The Wendy and Emery Reves Furniture Collection

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Wendy and Emery Reves acquired several exceptional examples of European furniture, although they did not focus their collecting in this area. Most of the furniture used by the couple was already in situ at Villa La Pausa when they purchased the estate in 1953. During the period when Coco Chanel and the Duke of Westminster occupied the villa, a significant amount of 16th- and 17th-century-style furniture was shipped to the house from one of the duke's numerous English homes. Many of these furnishings, however, were in a poor state of preservation when the Reveses came to La Pausa. Nevertheless, Wendy Reves decided to restore the pieces rather than replace them, and she converted a garage on the property into a workshop so that she could oversee the conservation.

During the ensuing decades, the Reveses purchased relatively little furniture in comparison to porcelain, glass, and ironwork. Those pieces they did acquire were obtained in various locales. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Reves furniture acquisitions is the sizable group of mid-19th-century English papier-mâché pieces in an ornate Rococo Revival style then poorly regarded by collectors. Nevertheless, Reves, working through galleries like La Boutique du Village in Paris and Stair & Co. in London, gathered together more than twenty examples, most of which are now at the Dallas Museum of Art. The collection is especially noteworthy because of its wide variety of forms.

Adapted from
Dallas Museum of Art, Decorative Arts Highlights from the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1995), 43.

NOTES

ASSOCIATED CONTENT CHUNKS

AUDIO ASSETS 

VIDEO ASSETS  

IMAGE ASSETS 
  • Installation at DMA, UMO: 236601367
  • Installation at DMA, UMO: 236601705
  • Installation at DMA, UMO: 236602037
  • Installation at DMA, UMO: 236601970

WEB RESOURCES 

ARCHIVAL RESOURCES

FUN FACTS 

TEACHING IDEAS 

RULES
apply to objects where credit_line contains Reves and classification_name equals furnishings
exclude objects where title contains frame
exclude objects where title contains fan
exclude objects where title contains mirror



Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
Wendy and Emery Reves acquired several exceptional examples of European furniture, although they did not focus their collecting in this area. Most of the furniture used by the couple was already in situ at Villa La Pausa when they purchased the estate in 1953. During the period when Coco Chanel and the Duke of Westminster occupied the villa, a significant amount of 16th- and 17th-century-style furniture was shipped to the house from one of the duke's numerous English homes. Many of these furnishings, however, were in a poor state of preservation when the Reveses came to La Pausa. Nevertheless, Wendy Reves decided to restore the pieces rather than replace them, and she converted a garage on the property into a workshop so that she could oversee the conservation.

During the ensuing decades, the Reveses purchased relatively little furniture in comparison to porcelain, glass, and ironwork. Those pieces they did acquire were obtained in various locales. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Reves furniture acquisitions is the sizable group of mid-19th-century English papier-mâché pieces in an ornate Rococo Revival style then poorly regarded by collectors. Nevertheless, Reves, working through galleries like La Boutique du Village in Paris and Stair & Co. in London, gathered together more than twenty examples, most of which are now at the Dallas Museum of Art. The collection is especially noteworthy because of its wide variety of forms.

Adapted from
Dallas Museum of Art, Decorative Arts Highlights from the Wendy and Emery Reves Collection (Dallas, Texas: Dallas Museum of Art, 1995), 43.

Fun Facts
 
Archival Resources

Web Resources
 

Notes

rules
Apply To
Objects
credit_line
Contains
Reves and classification_name equals furnishings
tags
#draft
#completed
%copyedited_Gail
*Decorative Arts and Design
@bartsch-allen
Reves_Wendy: DMA
Reves_Emery: DMA
Villa La Pausa: DMA
Reves_Emery: ULAN: 500444887
Roquebrune (France): TGN: 7017267
France (nation): TGN: 1000070
236601367: UMO
236601705: UMO
236602037: UMO
236601970: UMO
251264548: UMO
249332792: Image
source file
dma_insight-0068.xml.nores