Alexandra Kirtley
Friday, March 15, 2002
2:00 - 3:30
‘From 1770 it took a Spring:' The Furniture Tradition of Late 18th and Early 19th Century Baltimore
Location: Room 309, Simons Center for the Arts

Biography: Alexandra Kirtley is Assistant Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. She received her Master of Arts from the University of Delaware, where she was a Lois F. McNeil Fellow in the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture. Her thesis was entitled "‘Procured of the best and most Fashionable Materials:' The Furniture and Furnishings of the Lloyd Family, 1750-1850." Ms. Kirtley also has completed study through The Attingham Summer School, and she received her Bachelors degree from Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Ms. Kirtley has had an active lecture schedule, presenting material for organizations and events such as the Winterthur Museum Colloquium, The Baltimore Museum of Art, The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, and The Antiquarian Society of Richmond. Her publications include "A New Suspect: Baltimore Cabinetmaker Edward Priestley (1778-1837)," which appeared in American Furniture.

Synopsis: Nothing more than a village in the shadow of Annapolis, which was recognized as America's colonial Athens, the social and economic prominence of the town of Baltimore exploded on the eve of the American Revolution. Fueled mainly by the trade of wheat, the primary interest of her ever-increasing number of citizens was mercantile trade with the West Indies, South America, and China. Requisite with the increase in population and wealth was a craftsmen's community to support the fashionable desires and whims of her people. Craftsmen flocked to Baltimore from within America and, additionally, Baltimore was the desired drop-off point for thousands of immigrants from England and continental Europe who brought with them tools of the current fashionable trades there. The furniture produced by those craftsmen for their wealthy clients provides not only the best image of the history of the charming city of Baltimore, but also a look at some of the finest examples of American Federal and Classical furniture.

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