Something Old, Something New at the MFA Boston

 

Wedding Dress, Arnold Scaasi, 1989.

 

We went to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, recently and enjoyed the exhibit Something Old, Something New: Wedding Fashions and Traditions.  For once, I am blogging about an exhibit well before it ends - this display is on view through October, 2023.

From the exhibit introductory wall text:

...Drawing from the MFA's collection of costume, jewelry, and photography, this exhibition explores the origins of American wedding customs and looks at how they've evolved - and stayed the same - from before the Victorian era and beyond.

The central focus of the exhibit is, not surprisingly, the wedding dress.  

Complemented by white veils, shoes, jewelry, and other accessories, the wedding dress is the centerpiece of the ceremony and perhaps the most symbolic of Western nuptial traditions. While its perseverance is attributed to Queen Victoria's romanticized marriage to Prince Albert in 1840 in a gown that was "rich white satin trimmed with orange flower blossoms," many brides before her - especially from Christian communities - chose white to represent virginity, purity and femininity.  This choice was made centuries before by Roman, Greek, Egyptian, and other societies to symbolize wealth, status and power.  The romance and elegance of white silk, lace, tulle, and satin persists as the signifier of a perfect ceremonial gown.

Bridal gowns can often become family heirlooms, passed down through generations.  Nowadays, many modern brides seek dresses they can rewear and incorporate into their wardrobe.  In either case wedding gowns make a great case study for sustainable fashion as they rarely end up in landfills.  Perhaps due to an emotional connection to what the dress tends to represent - hope.  Do you still have your wedding dress or bridal ensemble?

Well, I don't have my ensemble (but still married), however I did have my daughter's wedding dress "preserved" by J. Scheer and Company, specialists in costume conservation.  

Wedding dress, American, 1889.

Wedding dress with leaf motif, English c. 1945.

Woman's bridal ensemble in two parts, Bob Mackie, 1980's.

Woman's wedding ensemble, Priscilla of Boston, c. 1986.

Detail, machine-made lace.

Wedding dress, Geoffrey Beene, 2002.

Wedding dress, Priscilla of Boston, 2011.

A word about Priscilla of Boston - this was a bridal boutique on Boston's fashionable Newbury Street until 2011. Learn more about Priscilla Comins Kidder at the Smithsonian archive.

In addition to the dress, of course, there are all the other wedding outfit accoutrements - undergarments, shoes, headpieces and veils, hosiery, and jewelry.  The MFA has a good collection of these artifacts too.  As someone who knits I was impressed by a pair of stockings from 1855, below. 

One of a pair of wedding stockings, American, 1855.

Wedding corset, made by Ann Priscilla Watson, 1839.

Although I didn't save my wedding dress, I do have an image of my cake topper, below. I used to have red hair, but, unlike the plastic bride figure, I still have both my arms.

Wedding cake topper, maker unknown, 1978.

 

What That Quilt Knows About Me - American Folk Art Museum

 

Whole cloth quilt, detail.

In May DH and I joined a docent-led tour of the exhibit What That Quilt Knows About Me at the American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan. The title of the exhibit is from a quote attributed to an anonymous needleworker:

"My whole life is in that quilt...my hopes and fears, my joys and sorrows, my loves and hates.  I tremble sometimes when I remember what that quilt know about me."

 

 

My own sub-title for the exhibit might might be "if this quilt could talk..." People have long imbued inanimate objects with special meaning, especially objects made with precious materials or involving skilled artisanship.  From the wall text:

 

The notion that these objects [quilts] have the capacity for "knowing" - containing information or narratives about the human experience - expands the scope of the textile beyond its maker, exploring how material things can gather, retain, and pass down histories of the individual, family and community.

So, although remarkable, some of the quilts may not feature refined technique or look like the color-coordinated and sophisticated award-winning quilts seen at contemporary quilt shows. However, the works present insights into the life and stories of the women (and the occasional man) who made them.

Bird of Paradise quilt top, maker unknown, 1858-1863.

This quilt top, made in the Albany region of New York state, was never made into a finished quilt but was preserved and found its way into the museum's collection.  Not only did this quilt top survive but so did some of the paper templates used to make the appliques motifs; see the templates in the image below.

Paper templates for Bird of Paradise quilt top.

Mysteriously, the templates include designs for the the male and female figures but the finished quilt top omits the male figure.  We'll never know the reason for the omission - did the man die in the Civil War? Did a planned marriage not take place for some other reason? 

The quilt top features images of contemporaneous popular culture, including famed race horses and a circus elephant named Hannibal, who performed in the region.

Bird of Paradise quilt top, detail.

Another applique quilt is below, and conveys the maker's love of color and of chickens. This quilt was made by Mississippi life-long quilter Pearlie Posey (1894-1984) shortly before she died. Ms Posey's mother died young, so she learned techniques from her grandmother.  From the wall text:

Posey saw quilting as part of her legacy to her family.  Perhaps remembering her mother, she said, "...if the Lord take me and I leave you...I say you'll have some covers."

Hens Quilt, 1981.

Sacret Bibel [sic] quilt top, Susan Arrowood, 1875-1895.

In this quilt the maker depicts stories from the Old and New Testaments and lively scenes possibly from her place of worship. She's labelled some of the vignettes with earnest, if not scholarly, hand-writing and spelling. The detail below show John the Baptist immersing Jesus in the River Jordan.

Detail, Sacret Bibel quilt top.

 

The exhibit also includes applique quilts from the tradition of Baltimore Album quilts (image below), made by women with the resources to use purpose-bought materials and the time to construct elaborate blocks and border designs.  From the wall text:

Although many Baltimore quilts are associated with Christian communities, this spectacular example is part of a group possibly linked with the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation.  Founded in 1830, by the time this quilt was made the congregation was meeting at the Lloyd Street synagogue, one of the oldest in the United States.

 

Baltimore album quilts are known as an exceptionally colorful and playful regional tradition, springing in part from the accessibility of a wide range of textiles imported into the city's bustling port.  At the height of popularity in the mid-19th century, they are recognizable for their use of pictorial applique - free-form fabric cut-outs applied to the larger background of the quilt.  Each block consists of an individual vignette, highlighting the creativity of the quilter(s) and coming together to form an "album," from which this style takes its name.

Reiter Family Album Quilt, 1848-1850.

Some quilts include both piecing and appliqué techniques, such as the quilt below, one of the oldest in the exhibit.  This quilt includes fabulous antique printed fabrics, including a central block printed by printer John Hewson (1744-1821).  The dating of the quilt itself is given as a range from 1790-1810. It's important to remember that women would have collected fabrics -  remnants from dress-making, home decoration etc. - for some time before these pieces would have been combined into a quilt, along with special fabrics such as the central panel and the lengths for the exuberant borders. I have a quilt made in the 1920's for my mother by my great-grandmother using fabrics from the 19th century.

 

Hewson-Center Quilt, maker unknown.

This quilt has interesting connections to early American history. From the wall text:

The textiles of British-born American patrior John Hewson demonstrate the trans-Atlantic popularity of natural motifs, such as the lively birds, butterflies, and flowers seen in the center of this quilt.  However, this charming imagery presents a stark contrast to the histories of conflict in which textiles and other luxury products were embroiled in the 18th century.

Block-printer John Hewson immigrated to Philadelphia from London in 1773, a time when the trans-Atlantic exchange of textiles and other trade goods, like tea, were a great point of contention in the growing Revolutionary clash.  Although British regulations hampered domestic textiles production, Hewson set up his own printworks in his adopted city, bringing his London-honed skills to the American market.

Later in his career, he would further advocate for the American textile industry by sending yards of his fabric to Martha Washington, encouraging the President's wife to sport locally-made chintz with pride.  During the Revolution, Hewson also supported the American cause by joining the Philadelphia militia. He was captured by the British but returned to his business after his release.

 

Hewson panel quilt, detail.

Hewson panel quilt, detail.

Another 19th century is shown below, and it's interesting not only because of its stellar workmanship but because an old note attached to the back indicated it was made by Black needlewomen who were enslaved and worked in the household of the Kentucky plantation called the The Knob. Based on stylist similarities to another masterpiece quilt in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this quilt has been attributed to sisters Ellen Morton Littlejohn (c. 1826-n.d.) and Margaret Morton (c. 1833-1880). Both quilts feature blocks enhanced by trapunto technique; that is stuffing the motif with additional batting or other fill, embellishing the design in low relief.

Whig Rose and Swag Border Quilt, 1850

Whig Rose and Swag Border Quilt, detail of trapunto.

Another quilt from this time period helps demonstrate the breadth of quilt designs and traditions.  I love the deep orange referred to in quilt studies as "cheddar" and the quilt top below glows with it.  The quilt top was made by Sarah "Sallie" Ann Garges (c.1833 -c.1901.)

Applique Bedcover, Sallie Ann Garges, 1853.

 From the wall text:

This quilt top conceals a mystery: at center right, beside the two white cow, an amorphous yellow patch obscures a male figure. Why was he cover up?  We will probably never know the quilter's reasons for removing him from the scene.  Garges' determination to conceal him suggests the specific and personal nature of her work.  Rather than generalized figures, the characters populating her quilt may well have been intended to represent people from her life.

According to family tradition, the bedcover was made to celebrate the engagement of Sarah "Sallie" Ann Garges to her groom Oliver Shutt.  Scenes from agricultural life enliven the geometric composition, likely draw from everyday experiences on the family farm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.  Grounding the design with a house and a barn at either end of the central diamond, Garges depicts men at work, hunting, plowing, and chopping.  Distinctive motifs such as a beehive, squirrels, and bugs further personalize the scene.  The quilter intialed and dated her work in the center with the year of her engagement, 1853, and signed her initials "SAG." Garges had three brothers, but one died young, suggesting a possible candidate for the covered figure.

Of course, another mystery is why the top was never quilted - was it meant to be more of an informal throw?   

Applique bedcover, detail.

 

The exhibit is not only wide-reaching with regard to time period, but also geography. The quilt below is attributed to Mary Sherman Thompson and is thought to be a wedding gift. 

American missionaries introduced Anglo-style quilting to the islands in the 19th century but the native Hawaiians transformed this imported craft into a style all their own.  Moreover, quilts often featured symbols of heritage and culture from many sources and polities. According to the curators:

Also referred to by the title Ku'u Hae Aloha or "My Beloved Flag," this rare 19th-century quilt carries powerful political meaning.  Consisting of four flags centered on the royal crest, the work follows a 19th-century pattern expressing pride in Hawaiian sovereignty.  In a complex entanglement of ideals, these flags are based on WEstern symbols, includ the Union Jack of Great Britain, who royal government provided a model for the Kingdom of Hawaii when it was founded in the late 18th century.

Hawaiian flag quilts gained further symbolic potency when the monarchy was later deposed.  In 1893, a coup was staged against Queen Lili'uokalani - carried out primarily by Americans or Hawaiians of American descent - leading to the eventual annexation of Hawaii to the United States.  Flag quilts took on the additional poignancy of stolen independence.  Quilting practice also inserted itself into Hawaiian political history when, while imprisoned during this era, the queen herself turned to the craft.  Her work can now be seen at Hawaii's Iolani Palace.

Hawaiian Flag Quilt, attributed to Mary Thompson, late 19th c.

Another quilt which features a melding of traditions is the pieced quilt below, made by a woman born in Japan who learned to quilt in the United States.  The many small, expertly pieced blocks in this work utilized antique Japanese kimono fabrics.

Yuen no Akari: Light from Far-Away Space. Setsuko Obi, 2001.

Light from Far-Away Space, detail.

Finally, more about the quilt which opened this blog post. That first image is a detail of the quilt below, in the detail image that is the first picture of this post.  I've considerably lightened the image to show the texture of the quilting, which the wall text notes as "...lavish ornamental stitching across the entire surface of the bedcovering." More from the wall text:

Referred to as "whole-cloth" quilts, such works are made of large pieces of fabric in solid colors.  The tradition of pieced quilts, which join together many small patches of fabric, developed later in the 19th century.

Whole-cloth quilts were also made in England, and immigrant women brought the practice to the American Northeast.  18th-century petticoats could also be intricately quilted.  Women covered themselves with the skilled work of the needleworker's hand - perhaps their own, that of a family member, or a professional seamstress - throughout the day and into the night.

Whole Cloth Quilt, maker unknown, New England, early 18th c.

Threads of Power: Lace at the Bard Graduate Center

Reproduction of painting, and table cover in foreground.

The Bard Graduate Center in Manhattan recently mounted an exhibit featuring lace from the Textilmuseum of St. Gallen, Switzerland. The exhibit is now closed, but many of the items and much interesting information can still be seen and enjoyed at the continuing online exhibit. The exhibit was also reviewed by Roberta Smith, although her review was not published until three weeks before the exhibit closed. This may explain the extraordinary crush of masked museum patrons on the day we visited with our timed tickets.

Wall text at entrance.

In addition to examples of lace the exhibit featured reproductions of historical figures wearing lace-embellished clothing, artifacts such as lace pattern books, and videos of hand- and machine-lace making. The first section of the exhibit, The Emergence of Lace in Early Modern Europe, described the evolution of lace, beginning in the late 16th century.  Wall text explained the two main types of lace featured in the exhibit: needlelace, derived from earlier forms of embellishment such as pulled thread work, and bobbin lace, a highly evolved from of braiding.

Samplers of openwork and needlelace inserts, 17th century.

 

Sampler, detail.

In keeping with its history as a purveyor of many luxury goods, Italy became one of the epicenters of sophisticated lace-making.  In addition, Italian publishers compiled early patterns books for lace designs, enabling the eventual spread of intricate lace to other textile centers such as Bruges.  Lace was produced at this time by aristocratic women for their own use, by women in convents and charitable institutions, and by women seeking to supplement their income, however poorly paid they were for their efforts.

 

 

Bobbin lace border with daffodils, other flowers, 17th century.

 

Various designs for lace [my translation] Bartolomeo Danieli, 1639.

 

One treat was the inclusion of tools and set-ups for lace making, including this pillow with a narrow band of continuous bobbin lace in progress.  The green paper band beneath the lace is the "pricking", which has small holes indicating the placement of pins. Threads, wound on narrow bobbins, are wrapped and twisted around the positioned pins, which are removed when each section of a pattern is complete.  Most of the lace in the exhibit was made of linen thread.

 

Bobbin-lace pillow with thirty bobbins and in-progress lace, 1897.

Some of the lace is so fantastically elaborate it seems difficult to believe it is the work of human hands, and indeed, there is an entire folklore of tales surrounding lace-making, including stories of the Virgin Mary arriving by night to assist poor women in finishing a piece of lace. These stories anchored lace-making as an activity suitable for virtuous women, removed any taint of superstition and perhaps substituted the promise of divine favor for adequate remuneration.  For more lacemakers' folklore see the scholarly website By the Poor, For the Rich: Lace in Context.

Needle-lace border, France, ca. 1710.

Needle-lace border, detail.

From the exhibit section Lace and the 17th-century French Economy we learn that, during the reign of Louis IV, French aristocrats spent heavily on imported lace.  To block this flow of capital out of the country, and to support the French economy, Controller-General Jean-Colbert set up and subsidized a home-grown lace industry, importing lace makers from Venice and Flanders to teach the necessary skills.  This effort proved a roaring success with monied French fashionistas.

Marie Rinteau, Francois Drouais, 1761.

 

The Bard Center museum layout is basically two galleries on each of three floors, with a hallway connecting the galleries.  It's an awkward exhibition space but the curators did their best. I do have a minor quibble with labels printed in white lettering on a light gray background - there was a lot of bending and squinting. However, the 400+ page catalog is amazing - lots of essay, great images, and a glossary of lace terms that is worth the price alone.

Displays inn the hallway.

 

The hand-made lace industry contracted following the French Revolution,  but lace-making rebounded and hand-made lace continued to be a valued luxury item through the first half of the 19th century.  Nothing stops the march of technology, though, and the industrial revolution introduced weaving and embroidering machines which could produce near copies of the hand-made items, making these accessories available to middle-class, middle-income women.  However, for women like Queen Victoria, who loved English Honniton lace, nothing but hand-made would do.

Chantilly lace shawl, silk thread, ca. 1860.

Chantilly lace shawl, detail.

 

Ball gown, ca. 1855-1858, assumed worn by Fanny Appleton Longfellow.

 

 

One of my favorite objects in the show is the hand-made lace collar below, designed by Mathilde Hrdlicka (1859-1917) and instructor at the School of Applied Arts in Vienna. The design, featuring Queen Anne's lace, has a modern feel to it.  Most lace schools are long gone, and although there were efforts to revive lace-making as a cottage industry in the twentieth century, lace-making is now mainly practiced by skilled hobbyists.  As part of the exhibit, members of the Brooklyn Lace Guild volunteered to sit in the fourth floor gallery and give demonstrations of lace-making. The Guild's co-founder  Elena Kanagy-Loux, is a textile polymath and Collections Specialist at the Antonio Ratti Center at the Metropolitan Museum.  For the Bard exhibit, Ms. Kanagy-Loux designed and made a bobbin lace creation on the theme of Judith and Holofernes, a favorite topic for historical lace makers. I couldn't get an image of the item but you can see it at the Bard Center's website.

Hand-made needlelace collar, ca. 1900.

Hand-made collar, detail.

Today most lace used in garments and accessories is machine-made and includes a class of textile called "chemical lace". This doesn't sound too romantic and it isn't - large machines stitch patterns on vertically-tensioned special fabric. The fabric, or substrate, is then immersed in a chemical bath which dissolves the substrate but leaves the embroidered stitches intact.  One gallery of the exhibit, Post-War Fashion and Chemical Lace, was primarily devoted to the machine-made lace produced by the manufacturer who collected most of the historic lace in the exhibit - Leopold Ilké, who, with his brother, managed the textile firm of Ilké Frères.  His collection of historic lace provided inspiration for their line of machine-made yardage and motifs. The Ilké factory was located in St. Gallen, Switzerland, which has been a center of textile production since the 13th century.  Many other manufacturers established factories there too, such as A. Hufenus and Cie, which produced the fabric in the image below.

Photograph with eyelet embroidery swatch, ca. 1932-35.

Chemical or other machine-made lace was sturdy enough to be used for apparel fabrics, giving rise to the all-over lace dress, where formally lace was limited to use as an embellishment or accessory.   Fashion designers continue to explore new ways to create lace and new ways to use it, as presented in the final gallery.

Masked visitor perusing modern lace fabrics.

Chemical lace lurex with hand-applied feathers, Jacob Schlaepfer PG, 1998.

 

One of the most famous modern lace dresses is the lemongrass ensemble worn by Michelle Obama to the inauguration in 2009.  The ensemble was lent to the Bard exhibit by  the Obama Presidential Library.  This ensemble, made with a felted wool lace, was made by the late couturier Isabel Toledo.  Clearly, lace retains its appeal.

Photo: Alex Brandon, AP.