If you can't get to the Met before the display closes, you can go to the Met's website, click the collections button, then put "lace" into the search field and bring up all sorts of lovely items.
I found a piece of needle lace (probably Amelia Ars) that is not on display, but the resolution is so great that I can use it for my documentation in the future. Branwyn On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 8:14 AM, Avital <spind...@gmail.com> wrote: > I'm posting this announcement on behalf of an Arachne who can't do it > herself because she is a volunteer at the Met and therefore not > permitted to "advertise" the exhibit. > > Further details are available on the Met's site: > http://www.metmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/listings/2012/european-lace > > or you can request a press release (PDF file) from Devon ( > dmt11h...@aol.com). > > Avital > > >>> > > Gems of European Lace, ca. 16001920 > July 24, 2012January 13, 2013 > > > The lace collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the > finest in the country. On view in this exhibition are a variety of > styles and techniques spanning a period of more than three hundred > years. Handmade lace falls into two basic technical categories: needle > and bobbin. Needle lace is built up from a single thread that is > worked in a variety of looping, or buttonhole, stitches. Bobbin lace > originated in braiding; it is woven from multiple threads, which are > organized on individual bobbins. Beyond these two basic categories, > lace terminology can be quite confusing. Many of the terms used today > were developed by nineteenthcentury dealers who wished to distinguish > historical lace styles for the purpose of describing them to > customers. The majority of these terms derive from the name of the > town or region where each style was first made. > > Depictions of lacemaking in genre paintings of the seventeenth > century, as well as the numerous portraits of fashionably dressed men > and women wearing lace accessories, demonstrate the importance of this > fabric. The best-quality lace was extremely expensive due to the > time-consuming and painstaking process of transforming fine linen > thread into such intricate openwork structures. Rather surprisingly, > the seventeenth-century English clergyman Thomas Fuller defended the > wearing of lace and the nascent English lacemaking industry, writing > that it cost "nothing save a little thread descanted on by art and > industry," and "saveth some thousands of pounds yearly, formerly sent > over to fetch lace from Flanders." > > In the late nineteenth century American women began to recycle antique > lace for use in fashion. As a result, many women began to collect and > study lace, taking an interest not only in its artistry and complexity > of construction but also in the historical and cultural contexts in > which it was made and used. Particularly prized among collectors were > pieces associated with a royal provenance, to the extent that many > such histories were invented for the profit of dealers. In large part, > this collection reflects the interest of these women who became > serious collectors and who graciously donated their collections to the > Museum. > > - > To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: > unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to > arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: > http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003/albums/most-recent > -- Per pale argent and purpure, two phoenixes counterchanged sable and argent each rising from flames proper. "It is sometimes the most fragile things that have the power to endure and become sources of strength." - May Sarton "Only a life lived in the service to others is worth living."- Albert Einstein "Out of clutter, find Simplicity. From discord, find Harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." - Albert Einstein "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." - Anais Nin "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." - Henry David Thoreau - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003/albums/most-recent
