VICTORIANA

[Dr Doran]

After much thinking, I've realized that aesthetic-wise I'm more fond of Victorian than anything else. I still intend to wear 1930s and 1940s suits and collect some accoutrements from that period; however, Victorian furniture and such (or repro furniture of that style) is more interesting to me. Are there any collectors of Victoriana out here? I'd think so, but I haven't seen a thread dedicated to that purpose.

What particularly interests me is Victorian Wunderkammern or "curiosity cabinets/curiosity rooms" where people displayed their strangest artifacts, both natural (e.g. coral, shells, human skulls, preserved insects) and man-made (e.g. strange brass instruments, primitive art, ancient mandolins).

 

[Flivver]

I've been fascinated by the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago since I was a kid. I have always liked the spectacular architecture, but also the artifacts displayed inside the buildings and pavillions.

And my grandparents had lots of victorian furniture in their house that was purchased used when they got married in the teens. I always loved the ornateness of it...such a stark contrast to the modernistic "new" furniture that was so common in the 1950s, when I was a kid.

 

[Professor]

I'm fond of the Edwardian period myself. Used to focus on the Victorian period, but now find it a little too much, whereas by the time of the queen's death, style had cooled down to something more tasteful in my eye. Though my favorite time to live in would have been the Fifties, even then I would've been out of place style-wise!

 

[Professor]

I've been fascinated by the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago since I was a kid. I have always liked the spectacular architecture, but also the artifacts displayed inside the buildings and pavillions.

In the late Victorian period, Chicago was the place for architecture!

 

[dhermann1]

I grew up in a family where several generations had started families somewhat late. My maternal grandmother was born in 1885, and she had a big batch of older sisters who were "maiden ladies" as they used to be called. Also, Chautuauqua Institution is basically a Victorian town preserved in the present. So I had a strong Victorian influence in my upbringing. We also had a cottage there built in 1878, and of course all my grandmother's friends were products of that era as well. You can make a good case for the tie in of the Golden Era with the Victorian Era. Just look at the representation of elderly folks in 30's and 40's movies. The ladies all had high collars, long skirts and high buttoned shoes. The men had high starched collars and pince nez glasses. The Victorian Era represented the extreme old fashionedness that the modern (20's, 30's ,40's) era contrasted itself with. You can make the argument that the Golden Era contrasts much more strikingly with its previous time than ours does with the earlier period of the 50's and 60's. No horses and buggies to look back and laugh at.
Flivver, I have a friend who had an elderly cousin (I guess once or twice removed, an older generation) who was born in 1886. She was a neice of Thomas Edison and had a house full of old Edison phonographs of every sort. I remember her telling us when she was 89 about going to the 1893 Exposition at the age of 7. Her memories were very vivid.

 

[Flivver]

As a kid, my number one time travel dream was to visit the World's Columbian Exposition. I even acquired an admission ticket which I still have. And, I think, over the years, I've amassed just about every picture book published on the Fair.

 

[RetroPat]

My parents collected Victorian and Eastlake furniture during the early years of their marriage and when I was younger. Although their tastes shifted to Sheridan and Hepplewhite, we still have a number of Victorian pieces including family heirlooms. I myself love Victorian furniture, especially Eastlake, and find that I prefer it over Golden Era design (as much as I like that as well). I hope to decorate my future home in Victorian furnishings with some Golden Era pieces thrown in, especially in my home office. Studys/Dens just seem perfect for 1930's/1940's styling.

 

[Dr Doran]

I guess the truth is, I love Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau, and most Art Deco; but when Deco starts to get too geometric and unnatural, I find it ugly and long for organic shapes. I have come to loathe midcentury modern. I think there is something I just don't like about post-WW2 styles. The style represented by 1950s American prosperity when men start wearing hawaiian shirts and listening to Sinatra makes me just lose interest. It's that sort of thing that most makes me long for Victoriana.

Does anyone have any interest in Victorian Wunderkammern or chambers/cabinets of curiosities?

 

[BinkieBaumont]

"I find Victoriana, a bit fussy, not practical to live with in this day and age, I just find "Art Deco" timeless I bought most of my furniture in 1978, and it still looks beautiful and i never tire of it whilst my chumrades are re-decoarting every few years, ah well i suppose they are stimulating the economy"

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Just look at the representation of elderly folks in 30's and 40's movies. The ladies all had high collars, long skirts and high buttoned shoes. The men had high starched collars and pince nez glasses.

What was the thing with older men in the Victorian era and beards? In many pictures I've seen of that era the older gentlemen are almost always sporting long, flowing, gray beards while the younger men are either clean-shaven or just have a mustache.

 

[dhermann1]

Look at Civil War portraits. Long hair was very in back then. The famous pics of George Armstrong Custer, with his flowing blond locks, is typical. By the 1920's and 30's the few survuving Civil War vetarans often had long goatees. That's just what they preferred. Keep in mind, that was a very dramatic and romantic era. Read old letters of the time. They were very effusive and verbose.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I am getting sucked into the 19th Century as well as a result of the media I have been consuming lately: Brandreth's mysteries with Oscar Wilde as the detective, "The Last Dickens" by Matthew Pearl, "Return to Crawford" on Masterpiece Classics, and yes, the new Sherlock Holmes, whose costumes I admired.

I love the clothes of the time. Firstly, everything, in the early Victorian age, was hand-made and of extraordinary fabrics. In many ways, the waistcoats were the centerpiece of the outfits and these were beautiful. You see the buttons on eBay often and they are incredible.

It was an age of exploration, of a belief that society could be improved, naturalism was advanced. There were those interesting collections of bugs being mounted, birds, and other taxidermy. There was an orchid craze. The main source of power was steam.

You may see me in a frock coat and cravat, strolling around Cambridge like some new incarnation of Doctor Who!

 

[Foofoogal]

Look at Civil War portraits. Long hair was very in back then.

I was most struck when I visited the State Capitol of Texas in Austin that on the wall the men in the photos all had beards or mustaches. Not a single clean shaven one in the bunch.


I love Victorian everything as well as Art Deco. We have some Eastlake furniture I have been researching for years. One is a ladies rocker with arms that go down to accommodate the big bustle dress. Another is a deck chair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Arboretum
this states this place has the last fernery left in America. Can you imagine having a fernery?

 

[Dr Doran]

I love the clothes of the time. Firstly, everything, in the early Victorian age, was hand-made and of extraordinary fabrics. In many ways, the waistcoats were the centerpiece of the outfits and these were beautiful. You see the buttons on eBay often and they are incredible.

Those red brocade waistcoats are amazing. One sees them on "Deadwood" I think.

There were those interesting collections of bugs being mounted, birds, and other taxidermy.

Yes, this is the Wunderkammer thing I was talking about: cabinets of curiosities (or more literally chambers of wonders). Wooden cabinets, highly lacquered, in which were displayed wonders of the natural world such as precisely the items you describe, mixed with brass microscopes and other artificial wonders. These are the precursors of the modern museum, but up until the 19th century were designed more as displays to evoke awe and wonder than as scientifically organized places for investigation. A stuffed iguana, next to a Maori shrunken head, next to a Greek vase, next to an ornate mirror, next to a pickled sheep fetus, next to a Satanic grimoire. I love it.

You may see me in a frock coat and cravat, strolling around Cambridge like some new incarnation of Doctor Who!

Good man! I'll defend you if anyone slugs you. Although I bet you're pretty handy with the gold-tipped walking stick with a silver dog's head on it that you'll no doubt be sporting!

 

[Foofoogal]

http://cache.tias.com/stores/northforkpetsandantiques/
I guess ok to post this. If not delete. Scroll to bottom to see 3 shops.
This guy has the most unique Victorian anywhere.
He has a shop in historic Bucks County Pennsylvania, along the scenic Delaware River.

Our NEW ADDRESS is;

12 West Mechanic St. 2B New Hope Pa. 18938. (215) 862-3401

 

[Idledame]

Doran, I've always been fascinated by the idea of Curiosity Cabinets and decided as a kid I had to have one when I grew up. I don't actually have a cabinet but I have a hutch to serve the same purpose in my dining room. Other people seem to think it's unseemly, even somewhat revolting to have a mounted chicken skeleton (mounted-and with only a few bones left over, by moi), a pig skull, coprolite (petrified dinosaur poop), dried out lizards that my cat brought into the house and then lost) plus lots of other stuff, in view while they're eating dinner. You just can't please some people. I'm always surprised that so many people just give it one glance and keep walking.

 

[Dr Doran]

Foofoo, those catalogues are great!

Idyll, I have to confess a repulsion to coprolites especially while eating. I am not fond of anything that has to do with that topic. I am putting together a wonder-cabinet now, but it's not by the eating area. I do like The Grotesque, though, and if I could get an e.g. pig fetus or human hand in formaldehyde, I would. My parents once possessed two incredible taxidermied iguanas that they brought back from Mexico, just amazing, but as with all their cool stuff, they got rid of it at some garage sales over the years. I like skulls of all sorts both on a grotesque level and on a scientific level and even also on a vaguely religious/spiritual level of appreciation of (former) Life. My parents always hated my love of skulls and thought of it as Satanic! I have never been a Satanist of any stripe!

 

[Idledame]

Well, some coprolite still looks like its former self and some just look like odd rocks. And they're displayed with other rocks and fossils, so they don't really stand out that much. Skulls are so beautiful and it's interesting to look at the commonality and differences in skulls of different species.

 

[Mysterious Mose]

Doran, do you have a display cabinet, or a room to display your collection?
I have a lot of pretty weird old stuff, we have our ex-cat's skull, a human skull and a 19th century bulldog's, a fetal kitten in a jar, stuffed monkey, crow,a piranha and a snake ,some hourglasses, medical prints and stuff, religious tracts from a armless steelguitarist and a bunch of weird musical instruments and plenty vodvil and sideshow photos. I suppose we live in a Wunderkammer, but I can't seem to manage to make a nice display out of it. I do have a nice medicine cabinet with patent and recreational medicine bottles, jamaica ginger, Sterno's canned heat, Hadacol and a collection of burnt cork 'blackface' make-up tins. I'll post some pics, hope you'll do too.

 

[Dr Doran]

Mysterious, that is fantastic. I do not have a room dedicated as a Wunderkammer, as my apartment is only 1100 square feet, but I am working on dedicating an (antique) bookshelf for this purpose (once I remove its miscellaneous books and CDs, for which I think I can find room elsewhere). I love all the stuff that you and IdleDame are mentioning and I have always found skulls very beautiful and interesting. Where does one get fetal anything in a jar? Please tell me.

Yes, I would love to see pictures from the two of you and from anyone else, and once I get my thing together, I'll post some. I have all the curios for the cabinet -- I need only to get the cabinet itself figured out.

I love sinister. I love mysterious.