I had an opportunity to see Krenov along with a number of other well
known makers at an exhibition at the Boston MFA last year. The museum
has a large collection of early American furniture which we also
viewed. At roughly the same time frame we went to a John and Thomas
Seymour exhibit at PEM in Salem Ma. I have visited a number of Shaker
museums(Ok I'm retired so I have time to do this) along with other
exhibits contain some Maloof, Nakashima, Frank Lloyd Wright, Art Deco
Furniture (A real surprise that I enjoyed the Art Deco so much) and
many others. One problem with seeing these at an exhibit is that the
really bad or common stuff which also exists is weeded out so that you
are looking at the best of a particular class of furniture.

It is probably unfair to draw a judgment on seeing one or two pieces
live but I was very disappointed in Krenov. The craftsmanship was
excellent but viewed at the same time as other well made pieces and
compared to the early American I was under whelmed.

I have seen many pictures of his work and it reminds me of an old joke
about the classical composer Antonio Vivaldi. Some critic wrote that
he didn't write 200 concertos but that he wrote one concerto 200
times. I don't remember the exact number but you get the idea.

I never meet him but from what I read he is a wonderful person and
educator and has probably had a great effect on a number of his
students. As I look back on people who had the most positive influence
on me I realize that some of them were not as knowledgeable or
technically competent as I once though they were but they all have
that wonderful ability to teach and guide you to do your best work. I
would guess Krenov fits this category which is why he is so well
thought of. Personally, I don't think it's do to the design of his own
work, which, without the craftsmanship evolved might have trouble
standing on its own.



On 17 May 2005 10:08:59 -0700, "Olebiker" wrote:

I know I may be really stepping into it, but what is it that impresses
folks about Krenov? I mean, how many variations on those trinket
cabinets can a guy make? What is it that people like about them
anyway. The legs are out of scale with the box and the
clunky-looking-thicker-at-the-bottom design of the legs reminds me too
much of my old bell bottoms I wore back in the 70s. (What were we
thinking?)

Somebody 'splain it to me.

Dick Durbin