"Plain or fancy, natural or painted, American wicker represents a significant and distinctive achievement in the international arena of the decorative arts. The fascinating history of American woven furnishings, from the mid-nineteenth century to the Great Depression, is offered in this volume, published on the occasion of an exhibition organized by the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C." "Although basketweave furniture is "as old as history itself" and indigenous to many parts of the world, in the United States it blossomed into an astoundingly rich and meaningful art form. The story of American wicker is like the saga of America, for the design, manufacture, use, and symbolism of woven furniture directly reflect the nation's changing social, cultural, and aesthetic values during its most transformative era." "In 1620 the first Pilgrim born on North American shores was rocked aboard the Mayflower in a willow cradle, but the real birth and flowering of the American wicker industry occurred during the nineteenth century when the freewheeling entrepreneurial spirit of the times brought forth important technological innovations and set the scene for the intense commercial rivalry of two principal manufacturers - the Massachusetts-based Wakefield Rattan Company and Heywood Brothers and Company - who, singularly and in merger, dominated the industry well into the early decades of the twentieth century."--Jacket.