The Huntington’s collection of American decorative art spans a great range of styles, functions, and media, with examples from the colonial period through the 20th century. It is composed of furniture; silver; ceramics; glass; and metalwork, including jewelry, desk implements, and architectural ornaments. The collection has grown significantly in recent years. When The Huntington’s first American art galleries opened in 1984, it held 152 such objects. Twenty-five years later, there are approximately 950 pieces in the collection, many of which are displayed in the new galleries.
Nelson worked closely on the new installation with Jessica Todd Smith, Virginia Steele Scott Curator of American Art. As curator of American decorative arts at The Huntington, Nelson will be responsible for a prominent portion of the collections, with highlights spanning the history of art made in the United States, such as a prime example of a high chest of drawers made in Salem, Mass., in 1755–75; a rare cabinet from Ralph Whitehead’s Byrdcliffe Arts Colony (1904); a recently acquired library table made by designer Charles Rohlfs (1853–1936); and an extraordinary stained glass window designed by George Washington Maher (1864–1926). There is also a strong silver collection from the colonial period and a nascent but growing group of metal works and ceramics.
Nelson served as director of the Long Beach Museum of Art from 1989 to 2006 and as chief administrator for exhibitions at the American Federation of the Arts in New York from 1983 to 1989. He is also a former Smithsonian Research Fellow at the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. He has written numerous publications exploring decorative arts and contemporary craft. In 2007 he co-authored with Bernard Jazzar Painting with Fire: Masters of Enameling in America, 1930–1980, the definitive text on its subject. He also has written on such topics as Wedgwood Fairyland lusterware, contemporary wood sculpture, postwar ceramics, and 18th-century American furniture.
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