| Enrico Liberti (1884--1979) was a prolific colonial-revival furniture maker in twentieth-century America. Trained as a cabinetmaker in Europe, Liberti immigrated to the United States in 1912 and established his own cabinetmaking shop in Baltimore, Maryland in 1930. Liberti's shop thrived for over forty years because he was able to meet his client's modern-day demands for style and function while producing pieces that maintained the integrity of eighteenth-century design. He was operating in a time of infancy in the antiques trade and the practice of furniture conservation, and many original pieces of early furniture would have deteriorated from age and use if not for Liberti's restorations. In addition to preserving furniture, Liberti preserved furniture-making by employing the designs and practices of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century cabinetmakers. Liberti and his contemporaries bridged the gap between furniture of the past and of the present, keeping tradition alive in a society that was ripe with change. |
