The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Furniture Finishing
In commercializing it unfortunately the worst rather than the best was adopted as already indicated in the chapter on Spanish Renaissance.
Oak was the wood uniformly employed, stained various shades of brown, gray and green according to the fancy of the manufacturer, the pores left unfilled, then shellaced and waxed. Fumed, a light brown color, was the most popular shade. The later golden oak, a new finish of glossy lustre, did not represent any distinctive style.
Plate XLII.—Mission Sideboard and Table of Oak.
By the opening of the twentieth century the furniture manufacturing industry in the United States had passed from the hands of mere profit seekers to men with an increasing perception of the value of correct design. From this time the industry has progressed steadily to a realization of its position as heir to all the periods, free to adapt or to adopt and fully conscious of its tremendous influence in developing good taste rather than mere catering to the vogue of the moment.
Moderns
AT THE time of this writing it is rather difficult to appraise accurately so contemporary a furniture style as that known variously as Modern, Modernistic or Twentieth Century. Developed from a distinctive architectural style it epitomizes a new artistic view point that achieved its first and strongest following in Sweden, the country of its origin. From there it passed through Germany and France to the United States.
Its protagonists in the field of furniture and interior decoration hold that it is no more a criticism of Louis XVI, Hepplewhite, Adam and Early American to say that they have served their time in this century than it would be to say that sailing ships, spinning wheels and sedan chairs should be retained with them because they are also graceful and beautiful.
Like all revolutionary styles interpreted by designers of varying talents in various countries Moderne very nearly fell a victim to its most enthusiastic disciples. Many early examples thus achieved only the bizarre but with time the treatment settled into a harmoniously simple if at times severely practical expression of an age which has learned to find true art in industry.
Decoratively the style may be summed up in plain smooth surfaces, simple contours, and architectural solidity in construction, single tones and sharp contrasts in color, an appearance of ease in upkeep, a strong metallic note, absence of inaccessible parts and of all ornamental detail.
The interpretations in metal run to chromium plated steel in square and round tubular designs. In wood the lack of conventional decoration leaves the field to veneers of light and dark woods in soft, unobtrusive markings, both native and exotic. Ebony, straight grained walnut, mahogany and oak are found with birch, maple, satin wood, tulip wood, thuya wood, rosewood, sycamore, zebra wood and cherry.
