Side Chair

Kimbel and Cabus

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The cabinetmaking partnership of German immigrant Anton Kimbel and French-born Joseph Cabus popularized the Modern Gothic, also known as Reform Gothic, style in America. Their display at the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition, which presented a rich array of Modern Gothic furnishings, received great acclaim for its inventive take on the progressive style. Kimbel and Cabus blended Continental and British design sources. The chair’s form and prominent mortise-and-tenon joints—some of which are simulated—epitomize the "honest" construction promoted by British designers, and the angled stiles and rear legs reference designs published in 1872 by the German architect Edwin Oppler.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art