[HOWARD ARKLEY] The instant decorator

New York : Clarkson N. Potter, 1976. First edition. Oblong folio, spiral bound, cloth covered boards (short splits and cracking along spine, the laminate flaking), pp. xiii; 104; colour plates, glassine stencilled designs of interiors, internally clean, protected in a modern mylar jacket.

A good copy of this classic guide to 1970s interior design. Gold’s ‘Instant decorator’ would be the major source book for many paintings by Australian Howard Arkley.

“As noted under the main entry for 1992, the compositions of almost all the canvases in Arkley’s ‘Mix ’n Match’ show (Tolarno 10/92) were based on the US decorator book The Instant Decorator, by Frances Joslin Gold (New York: Clarkson N.Potter Inc., 1976), a reference source Arkley also used regularly during subsequent years. This book, given to Arkley by his colleague John Nixon, with the sarcastic comment that it would make Arkley’s fortune (quoted and discussed, Carnival 30-32), is extant, more or less intact, in the artist’s studio collection. Several pages, and the title of the book, also inspired elements of Arkley’s collaborative work with Juan Davila in 1991-2.

On the paint-spattered cover (reproduced under general introductory remarks for 1992), the artist reminded himself to copy the whole book for his own reference. As originally designed, the book featured transparent sheets under which avid home decorators could insert their own preferred swatches and colour choices – an idea that both Arkley and Davila played around with in the two living room pages they used for Blue Chip” – Arkley Works website http://arkleyworks.com/?p=5964