Thursday, January 30
General Society Library, 20 West 44th Street6:00pm: Reception6:30pm: Discussion
Join the ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½app and Newport Mansions for a discussion on treasures from Newport. Collecting in the Gilded Age meant many things to many different people. The idea of populating already extravagant interiors of America’s elite with ornate objects was meant to achieve status. Over time furnishings and fine art evolved into documents, yielding greater information about the history of people, like the Vanderbilts and Berwinds, and places, like Newport, Rhode Island. In a conversation moderated by Tony Freund, Leslie B. Jones and Ulysses Grant Dietz will explore the interiors of the Breakers and The Elms, unpacking what the culture of collecting in the Gilded Age tells us about wealth, identity, and legacy—and how those themes resonate in today’s world of collecting and design.
Leslie B. Jones serves as the Director of Museum Affairs and Chief Curator for The Preservation Society of Newport County. She joined the Society in 2019 to oversee curatorial, conservation, collections management, site stewardship, exhibitions, interpretation, and programmatic initiatives such as family programs and lectures. She directs the fellows program, which annually hosts four emerging scholars who focus a year of work on dedicated research opportunities.
Previously, Jones was the Vice President, Museum Affairs & Curator of Decorative Arts at Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, a 55-acre botanical garden, art museum, and historic house in Nashville, Tennessee.
Before joining Cheekwood, she was Curator and Director of Historical Resources & Programming for the White House Historical Association. Both roles included major preservation projects, including the revitalization of the White House Visitor Center (2014) and the restoration of Cheekwood’s c. 1930s domestic spaces (2017).
As an independent consultant, Jones has provided advice and leadership in all areas of museum administration to many clients, including Meadow Brook Hall in Rochester, Mich., the Green-Meldrim House in Savannah, Ga., Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria, Va., and Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia.
A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Jones received her Bachelor’s degree in the history of art and architecture from Miami University in Ohio, a Master’s degree in the history of decorative arts from the Smithsonian Institution’s joint program with the Corcoran College of Art + Design, and another Master’s in the appraisal of fine and decorative art from New York University.
Ulysses Grant Dietz served as curator of Decorative Arts at The Newark Museum from 1980 until 2017, and was appointed Chief Curator in 2012. He received his BA in French from Yale University in 1977, and his MA in American Material Culture from the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program in 1980.
As the curator of 114 exhibitions covering all aspects of the decorative arts from colonial to contemporary, he studied and collected furniture, silver, base metals, glass, ceramics, textiles, and jewelry. He is particularly proud of his work on the Museum’s National Historic Landmark Ballantine House, built in1885. The Ballantine House was reinterpreted between 1992 and 1994 with a groundbreaking installation called House & Home.
Mr. Dietz has published numerous articles on decorative arts, drawn from the Newark Museum’s nationally known collections. His most recent publications are Masterpieces of Art Pottery, 1880-1930, from the Newark Museum in 2009, and Dream House: The White House as an American Home, released in September 2009 by Acanthus Press in New York. His last book as curator was Jewelry from Pearls to Platinum to Plastic, published in 2017.
Mr. Dietz is a great-great grandson of Ulysses and Julia Grant. His is a trustee of the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University, and of the Society of Presidential Descendants.
As 1stDibs’ Editorial Director, Anthony Barzilay Freund oversees all digital and print content, including 1stDibs’ weekly Introspective magazine, The Study blog, and The 1stDibs 50, an annual celebration of interior design’s most compelling talents. He also serves as 1stDibs’ Director of Fine Art. Prior to joining 1stDibs in 2010, Freund was Editor in Chief of Art+Auction magazine and, before that, the longtime Arts and Culture Editor at Town & Country. He began his career at Esquire.
A special thank you to:
Our Lead Interior Design Series Sponsor:
And to our Interior Design Series Sponsors:
Lead Annual Public Programs Sponsor: Seasonal Public Programs Sponsor: Seasonal Public Programs Sponsor: