum. He has served as an interiors consultant for a number of public and private historic houses.

Brian J. Costello, an eleventh-generation Louisianian, is a graduate of Louisiana State University in history and English. He is the author of nineteen books and has participated in several documentaries and forums on Louisiana history, culture, genealogy, linguistics, Carnival, and flood control. He is the founding and current archivist of the Pointe Coupee Parish Library Historical Materials Collection.

Sarah Doerries earned an MFA in poetry at Louisiana State University, where she was editorial assistant at the Southern Review. She was an assistant dean and taught creative writing at Tulane University before becoming books editor at The Historic New Orleans Collection. Her poetry and reviews have been published in several literary magazines.

Jessica Dorman is director of publications at The Historic New Orleans Collection. She earned her PhD in the history of American Civilization from Harvard University and has taught American Studies at Trinity College (Hartford) and Penn State Harrisburg.

Cybele Trione Gontar is adjunct professor of art history at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. A PhD candidate in American art at the Graduate Center, CUNY, and a graduate of the Parsons/Cooper-Hewitt master s degree program in the history of decorative arts, she is a contributing author to the New Orleans Museum of Art collection handbook and has published numerous articles on nineteenth-century decorative and fine arts. Jack D. Holden, M.D., is a retired pathologist and collector of Louisiana material culture. He graduated from Louisiana State University medical school. Dr. Holden has published several articles on Louisiana furniture and architecture and was a primary participant in the 1976 bicentennial exhibition of Louisiana furniture in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Francis J. Puig, born in Cuba, immigrated to the United States in 1960. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he also received an MA in museum curatorship, Puig attended Yale for graduate work in American Studies. He was curator of decorative arts at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and organized the 1989 exhibition The American Craftsman and the European Tradition, 1620 1820. More recently he was responsible for restoration plans for the Cà   d Zan, John and Mable Ringling s home in Sarasota, Florida.

The Historic New Orleans Collection is a museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to the study and preservation of the history and culture of New Orleans, the lower Mississippi Valley, and Gulf South. The Collection is operated by the Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation, a Louisiana nonprofit corporation.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Historic New Orleans Collection; First edition (December 1, 2009)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 552 pages / color pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0917860560
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.6 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.1 x 1.9 x 12.1 inches