The Decorative Arts: Furnitures

NOMA's furniture collection includes important examples of 18th and 19th Century American furniture and a small group of exquisite 18th Century French pieces.

Highlights include The Rosemonde E. and Emile Kuntz Rooms, exhibiting choice examples of America's fine and decorative arts heritage in New Orleans. The rooms were first conceived by Felix H. Kuntz [1890-1971], the Dean of Americana. His brother Emile N. Kuntz was charged with constructing and furnishing the rooms as a memorial to their parents. The rooms were completed by Mr. Kuntz's widow, Karolyn K. Westervelt, and daughter, Rosemonde K. Capomazza de Campolattaro.

The Louisiana Federal Bedchamber, pictured, shows how a room of this type might have looked in a fine New Orleans townhouse or great south Louisiana plantation house during the first quarter of the 19th Century.

The Museum also exhibits a fascinating small collection of American chairs. The chair is the one furniture form that most rapidly reflects changes in the designs and fashions of the time, and NOMA's collection ranges in style and period from Renaissance Revival to Napoleon XVI, to Art Nouveau.