Mexican Interiors

Fülszöveg

mexican interiors
By Verna Cook Shipway and Warren Shipway
Beyond the façade of the Mexican house is a world of unusual beauty and character, the result of a marriage of Spanish and Indian cultures, of Old World tradition and New Wcrld innovation. Rarely does the visitor have an opportunity to see this harmonious blend of elegance and simplicity which is the Mexican house at its best. In this handsome volume, Warren and Verna Cook Shipway, authorities on domestic architecture, take the reader across the threshold for a close look at the Mexican house.
Here is the Mexican house in detail: corre-dores overlooking pleasant patios; bee-hive fireplaces blooming with pink and yellow paper flowers in handsome jardinieres; richly painted carvings of saints on coffee tables, or in corner niches; subtly shaded tiles on kitchen walls and patio floors; 18th century lacquer-work chests; Queen Anne style chairs, adapted by Indian artisans to a Mexican idiom; ornately paneled doors; latticed... Tovább

Fülszöveg

mexican interiors
By Verna Cook Shipway and Warren Shipway
Beyond the façade of the Mexican house is a world of unusual beauty and character, the result of a marriage of Spanish and Indian cultures, of Old World tradition and New Wcrld innovation. Rarely does the visitor have an opportunity to see this harmonious blend of elegance and simplicity which is the Mexican house at its best. In this handsome volume, Warren and Verna Cook Shipway, authorities on domestic architecture, take the reader across the threshold for a close look at the Mexican house.
Here is the Mexican house in detail: corre-dores overlooking pleasant patios; bee-hive fireplaces blooming with pink and yellow paper flowers in handsome jardinieres; richly painted carvings of saints on coffee tables, or in corner niches; subtly shaded tiles on kitchen walls and patio floors; 18th century lacquer-work chests; Queen Anne style chairs, adapted by Indian artisans to a Mexican idiom; ornately paneled doors; latticed windows; bright colors and soft lighting. Richness and variety, bold design and delicate detail—all these are essentials of the Mexican house.
The modern Mexican house has evolved slowly and gracefully, and " many important architectural and decorative elements of today's house are a heritage from the past. With skill and perception, the authors examine the influences which have formed the unique character of the Mexican house—the strong strain from old Spain in custom and in unconscious adaptation, the pre-Conquest designs still used as motifs, the uninhibited vigor which found expression in the Baroque, the indelible impress of an Indian heritage. All these, coming together in Mexican society, have produced a style of decorative art at once bold and subtle contradic-
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tory in its components yet harmonious in its effect. Most striking is the constant interplay of values in Mexican decorative design—light and shade, a delicate balance of old and new, warm colors against cool.
The contents of this book are as varied as the interior of the Mexican house itself. From views of complete rooms the authors move to examine individual pieces — cabinets, tables, chests, beds. Appointments are given careful attention — gilded mirrors, candelabra, silver, and objets d'art. Here, too, are examples of folk art—pottery, papier-mache masks, ceramic figures—all of which play an important part in Mexican decorating schemes.
Both professional collectors and decorators and laymen who are well-acquainted with European and American decorative art, will welcome this opportunity to examine in detail the unique contributions which the Mexican house has to offer in the field of interior decoration and design. With rare exceptions, most of the material presented here was photographed in private homes not open to the public.
Mexican Interiors is an unusual book which gives the reader an intimate view of a traditionally gracious way of life. It will be of interest to the decorator, the artist, the traveler— and to anyone who enjoys and loves beautiful homes and fine furnishings.
The major interest of both Mr. and Mrs. Shipway is domestic architecture, although approached from differing angles: one from that of actual construction, the other from its planning and design. Warren Shipway is a graduate engineer of Princeton. Mrs. Shipway attended the Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris and the School of Architecture at Columbia University. Mr. and Mrs. Shipway are the authors of The Mexican House Old and New. The Ship-ways now live in Rancho Santa Fe, California.
ARCHITECTURAL BOOK PUBLISHING CO., INC.
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