The Kaufman Collection of American Furniture

The Kaufman Collection of American Art

Masterpieces of American Furniture from the Kaufman Collection, 1700 – 1830 offers visitors to the nation’s capital an unprecedented opportunity to view some of the finest furniture made by colonial and post-revolutionary American artisans. This presentation includes more than one hundred objects from the promised gift, announced in 2010, of the collection formed by Linda H. Kaufman and the late George M. Kaufman. From a rare Massachusetts William and Mary japanned dressing table to Philadelphia’s outstanding rococo expressions and the early and later classical styles of the new federal republic, the Kaufman Collection presents a compendium of American artistic talent over more than a century of history. This promised gift marks the Gallery’s first acquisition of American decorative arts and dramatically transforms the collection, complementing the existing holdings of European decorative arts.

The Kaufman Collection represents five decades’ pursuit of the highest quality in American craftsmanship. The Kaufmans made their first acquisition in the late 1950s with the purchase of a chest of drawers to furnish an apartment in Charlottesville when George was completing his MBA at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Natives of Norfolk, Virginia, they returned afterward to their hometown. By the early 1970s their collection had grown as had their passion for excellence.

The book below was published in conjunction with an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art following the donation of this collection to the gallery.  It is part of the Smithsonian Institution and can be viewed for FREE the next time you’re in Washington.

Covering superb examples of the William and Mary, Queen Anne, Chippendale, Federal Period and American Classical styles.  With excellent photographs of the collection.

If you enlarge the book below as shown, you can also use the MAGNIFYING glass tool to further enlarge the images.