From September 11 to October 31, 1997, The Equitable Gallery will present Furniture of the American South: Masterworks from Colonial Williamsburg, an exhibition of over 50 masterfully-crafted works, dating from the late 17th century to the ante-bellum period, from the museum collections of Colonial Williamsburg. The exhibition -- the first comprehensive scholarly treatment on Southern furniture to be presented in New York -- examines cabinetmaking traditions of three principal furniture-making regions of the South: the Chesapeake Bay Country, the Carolina Low Country, and the Southern Back Country. Significantly, the exhibition examines a long overlooked material culture, revealing the multicultural origins and socioeconomic diversity of Southern furniture makers.

The exhibition is organized by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. The Equitable Gallery is sponsored by The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States.

Furniture of the American South is accompanied by a 600-page, fully illustrated scholarly catalogue entitled Southern Furniture 1680-1830: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection, co-authored by exhibition curators Ronald L. Hurst and Jonathan Prown. Published by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Harry N. Abrams, Inc., the catalogue will be available in August, 1997.

Contrary to long-held misinterpretations, furniture produced in the colonial and post-colonial South is not solely the product of a homogenous plantation culture of English planters and African slaves so often depicted in American lore. According to Graham Hood, the Carlisle H. Humelsine Curator of Colonial Williamsburg, "writers on early American material life, mostly northern in origin, have given the sense almost that southern society was two-dimensional." However, with Furniture of the American South, the "balance is now being vigorously redressed. The South is being rediscovered, and portrayed, as having had a rich material life, based nearly as much on locally created goods as on imported, and as full of distinctive regional and societal flavors as the North."

Artisans working in the South produced a remarkable range of furniture, reflecting cultural origins that included not only English, but also Welsh, Irish, Scottish, Scots-Irish, Swiss, German, French and Caribbean immigrants, and their descendants. These artisans worked on the great plantations, but also on small, isolated farms, in large, urban seaports, and around inland market towns.

Two armchairs exemplify the surprising varieties of style and construction found in the works in the exhibition: a coarsely-built vernacular armchair made of painted wood (1770-1800), and another, more highly refined armchair made of carved mahogany (1745-1765). Although both were produced in the Chesapeake Bay region, their designs and execution differ dramatically. The vernacular chair was built principally with an ax and draw knife and was almost certainly made by a carpenter or joiner in the rural, agrarian setting of Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The closest parallels in the chair's design are found on 18th-century chairs from rural Wales, suggesting that it may have been the workmanship of a Welsh immigrant working as a domestic servant.

By contrast, the second armchair is the product of a highly skilled cabinetmaker working in the small, but sophisticated town of Edenton, North Carolina. The construction of the chair suggests that its maker was familiar with advanced British furniture making traditions. Given the number of British immigrants during the first half of the 18th century, such a craftsman could have been a recent arrival from England.

The Carolina Low Country was first settled by European immigrants and their African slaves in the late 17th century. By the late 18th century, the culture and economy of the region was dominated by the great port city of Charleston, South Carolina -- a magnet for highly skilled cabinetmakers and other artisans. Many of these individuals were immigrants from England, Scotland and Ireland, but surprising numbers also came from continental Europe, including France, Germany, Holland, and even Switzerland.

A mahogany double chest of drawers, or chest on chest, (1765-1780), first owned by the merchant and planter John Deas, is the finest example of its kind from colonial Charleston. Most likely the work of a local master craftsman, the chest was closely modeled on British prototypes.

Compare this piece with the brightly painted chest dating from 1795-1807, from the Southern Backcountry region, noted for the multicultural origins of its populations. On the basis of its distinctive decorations, which are strongly linked to the Swiss- and German-American cultural heritage, the chest is attributed to Johannes Spitler, a furniture painter who worked in the Massanutten area of Shenandoah (now Page) County, Virginia.

Curators of the exhibition, Ronald Hurst and Jonathan Prown, explore cabinetmaking and joinery techniques in both the exhibition and catalogue. Among the highlights of the exhibition is an armchair that, largely on the basis of its joinery, has been attributed to Monticello plantation in Albemarle County, Virginia, the home of Thomas Jefferson. Dating from 1790-1815, the chair's square stance and ascending arms relate it to French neoclassical furniture, a taste preference of Jefferson. Jefferson had established a joinery shop on the plantation, where African-American slaves were trained by free white woodworkers.

In connection with the exhibition, the Equitable Gallery will present an evening of lectures on Southern furniture on Monday, October 6, from 6 - 7:30 p.m.. The speakers will be exhibition curator Jonathan Prown and Graham Hood, Carlisle H. Humselsine Curator, Colonial Williamsburg. The lectures will be given on the 49th floor of Equitable Tower, located at 787 Seventh Avenue. Admission is free.

Founded in 1926, Colonial Williamsburg is the largest living-history museum in the United States. It is internationally recognized for its leadership in historic preservation and its renowned collections of both folk and decorative arts traditions. Colonial Williamsburg's 173 acres feature reconstructed buildings with 500 period room settings, as well as a museum displaying more than 10,000 rare objects selected from its extensive collections of American and English antique works from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

The Equitable Gallery presents works from all fields of the visual arts, including exhibitions originating outside of New York that would not otherwise have a presence in the city, as well as New York collections that would benefit from preservation and public presentation. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays from noon until 5 p.m.; closed Sundays. The Gallery is handicapped accessible. Admission is free