I found myself back again at one of my favorite places in NYC, The Cooper Hewitt last week. The main exhibit was not quite up my alley: House Proud: Nineteenth-century Watercolor Interiors from the Thaw Collection, with the exception of the “Library Interior at Townshend House” by a sixteen year old Anna Alma Tadema. This painting (the only link I can find is poor quality, sorry) made me want to crawl inside it and take a nap in bear skin after sipping absinthe and reading the latest Robert Louis Stevenson.
It's actually the smaller scale show Wall Stories: Children's Wallpaper and Books that's worth the admission and trip.?It's a delightful show with so many inspiring books and pieces. Among my favorites were the crazy fun sixties wallpapers of John Rombola (see this week's style icon) while working for Piazza Prints, the inexplicably gorgeous Winnie the Pooh frieze, Walter Crane's illustrations, the work of Tony Sarg and Ilonka Karasz.
The collection of pop ups is tons of fun with Popeye, Dick Tracy and my two favorites: the quirky pop up etiquette book “The American Toilet” and the wild Jolly Jump-Ups Journey Through Space complete with wiener roasting fey martians.
The show is up until April 5th.
But what do you think?