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I don't know very much about contemporary art. It's not really my thing. And when I went to see Bound Unbound: Lin Tianmiao at the Asia Society, I knew absolutely nothing about the artist or her place in the world of Chinese contemporary art. But I was intrigued by this exhibition because the majority of the works on display significantly used textiles. I'm...
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has published a wealth of knowledge. But did you know that the full text of many of their publications are online for free? This is such a wonderful resource for anyone with even a passing interest in art and art history. For the benefit of all those who love fashion and textile industry, I've made an index of...
Part 1: Introduction Part 2: Baudelaire on Fashion Part 3: Tissot's Paintings Tissot was intimately connected with fashion. One writer remarked, “At present time in England, Mr. James Tissot and Mr. George du Maurier exercise considerable control over the fashions.” Another wrote that Tissot “seems to have devoted himself chiefly to recording the fleeting fashions and affectations of modern costume, sometimes choosing for...
Myth: It is ancient tradition that each of the clans of Scotland has it's own unique tartan. The lords of three Scottish clans from Disney/Pixar's movie Brave (2012). Sadly, this is a myth. I've always thought it was rather fun to find the family tartan. But this 'tradition' is actually the result of a 19th century marketing scheme to capitalize on the popularity...
Part 1: Introduction Portrait of Charles Baudelaire by Emile Deroy, 1844. In the collection of the Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon. Tissot’s London paintings provide a detailed and nuanced look at contemporary society. He captures ‘modernity’, a word coined by Baudelaire in The Painter of Modern Life (1863). For Baudelaire, an important element of this modernity was the correct...
I've put these posts on the internet because I want to share them with the world. This is all about the dissemination of knowledge. HOWEVER, these posts take a lot of time and effort to put together and many represent my own personal research findings. So if you'd like to copy and paste a quote to your own blog/tumblr/whatever, that's fine, but please...
Another month, another series of posts to give an in depth look at a particular fashion idea. This time, I'll be using Baudelaireian theory to analyze three paintings by James Tissot from the early 1870s. I hope you enjoy it! In his seminal essay on painting and modernity, Charles Baudelaire wrote of the modern painter: “The crowd is his element, as the air...
I first encountered Pauline Metternich when I was given an assignment in my 19th Century Fashion class last semester to pick a painting at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and write about it. My eye was caught, surprisingly enough, by a tiny impressionistic painting in the corner of one of the 19th Century European Art galleries. Little did I know that I was...
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 And here is the conclusion to this study, which I hope you have enjoyed! I had a wonderful time doing this research. Self Portrait with a Harp, by Rose Adélaïde Ducreux, c. 1791. In the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. A consideration of the political situation of September 1791 is also important in...
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Self Portrait with a Harp, by Rose Adélaïde Ducreux, c. 1791. In the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Between the soft curves abounding in her portrait and the display of musical talent on the harp, Ducreux sends a strong message of her femininity, an important point to note in both the context of the art...
Part 1 Part 2 Self Portrait with a Harp, by Rose Adélaïde Ducreux, c. 1791. In the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ducreux’s portrait is in the neoclassical style, an important aesthetic to the Revolution. As opposed to the opulent rococo aesthetic, which had previously dominated the fine arts, neoclassicism valued simplicity and sought to emulate the plain elegance of the...
Part 1 The Chemise a la Reine Today's post considers other garments Ducreux might have worn in her portrait. For background on the chemise a la reine, please click the link at the top to read my post about it. Self Portrait with a Harp, by Rose Adélaïde Ducreux, c. 1791. In the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. By the early...
Today's post is on the chemise a la reine, which I talked about in the BBC article about shocking trends in fashion history here. I wanted to put this up now, because it's important background information for the next part of my post on Self Portrait with a Harp. La reine en gaulle, by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1783. At the National Gallery in Washington...
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