Media Contact:
Hillary K. Holland
302.888.4734
hholland@winterthur.org
Fax: 302.888.4820
For Immediate Release
CHIC IT UP! WINTERTHUR CONFERENCE DRAWS TOP EXPERTS
TO EXAMINE ORIGINS AND LEGACY OF TRADITIONAL AMERICAN DESIGN
To explain why he placed a few bright red azaleas within a bed of lavender azaleas,
Henry Francis du Pont noted that they were meant to “chic it up!”
Winterthur, DE March 26, 2007—Chic It Up!, a Winterthur design
conference featuring illustrated presentations by some of the top names
in American design and architecture will take place on June 1 and 2,
2007. Chic It Up! will celebrate the design aesthetic established at
Winterthur Museum & Country Estate by its founder Henry Francis
du Pont, and explore Winterthur’s impact on 20th-century design and
continuing influence on tastemakers establishing 21st-century style.
The conference’s speakers include influential designers and architects
whose work carries on the classical style that du Pont established and
refined at Winterthur. Du Pont (1880-1969) was a passionate collector of American decorative arts. He
showcased his collections in elegant room settings that established a new design aesthetic for American style.
Chic It Up! is the first conference to bring together prominent scholars, interior designers, and architects to
examine and discuss traditional design as historic style. Spread by movies, museum displays, and magazines,
Colonial Revival taste shifted from a novel fashion in the 1920s to sanctioned and timeless taste by the 1960s.
Du Pont’s elegant rooms at his legendary Delaware estate, Winterthur, were key to this change. Designers and
tastemakers as diverse as Ruby Ross Wood, Sister Parrish, Frank Crowninshield, Nancy McClelland, Billy
Baldwin, Van Day Truex, Diana Vreeland, Brooke Astor, and Jackie Kennedy admired du Pont’s rooms.
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Museum & Country Estate
Winterthur, Delaware 19735
302.888.4600
www.winterthur.org
Chic It Up! design conference
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“The notion of the classically beautiful American room is heavily influenced by the settings H.F. du Pont created
at Winterthur,” says J. Thomas Savage, director of museum affairs. “He was a pivotal player in the transition from
gilded age excess to classic American style.” At the forefront of the so-called “antiquers” of the 1920s, du Pont’s
vision was not always embraced. A cousin once protested “Harry is demented! He is filling Winterthur with
wooden bowls full of apples.” In many ways, these early experiments at Winterthur were the embodiment of a
trend noted by Edith Davis Seal in her 1926 book House of Simplicity: “The wealthier the people the more they go
in for the new fashion, for quaintness.” By the 1960s du Pont was the grand old man of Americana, selected by
Jackie Kennedy to chair The Fine Arts Committee to redecorate the White House.
“Collectors and interior designers visited Winterthur to study his rooms, and they in turn incorporated what they
saw into their own houses and projects,” adds Savage. “Du Pont’s role as a tastemaker has always been
overshadowed by the scale and scope of his collections. It’s time to shed more light on that side of the Winterthur
story.”
Among the speakers and topics are:
From Winterthur to the White House: H.F. du Pont’s Role in Creating the Kennedy Interiors
Elaine Rice Bachmann, curator of the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property,
Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
On the Cutting Room Floor: H.F. du Pont, Historic Textiles, and Decoration
Linda Eaton, curator of textiles, Winterthur
A Short History of Decorating with Antiques
Jared Goss, associate curator, modern art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
“Simplicity de rigeur”: When the Old Becomes New Again
Jeff Groff, director of public programs, Winterthur
Designing for du Pont: The Style and Legacy of Decorator Henry Davis Sleeper
Philip Aldrich Hayden, senior historian/senior architectural historian,
Richard Grubb and Associates, Inc., Cranbury, New Jersey
Memories of the Montmorenci Staircase
Ruth Lord Holmes, daughter of Henry Francis du Pont
Color, Arrangement & Texture; or, Inspirations at Winterthur
Thomas Jayne, Thomas Jayne Studio, Inc., New York, New York
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Chic It Up! design conference
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By Invitation Only: Entertaining at Winterthur, 1931-1969
Maggie Lidz, estate historian, Winterthur
Vernacular Inspiration: The Brandywine Aesthetic
John D. Milner, FAIA, John Milner Architects, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
Revival of the Fittest: The Period Rooms of Winterthur House
J. Thomas Savage, director of museum affairs, Winterthur
The Classical House is Still a Great Place to Live: Tradition & Comfort in the 21st Century
Gilbert Schafer III, G.P. Schafer Architect PLLC, New York, New York
Splendor by the Sea
Anne Surchin, AIA, Anne Surchin Architect, Southold, New York
Gary Lawrance, AIA, Lawrance Architectural Presentations, Stony Brook, New York
“Arranged to My Liking”
John A.H. Sweeney, curator emeritus, Winterthur
The conference registration fee, which includes lectures, coffee breaks, lunches, tour of selected period rooms,
and a black tie cocktail buffet on Friday evening, is $400; Members and professionals working for nonprofit
organizations, $350; students with ID, $225. To register call 800.448.3883, 302.888.4600, or TTY 302.888.4907.
For online information, visit www.winterthur.org.
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Winterthur Museum & Country Estate—known worldwide for its preeminent collection of American antiques, naturalistic
garden, and research library for the study of American art and material culture—offers a variety of tours, exhibitions,
programs, and activities throughout the year. Winterthur has been named one of the country’s “10 great places of historic
proportions” by USA Today; “one of the 10 grandest mansions in America” by Budget Travel; and one of the “10 best art
museums for kids” by Child magazine.
The “Winterthur Experience” ($20 for adults; $18 for students and seniors; $10 for ages 2–11) includes one guided Discovery
Tour of the mansion or garden as well as access to the Galleries, special exhibitions, the garden, a narrated tram tour (weather
permitting), the Campbell Collection of Soup Tureens, and Enchanted Woods (the children’s garden). Additional tours may
be added for $5; tickets are valid for two consecutive days. A Garden & Galleries Pass for self-guided tours is also available
($15 for adults; $13 for students and seniors; $5 for ages 2–11).
Museum hours are 10 am to 5 pm, Tuesday–Sunday. Winterthur, located on Route 52, six miles northwest of Wilmington,
Delaware, and five miles south of U.S. Route 1, is closed Mondays (except holidays and during Yuletide), Thanksgiving, and
Christmas Day. Winterthur is committed to accessible programming for all. For information, including special services, call
800.448.3883, 302.888.4600, or TTY 302.888.4907. Online, visit www.winterthur.org.