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These two windows, produced by Tiffany Studios, show us dawn in springtime and sunset in autumn, a visual representation of the passage of time. If you get close you can see some of Tiffany's innovations in glass, like the way the multiple colors were swirled together while they were still molten liquid to create the painterly effect you see here. The windows were made in Corona, NY in 1905 for the Universalist Church of Our Father at Classon and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn. After this, they were purchased and installed by All Souls Universalist church in 1945. The Museum acquired them in 2014.
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The Weil-Worgelt Study demonstrates a conservative interpretation of the Art Deco style of the 1920s. It was donated to the museum by Mrs. Weil's second husband, Raymond Worgelt. This study is also a reflection of its time, as you can see a concealed bar in the corner with etched glass walls. This hidden bar defied Prohibition, the period from 1919 to 1933 during which alcohol consumption in the United States was forbidden.
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This parlor was from the main floor in the house of Joseph Russell, one of Providence, Rhode Island's wealthiest citizens in the 1770s. The parlor was a room used for entertaining guests. Tea would have been served in this space, as represented by the tilt-top tea table. The clock is in the Neoclassical style, with a typical motif of the little classical vases at the top. This style implied that the owner of the house was well-educated and had read famous literature from ancient Greece and Rome.
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This is the parlor and library of an upper-middle class family from Saratoga Springs, NY. Throughout the 19th century, designers looked to the past and revived old styles. The feminine, flowery Rococo Revival style was considered appropriate for the parlor; whereas the more serious, moralistic Gothic Revival style was often used in libraries.
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This is a collection of objects in the late Neoclassical style. It is sometimes called the "Empire Style" because Americans were looking so closely to France and the Napoleonic Empire for design ideas. In fact, the console table was designed by a French immigrant to New York named Charles-Honore Lannuier. Although it was made here in the US, certain components, like the small bronze plaque on the front, were imported from France.
Can you tell me more about Rodin's fascination with dance as it relates to this piece?
Rodin was very interested in the professionally trained body and he often hired athletes and dancers to walk around his studio.
When one of them struck a pose that he liked, he would have them hold it, while he quickly made a clay model. His study of the body in motion informed his art practice and contributed to his recognition as one of the greatest sculptors of the human form.
Rodin loved any dance that wasn't ballet! He enjoyed the dancehall can-can, and was fascinated by an emerging generation of dance radicals, such as Isadora Duncan and Vaslav Nijinsky, who had rejected the traditional, academic style of ballet in favor of a more expressive language of dance.
Rodin used his significant influence (he was very well connected) to champion the careers of these dancers.
Although Rodin sculpted many works, the best example in this exhibit is the small figure of "Despair" that you took a photo of.
Was The Dinner Party ever exhibited in Louisiana? Or elsewhere in the South?
My wife remembers seeing it or a similar work in the 80’s.
The Dinner Party was indeed on a world tour from 1979 to 1988, it did make two stops in the South: the University of Houston at Clear Lake and the Fox Theater in Atlanta.
Thank you!
In the animal mummies exhibition, some, but not all, the mummies appear to be wrapped in gauze or tulle. Is that correct?
You are correct, there is fine mesh around the mummies, you have good eyes!
This is a conservation decision, it is necessary to help hold some of the mummies together and protect them!
Thank you! What's it made out of? When was it added?
It would have been added in the last few years in preparation for this exhibition which has already been traveling the country since 2014. I'm not sure what it's made from.
The goal was for the mesh to be as unnoticeable and low profile as possible while still doing its job. You're the only one who has noticed!
Hahaha! Thank you! I am just really interested in the practicalities of it. I work in fabric which is why my eyes were attuned.
It's almost like another "mummification"!
Conservation is pretty interesting! and it is another wrapping, for very different reasons, which I agree, adds more layers figuratively and literally!
Exactly!
What is a kendi?
A kendi is a type of handle-less, spouted pouring vessel. The form originates in Southeast Asia, but they were eventually produced in Japan, China, Vietnam, and Thailand for export to Indonesia and Malaysia.
Kendi were originally used in Hindu rituals, but eventually became general drinking vessels by the 14th century.
Huh! Thanks, that's very interesting!
What in the Gates of Hell is based on/inspired by Baudelaire?
In terms of what is in this exhibition, you’ll notice “Damned Women,” one of many sculptures that was to be included in the Gates of Hell composition, is titled after a poem about lesbian love of the same name in Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil.
