I'm a huge fan of old European furniture, the real classic stuff, like Louis XV and XVI, and early French Empire. Most people find this stuff too fussy and/or ornate. To my eye, much of the Stickley style is too geometric, and for Arts and Crafts styles I'm much more likely to lean to Greene and Greene for example. So here's a question for anyone out there, can good design be recognized without the context? If one were not conversant with Chinese furniture for example, would it be obvious which were great pieces and which were not? Or any other unfamiliar style?
This question arises as I read some older books (1930's-1940's) on furniture design and style. There is, to me, a lot of bias in the writing, for example describing French Empire as a degenerate form of the high style court furniture of the Louis'.
So an alternative question is this: Is it still possible to design and build a drop dead gorgeous French Empire piece or would it be destined to be only duplication or pastiche? Can you only look back or can you go back?
Now my brain hurts...
Steve Warburton