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Decorative Arts

The decorative art holdings of the Georgia Museum of Art are extensive and diverse. The curator of decorative arts directs the Henry D. Green Center for the Study of the Decorative Arts and provides programming for the study and exhibition of collections. Two galleries in the permanent collection wing of the museum are dedicated to decorative arts holdings: the Martha and Eugene Odum Gallery and the Phoebe and Edgar Forio Forio Gallery, both devoted to Georgia and related decorative arts. The wall case in Forio Gallery (created with funds from Alex and Claire Crumbley and Beverly Bremer) holds silver from America and Europe. American and other decorative arts are exhibited throughout the galleries. The decorative arts collection contains materials of many media that are the products of diverse artisans and communities. Although much of the collection comprises traditional materials, the Georgia Museum of Art also collects in the area of modern studio American craft and expansive holdings exist in those media as well.

  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Unidentified maker, antecedent of Michael Kaufold (American, active in Elbert County, Georgia), embroidered coverlet, ca. 1815–30. Colored thread on Manchester cloth with fringe, 97 1/2 × 82 1/2 inches (excluding fringe). Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift in honor of the ancestors of the Sorrow, Burt and Kaufold Families. GMOA 2012.431.
  • Georgia Museum of Art
    William Spratling (American, 1900–1967; active Taxco, Mexico), server, ca. 1950. Sterling silver. Marked Taxco, Mexico; WS; 925. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Collectors of the Georgia Museum of Art. GMOA 2011.44.
  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Baldwin Gardiner (American, 1791–1869; active Philadelphia 1815–1826, New York 1827–1847), pitcher, ca. 1836. Coin silver. Engraved: “Presented / TO / REV.d SAMUEL K. TALMAGE / By his late Congregation / IN AUGUSTA GEO / 1836.” Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase. GMOA 2005.31.
  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Unidentified maker (Lower Southern Piedmont, possibly August, Georgia), secretary and bookcase, ca. 1800–15. Primary wood: birch and walnut; secondary wood: southern yellow pine; inlay: holly; brass and ivory or bone. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of Beverly Hart Bremer and Phoebe Gould Forio. GMOA 2002.7.1-2.
  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Unidentified maker (American, Athens, Georgia), Windsor chair, 1800–40. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Levon C. Register. GMOA 2010.327.
  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Unidentified, female Cherokee detainee of the Army of the United States (active North Georgia), basket, ca. 1830. River cane and oak handles; walnut and butternut dyes. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of Denny and Peggy Galis. GMOA 2018.408.
  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Lucius Jordan (American, Washington County, Georgia, 1816 – ?), pitcher, 1884. Stoneware, 9 5/8 × 7 1/2 × 7 1/4 inches. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Byrnece Purcell Knox Swanson Acquisitions Fund and the William Underwood Eiland Endowment for Acquisitions made possible by M. Smith Griffith. GMOA 2017.299.
  • Georgia Museum of Art
    Wini McQueen (American, b. 1943), William Scott Duncanson, 1992. Cotton quilt with printed images. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; Gift of Martha Pitts Connell. GMOA 2015.52.