Headlines at Hopkins
News Release

Office of News and Information
Johns Hopkins University
901 South Bond Street, Suite 540
Baltimore, Maryland 21231
Phone: 443-287-9960 | Fax: 443-287-9920

February 26, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Heather Egan Stalfort
(410) 516-0341 ext. 17
hestalfort@jhu.edu


Evergreen Announces "The House Beautiful"
Lecture Series

The second annual "The House Beautiful" lecture series at The Johns Hopkins University's Evergreen Museum & Library explores ways in which Evergreen has both inspired — and been inspired by — trends in artful design.

The series presents notable experts and authors in the field of artistic design and decorative arts. A lightly catered reception follows each lecture.

The lectures will be held in the Bakst Theatre at Evergreen Museum & Library, 4545 N. Charles Street, Baltimore. Tickets are $20 each lecture; $15 for Evergreen members and students with valid ID. Series tickets are available for $48; $33 for Evergreen members and students with valid ID.

Advance pre-paid reservations are recommended as seating is limited. Tickets are available online through MissionTix at www.missiontix.com, by phone at 410-516-0341, or in person at the museum (handling charges apply for phone and online orders).

"Billy Baldwin: Baltimore's Brilliant Boy," by James Abbott
Wednesday, March 25, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

"The gates of Evergreen had opened up a whole new world to me. There I was surrounded by the best art and music... I knew I could never return to the life I had led before." So wrote Baltimore-born Billy Baldwin (1903 1983) — "dean of decorators" of the post-war era — after one of his many visits to the Garrett home. Evergreen Museum & Library director-curator James Abbott will explore the wisdom, versatility, and occasional wickedness of the Monument City's most recognized interior decorator, and examine the unique relationship between Baldwin's home town and his still-influential design vocabulary, which melded common sense practicality with the fastidious precision of a gentleman's tailor. Abbott has previously held the position of curator at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Boscobel Restoration, Inc., and Historic Hudson Valley. His publications include: Jansen Furniture (2007) and Jansen (2006), both published by Acanthus Press.

"Lockwood de Forest and the East Indian Craft Revival," by Roberta A. Mayer
Wednesday, April 22, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Lockwood de Forest (1850 1932) is best known as an artistic decorator with a flair for designs based on the arts and crafts of the Middle East and India. He drew attention to the work of the mistri of Ahmedabad, India — a sub-caste of highly skilled wood carvers — and House Beautiful described his New York City home as "the most Indian house in America." De Forest, who began his professional career in partnership with Louis Comfort Tiffany, created Anglo-Indian interior designs that were in demand by some of the most visible figures of the Gilded Age, including Mary Elizabeth Garrett. Roberta A. Mayer, de Forest expert and author of the new release, Lockwood de Forest: Furnishing the Gilded Age with a Passion for India (University of Delaware Press, 2009), will explore the designer's career within the context of the late-19th-century East Indian Craft Revival. Mayer is Associate Professor of Art History at Bucks County Community College in Pennsylvania.

"Antebellum Opulence: Portland, Maine's Victoria Mansion," by Arlene Palmer Schwind
Wednesday, May 27, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Victoria Mansion appears today much as it did in 1860 when it was decorated and furnished by Gustave Herter as a summer home for a New Orleans hotelier. The house is the earliest known Herter commission, and the only one that is still intact. Remarkably, more than 90 percent of the original contents survive, including important furniture from the Herter workshops, elaborate wall paintings, artworks, carpets, gas lighting fixtures, stained glass, porcelain, silver, and glassware. Curator Arlene Palmer Schwind will discuss the history, architecture, furnishings, and restoration challenges of this unique historic house museum, whose opulent interiors suggest how the original 1857 Evergreen House may have been decorated. A Baltimore native and graduate of Goucher College, Schwind received an M.A. in the Winterthur Program at the University of Delaware and worked as a curator at the Winterthur Museum before moving to Maine in 1980.

About Evergreen Museum & Library

Housed in a former Gilded Age mansion surrounded by Italian-style gardens, Evergreen Museum & Library is at once an intimate collection of international fine and decorative arts, rare books and manuscripts assembled by two generations of Baltimore's B&O Garrett family and a vibrant, inspirational venue for contemporary artists. The museum contains more than 50,000 of the Garretts' belongings — including post-Impressionist paintings and drawings, Asian decorative arts, and the John Work Garrett Library — and one of the largest private collections of Louis Comfort Tiffany glass. For information, visit www.museums.jhu.edu.