“His & Hers explores the relationship between gender and fashion over the past 250 years. Clothing can act as an immediate signifier of gender – however, while making distinctions between “masculine” and “feminine” styles of clothing may seem natural, gendering is not a biological phenomenon. While much of the show discusses the changing ideas of “appropriate” attire for each gender, it also includes examples of so-called unisex and androgynous fashion. More than 100 garments, accessories, and textiles from the Museum’s permanent collection are featured chronologically, from a seemingly “feminine” 18th-century man’s velvet suit, to a woman’s “power suit” from the 1980s. Other works include innovative designers such as Giorgio Armani, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Gianni Versace, and Vivienne Westwood. The exhibition is curated by Colleen Hill and Jennifer Farley.”
The exhibition is on view at the Fashion Institute of Technology through May 10, 2011. Additionally, the terrific online component may be visited here.
Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing: How the Apollo Theater Shaped American Entertainment traces the evolution of the Apollo—from its origins as a segregated burlesque hall to its starring role at the epicenter of African American entertainment and American popular culture. Nearly all forms of entertainment—comedy, dance, swing, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, soul, hip hop, and more—were welcomed on the Apollo stage. Serving as a place where African American performers could start and advance their careers, the Apollo helped to launch the careers of some of the best-known names in entertainment—dancers Charles “Cholly” Atkins, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson; band leaders Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington; comedians Redd Foxx and Jackie “Moms” Mabley; and musicians ranging from Louis Armstrong, James Brown, and Lionel Hampton to Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and the Jackson Five.
Above is a detail of Apollo Theater Exterior, 2008 Photo courtesy of the Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc. Photo by Shahar Azran.
View the full photograph and the cover of the exhibitions companion book after the jump. Also, Louis Armstrong’s trumpet.
The Nordiska museet in Stockholm has on view, through May 11, 2011, on of the most delightful exhibitions of menswear (perhaps) ever assembled.
The installation asks -
What is a dandy? What does he look like? Some say a dandy is a particular person. Others say a dandy is a way of life. The key to finding a dandy lies in the details. Here we look at the dandy from every possible angle, so join us on our dandy journey!
Most importantly the material exhibited is beautifully staged, with full design credit to Form Us By Love. Exquisite stuff. This, and the Drawing Fashion exhibition in London both push garment and fashion based exhibitions to new levels of display.
Opening on January 24, 2011, Tangible Things draws together 200 objects pulled from backrooms, basements, and z-closets of Harvard’s varied museums.
Tangible Things highlights and questions the modern Western intellectual categories that distinguish art from artifact, specimen from tool, and the historical from the anthropological in Harvard’s unparalleled museum and archival collections. The exhibition features nearly two hundred intriguing objects from across the University. Images are available upon request. Visitors begin in an orienting exhibition located in the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments. There they are introduced to established ways of organizing tangible things and are challenged to classify a seemingly random assortment of objects according to these scholarly conventions. Where in the University do items like John Singer Sargent’s palette, the dress and beads of a Camp Fire Girl, a crystal ball, or a stuffed Bengal tiger belong? How about a century-old tortilla or the University’s President’s Chair? Where should they belong? Why? Armed with these questions visitors are invited to take part in a University-wide scavenger hunt to discover the many guest objects carefully inserted into the exhibitions of seven of Harvard’s public museums. As visitors fan out to discover these wandering items they will begin to realize that the meanings of things and the categories of knowledge and knowing based on those things are not as static or as natural as they may appear.
The intellectual underpinnings of the exhibition provides the basis for an innovative new course at the university, “Tangible Things: Harvard Collections in World History.” Thankfully, the exhibit also allows those of us not enrolled in the hallowed halls an opportunity to poke around some long hidden gems.
Tangible Things will be on view through May 29, 2011 at multiple locations on Harvard University campus.
A full listing of locations is available after the jump.
This short spot was produced in 1998, for the Hokusai and Hiroshige: Great Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts exhibition that took place at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. I’m posting it because it provides a concise background for both the production and sale of Japanese prints… which remain influential to artists around the world. There is strong historical background of the Edo period too.
“This video focuses on Risky and his personal history of LA graffiti. He is a long standing member of MSK/ AWR collective, one of the most influential and important crews in the history of graffiti and the first west coast graffiti crew to recognized as stylistic leader across the globe.”
“This film celebrates the spirit and philosophy of Paul Mellon. The narration is comprised of his own words drawn from interviews, speeches and a variety of writings. He takes us on a gentle journey into his passions and interests in life including family, art, collecting, horses, and racing. The film captures the gentle nature and wisdom of an extraordinary man. Produced in conjunction with the exhibition Celebrating the Legacy of Paul Mellon at the National Gallery of Art. ”
A little longer than our usual video clips, but this a terrific story of a single and important American benefactor of the arts.
This exhibition brings to life the extraordinary work undertaken by a small team of American women volunteers who left comfortable lives in the United States to devote themselves to relief work in France during and after World War I. Their dynamic leader was Anne Morgan (1873–1952), a daughter of the financier Pierpont Morgan. As she rallied potential volunteers and donors on speaking tours across the United States, Morgan harnessed the power of documentary photography to foster a humanitarian response to the plight of French refugees.
Anne Morgan’s War runs to November 21, 2010. Complementing the show is a terrific online component containing many of the haunting photographs and short films. Above is a short film detailing “Life in the Zone Rouge” from the online exhibition.
Running through January 2, 2011, How We Rolldocuments an often underdeveloped, yet important, story in the history of Skateboarding.
The California African American Museum presents How We Roll a unique story featuring four decades of skateboarding legends starting with the birth of surfing, the influence of roller skating and its evolution into the dynamic sport we have today. How We Roll takes the viewer through an historical step by step fantastic voyage of how side walk surfing turned into four decades of a cultural revolution that has influenced every corner of popular culture from music to fashion to lucrative entrepreneurial opportunities and even the green movement. Come experience history through exciting art expressions – large scale installations in the courtyard, high-energy skate footage in the black box skate theater, videos, dramatic photographs showcasing xtreme abilities, paintings, sculpture, music and much more. Some of the featured skaters are: Ray Barbee, Chuck Treece, Steve Steadham, Chris Pastras, Atiba Jefferson, Pep Williams, Stevie Williams, Terry Kennedy, Shuriken Shannon and the pioneering Stephanie Person, who was the first black female skater and one of few female professional vert female skaters in the 80s and 90s.
Don’t miss it should you find yourself in Los Angeles.
