Laurie wrote: "The presentation was magnificent, but even better was the signage. Extreme close-ups of ground stitches (where the thread was the size of clothesline rope) and very well researched descriptions. Little anecdotes and interesting lace tidbits were placed in little pouches strategically place about the room. (The bags were significant because the Cone sisters stored their lace in bags like these, an example is included in the exhibit.)" The person who can be credited with this extremely well curated exhibit is Anita Jones, the textile curator. Anita very conscientiously educated herself about lace over a period of years, even attending the Lace Convention in Hasbrouck Heights and taking Lace Identification and Beginning Bobbin Lace. Lace is not a very easy thing to learn about. Many of the books about it were written over a hundred years ago. Access to collections and knowledgeable people in this country is very difficult. I think if I were a curator, I would be inclined to shy away from a topic in which the terminology is so ambiguous and artifacts are so difficult to identify. However, the story boards, replete with color images of portraits from the Baltimore collection which feature lace, close-up photos, even hugely enlarged images of the meshes under some of the pieces were magnificently done.. There is even a story board with a huge example of needle lace and an example of the bobbin lace movements on it done in a heavy cord, which although unimportant to us, is very important to the understanding of the general public. Every room had a tiny rack of magnifiers in it easily grabbed by the viewer! Anita has managed to tell a very complete story of the history of lace using the Cone collection to illustrate it, not an easy task since most collections don't actually have an example of everything you might want to include in a history of lace. She has also focused on the Cone's own lace collecting habits thus illustrating the late 19th early 20th century practice of lace collecting among wealthy Americans. Imagine how splendid the shopping would have been if there had been money to produce a catalog, note cards, etc. Sigh. I returned on Sunday to spend more hours in the exhibit. On that day there were many members of the public standing around marveling at it. There was, in fact, a group of women from New Jersey who had come to see the Matisses and who were ecstatic at their good fortune at having come, by chance, during the lace exhibit. I have searched the website for the name of the director of the museum so that I can send my comments but I cannot find it. I do note that the museum's address is 10 Art Museum Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218-3898. Perhaps Mary Tod or someone local could figure out how we should be addressing our written tributes so that they are most effectively received. Devon
- To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
