{"id":362,"date":"2016-01-17T18:23:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-17T18:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/17\/alexander-girard-2\/"},"modified":"2016-01-17T18:23:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-17T18:23:00","slug":"alexander-girard-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/alexander-girard-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Girard"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nAlexander Girard  
\n1907-1994<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n\u201cArt is only art when it is synonymous with living.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIt is mid January and we are in the midst of winter here in
\nNorth America.  Even Santa Fe, which is
\nusually not bitter cold has seen a blast of chilling winds and snow.  It is a perfect time to spend an afternoon
\n(or two) at a museum.. We are blessed with many fine museums and galleries,
\nhere, and one of my favorites, of which I often write, is The International
\nFolk Art Museum.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nOne wing of the museum was designed in 1981 (opened in 1982)
\nby Girard to house the Girard Family Foundation Collection of Folk Art.  Over 100,000 pieces collected by Girard and
\nhis wife, Susan, are in the collection and are on view, many displays  were designed by Girard himself.  <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThis fascinating array of folk art from around the world
\ncannot be appreciated in a single viewing. 
\nIndeed, every time I visit I find objects that I had overlooked.  Small ceramic pieces arranged in a depiction
\nof village life, fiber flowers, and, of course, examples of very fine
\ntextiles.  These objects were not
\ncreated in factories, nor manufactured in lots of thousands to be sold on the
\nopen market.  Rather, each has been
\ncreated by craftsmen and represent the artistic considerations of their ethnic
\nbackgrounds.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Spirit of Folk Art
The Girard Collection at the Museum of International Folk Art
Henry Glassie, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., NY, in association with the Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWhile Girard is known as a great collector of folk art,
\nthere is another aspect to this man\u2019s contributions to the field of art<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nHe is probably one of the least known, but at the same time
\n, one of the finest designers of textiles in modern times.  Born in New York, he was raised in Italy
\nwhere he studied architecture. 
\nEventually, he moved to Detroit and worked as a designer for Ford and
\nLincoln Motors and as a color consultant for General Motors.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nFortunately for us New Mexicans, he and his wife, Susan
\nmoved to Santa Fe in 1952 and became the director of textile designs for Herman
\nMiller until 1973.  His designs reflect
\nhis training in architecture and are known for his explosive use of color.  He designed over 300 textiles, as well as,
\nwallpapers and decorative prints, furniture and other decorative objects. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Plazzo, 1976
Alexander Girard
collection of the Art Institute of Chicago<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
\nOne of his designs was issued in
\ncollaboration with Jack Lenor Larsen (in fact this was the only Girard design
\nLarsen produced).  Entitled \u201cPalazzo\u201d,
\nthis piece was unique in several ways. 
\nIt was a triptych of a European city featuring stylized buildings,
\nbridges and archways.  Instead of using
\nvibrant color, this piece, intended as a furnishing fabric, was screen-printed
\nin white and shades of brown on a brown linen ground fabric.  The textile was given by Larsen, from his
\ncollection, to the Art Institute of Chicago and was featured in an exhibition <\/span><\/div>\n
\n\u201cThe 20<\/span>th<\/sup>-Century Textile Artist\u201d in 1999 at the Institute.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Christa C. Thurman, Curator of Textiles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThe Herman Miller collection is reissuing some of Girard
\ntextile designs.  <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nAlso, Girard Studio was created by the Girard family to
\n\u201cpreserve and promote the design legacy and archive of Alexander Girard\u201d.  Its mission is \u201cReintroducing Girard to the
\npublic\u201d.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\nOf interest to those of us dining in Santa Fe, the interior
\nof the famous Compound restaurant was designed  by
\nGirard in 1966.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alexander Girard   1907-1994 \u201cArt is only art when it is synonymous with living.\u201d It is mid January and we are in the midst of winter here in North America.  Even Santa Fe, which is usually not bitter cold has seen a blast of chilling winds and snow.  It is a perfect time to spend an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinnamonstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}