A New and Native Beauty: The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene [Hardcover]

Edward R. Bosley (Editor), Anne E. Mallek (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2008

The architects Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene worked together in California at the turn of the twentieth century, developing a distinctly American interpretation of the Arts and Crafts style. Between 1902 and 1910 the brothers produced their finest work, not only creating private residences but also providing design and construction supervision of furniture and other interior elements. This superbly illustrated book celebrates the decorative arts of Greene and Greene, and features essays exploring their furniture designs, metalwork and stained glass, among other aspects of their exquisite craftsmanship.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The book does as much as possible to demonstrate the tectonic qualities of Greene and Greene's architecture as can be captured on paper - ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW There's no doubting the expertise of the contributors - THE WORLD OF INTERIORS

About the Author

Edward R. Bosley is James N. Gamble Director of The Gamble House, Pasadena, California, and the author of Greene & Greene (2000). Anne E. Mallek is Curator at The Gamble House.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 265 pages
• Publisher: Merrell Publishers (October 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185894452X
• ISBN-13: 978-1858944524
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 10.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #753,031 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another wonderful book for any G&G enthusiast, November 18, 2008

By 

P. Knight (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A New and Native Beauty: The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene (Hardcover)

The essays compiled within this book (11 in total) are broad in scope and represent a thorough cross section of current Greene & Greene scholarship. Everything from stained glass production to garden design is discussed. With many new photographs and new insights represented here, even the most studied G&G enthusiast will certainly gain from reading this book. Recommended!

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars comprehensive illustrated study of the diverse arts and crafts of the brothers Greene, November 6, 2008

By 

Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A New and Native Beauty: The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene (Hardcover)

Though given an award by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1952, the brothers Charles and Henry Greene were and still are relatively unknown in the related fields of architecture and design. The AIA award was long belated and seemingly perfunctory. In 1952, both brothers were near the end of their lives and no longer active. Henry died two years after the award, and Charles was to frail to attend the award ceremony. And for the most part, the style they worked in had been overtaken by an aggressive, international, largely urbanized modernism. One feels the AIA gave the award more out of a sense that the leading organization of architects would be embarrassed if it didn't. One wonders what the organization missed for not having paid special notice to the Greenes while they were active. As evident from this book, after Frank Lloyd Wright, they were the most conceptually gifted architects and most skilled craftsmen of their era. Though their work is somewhat derivative of and reminiscent of Wright's, nevertheless it is plainly distinguishable from Wright's and distinctive, impressive, and accomplished in its own right.

Wright is known as the founder of the influential Prairie School of architecture and design. It would be surprising if the Greenes were not influenced by Wright. If they weren't, they would probably have been marginalized unknowns. The Greenes' works display the natural-world motifs and sharp lines, most notably horizontal, and rich woods associated with the Prairie School. Like Wright, the Greene brothers were open to a Japanese influence in architecture and design. Working in California, the Greenes were more directly in touch with this Japanese architecture and design than Wright was. With respect to the natural-world motifs, the Greenes would include mountains and the layeredness and lushness of California vegetation; whereas Wright's and the Prairie School's natural references were mostly the wide regional flatlands, grassland, and the understated, spare beauty of wildflowers. "The carefree playful feeling of these [Greene brothers'] windows contrasts with the rigidly rectilinear designs of the Prairie School and the ornate flora of Louis Comfort Tiffany's windows and lampshades...," is how one essayist distinguishes the Green brothers particular style.

The Greenes' individualized style carries through their range of projects from houses and public buildings, chairs and bureaus, stained glass, and metalwork. Gardens and walkways and other landscaping features were also included in some of their projects. Often thick vegetation was placed close to the walls of a house so that it mingled with the architecture. This was another difference between the Greenes and the designers of the Prairie School. Whereas the Prairie School designers sought to make the individual parts of a design stand out while making for a harmonious whole, the Greenes were not so concerned about this. Works of the Greene's could thus often be impressionistic even though they held the same basic design principles as those of the Prairie School.

The different facets of the Greene brothers' work in the early part of the 1900s are covered in 11 illustrated chapters. The variety of illustrated matter of period photographs, relatively recent photographs, design and architectural drawings, and photographs of the brothers succeed in not only recording and critiquing their work, but in bringing the brothers as individuals who were artists, their personal touches, and the context and ambiance of their time to life. The essays too, with their expertise and knowledge on the specific topics, freely bring in the biographical for a supple, multidimensional comprehension of the brothers.

At the Huntington Library in California until January 2009, the exhibition of the Greenes' work and life corresponding with this book travels to the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C., and in July 2009 to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

1 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, February 9, 2009

By 

C. dworzak "John D" (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A New and Native Beauty: The Art and Craft of Greene & Greene (Hardcover)

Coffee table books are for looking at pictures, not reading. The number and quality of the photos in this book is extremely disappointing. It should have been published as a novel.