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Introduction

Raid the Icebox Now with Pablo Bronstein

Historical Rhode Island Decor
September 20, 2019 - September 20, 2020

Historical Rhode Island Decor presents three rooms decorated with new wallpapers and printed fabrics of my design. The wallpapers depict the Stephen Hopkins House, the First Baptist Church in America, and the Rhode Island State House, and reflect the development of the architectural imagery of statehood. The wallpaper and fabric serve as the backdrop to objects from RISD Museum’s storage to present plausible historical interiors. The wallpapers also refer to 18th- and early 19th-century examples in the museum’s collection and to the revival of Colonial and Federal styles at the beginning of the 20th century—styles that have not only contributed significantly to shared visual imagery, but have shaped notions of the past.

This installation pays homage to the period room, an exhibition practice now in decline. It also considers museological accuracy, the museum’s blurred relationship both as a place of scholarship and an inspiration for the home, and the ways in which museums submit to local historical biases and interests in shaping their collections and displays. Envisioned within the framework of printmaking, the presentation plays with architectural and decorative motifs, inventing imagery on a large scale in relation to sculptural furniture.

Pablo Bronstein was born in Argentina and lives and works in London and Deal, England. Drawing is his primary medium (see an example of his work in that medium in the 5th-floor European galleries), but he is also engaged in installations, choreography, and performance. Pulling from his deep knowledge and affection for historical architecture and the decorative arts, he interrogates these disciplines with humor and imagination for what they reveal about social ambitions, politics, and other concerns.

Raid the Icebox Now is made possible by a lead grant from the National Endowment for the Arts with support from the RISD Museum Associates, Pace Gallery, Taylor Box Company, and a generous in-kind gift from Meyer Sound Laboratories.

RISD Museum is supported by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and with the generous partnership of the Rhode Island School of Design, its Board of Trustees, and Museum Governors.

Selected Objects

English, England

Wall Case, 1700s - 1800s

English, England

Bedstead, mid 1700s

Job Townsend, cabinetmaker

Desk and Bookcase, 1750-1760

English, Probably Birmingham

Tilt-Top Table, ca. 1850

John Robins

Tea Urn, 1784

English, England

Mirror, ca. 1740

American, New London Connecticut

High Chest of Drawers, ca. 1760-1780

American, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Side Chair, 1755-1790

English, England

Mirror, ca. 1750

Edward Aldridge

Cake Basket, 1752-1753

Stanislas Victor Edouard Lépine

View of Paris, ca. 1870

American, Probably Eastern Massachusetts

Chest of Drawers, 1755-1795
No Image Available

American, New York

Side Chair, 1790-1815

American, probably New York City

Side Chair, ca. 1790-1815

Chinese

Enclosed Washstand, ca. 1805

American, Eastern Massachusetts

Sofa, 1790-1815

Johann Joachim Kändler, modeler

Figure Personifying Winter, 1741 - 1745

Johann Joachim Kändler, modeler

Figure Personifying Autumn, ca. 1745

Niderviller Manufactory, manufacturer

Putti Personifying Autumn and Winter, ca. 1765-1770

Niderviller Manufactory, manufactory

Putti Personifying Spring and Summer, ca. 1765-1770

English, England

Kettle Stand, 1755-1790

French

Clock, 1800-1810

Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory

Figure Personifying of Music, ca. 1754-1755

James Evans

Tall Clock, 1770-1800

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory

Figure of Winter, ca. 1760

Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory

Figure Personifying Painting, ca. 1754-1755

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory

Putto Holding Globe, 1745 - 1750

Dirck van Delen

Architectural Interior at Night with the Priests of Bel, ca. 1628

Pablo Bronstein

Historic Rhode Island Decor (Stephen Hopkins House), 2019

Pablo Bronstein

Historic Rhode Island Decor (Stephen Hopkins House), 2019

Pablo Bronstein

Historic Rhode Island Decor (First Baptist Church in America), 2019

Pablo Bronstein

Historic Rhode Island Decor (Rhode Island State House), 2019

Pablo Bronstein

Historic Rhode Island Decor (Rhode Island State House), 2019

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

Raid the Icebox Now with Pablo Bronstein : Historical Rhode Island Decor

September 20, 2019 - September 20, 2020
View Checklist PDF

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