May 16, 2002 – Perhaps you noticed the featured review in the Dockside advertisement some weeks ago for "Caribbean Elegance," by Michael Connors. Perhaps you even bought a copy of the illustrated book about Caribbean – and specifically, Danish West Indian – furniture and interiors, since Dockside sold out all they had.
Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m., Connors will be signing his book at the Dockside Bookshop.
Connors, a lecturer at New York University, is an expert on West Indian furniture and co-owner with Trudy Rosato of Fine Art & Antiques shop in New York City. Connors has a long affiliation with the Virgin Islands dating from his years of researching his doctoral dissertation, which was written in 1995. His dissertation has a formidable title: "Identification and presentation of eighteenth and nineteenth-century furniture made in the Danish West Indies as a unique decorative art."
He has appraised the U.S. Supreme Court's furniture and decorative arts collection, designed lines of furniture, and has been in business as Michael Connors Inc., since 1987. According to an online article from the "New York Observer," Connors and Rosato, founder and director of the William Doyle Galleries' department of 20th century art, frequently intersected through their separate businesses and, after 10 years, realized that their goals meshed perfectly. Thus was born their partnership in Fine Art and Antiques, which occupies 3,500 square feet in a NoHo [North Houston] loft.
The Dockside Bookpick of the Week described "Caribbean Elegance" as "richly illustrated, a delight to both the mind and the eye, this fascinating book offers a new look at the lifestyle and furniture of one of the most beautiful regions of the world."
The review explained: "As the planters built greathouses, local artisans – most of whom were African slaves or their descendants – created a wonderfully rich and distinctive style of furniture and decoration from the local woods, carving and turning their pieces with stylized palm fronds, pineapples, banana leaves, and nutmeg fruits. Their elegant and ingenious work created a distinctive Caribbean style that flourishes on the islands to this day."
An excerpt from an Amazon.com review states: "With some of the most beautiful tropical islands on earth as a backdrop, dazzling photographs reveal the homes of the sugar barons who made their fortunes there. Tables and beds from St. Thomas and Ste. Croix, armoires and chairs from Martinique, cupboards and chests from the Spanish Antilles, settees and cabinets from the English islands; all are works that combine the grace and opulence of European and North American styles with the vernacular island forms and decorative motifs."
So it seems appropriate that Connors, who frequently visited these "beautiful tropical islands" doing research – and frequently attending the Whim Museum furniture auctions as well as a collector – comes to this setting to sign copies of his book, which brings honor to Virgin Islands craftsmen and their products.
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