Re: [lace] Re: Vermeer's Lacemaker on Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum
We are talking about an interesting period in Dutch life here. Simon Schama in his book 'The Embarrashment of Riches' looks at the issues of hard working people suddenly having money (and with money comes leisure time) as they reaped the rewards of trade and investment. Vermeer, Frans Hals and many of the other painters of this period show middle class people with outstanding interiors to their houses - tooled leather 'wall paper' for want of a better word. If we accept that even in England in mid 1800s women who were middle class still made shirts for their men as both a way of showing love and economy (see Cranford by Mrs Gaskell) it would not be unreasonable for sewing and crafts to be so in this period in the Netherlands. We know that stump work (incorporating needle lace stitches) was a gentlewoman's craft at this time (some outstanding examples in the VA). Some thoughts for you Kind Regards Liz Baker thelace...@btinternet.com My chronicle of my bobbins can be found at my website: http://thelacebee.weebly.com/ From: bev walker walker.b...@gmail.com To: David Leader lacema...@q7design.demon.co.uk Cc: lace@arachne.com Sent: Monday, 17 October 2011, 22:57 Subject: Re: [lace] Re: Vermeer's Lacemaker on Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum For her hope chest? (or that period equivalent). Narrow lace inserts were used to join pieces of cotton fabric for bed sheets, and modest trim was made for clothing. - 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
[lace] Re: Vermeer's Lacemaker on Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum
Dear Arachnes, I managed to get into Cambridge this weekend, and visited the Vermeer exhibition. I'm not a great visitor of Art museums, but I thought this was fantastic, the Dutch masters were certainly masters. Reproductions don't give you any sense of the quality and finish on these paintings - some of which I thought at first were glazed, and ter Borch's silks really glisten. It's subtitled Secrets Silence, and centres on women at home doing simple domestic tasks. I brought away a real sense of serenity. Obviously The Lacemaker was one picture I had to see and it is fascinating with its narrow focus on the girl absorbed at her pillow pulling you in. Most of the other pictures have a wider view of women in an interior setting. And it is more 'abstract' than a lot of the others, which strive for an almost photographic realism. It is not the only lace pillow on display, Nicolas Maes' Young Woman Sewing is also here, having set her 'frivolous lace pillow' aside to concentrate on more virtuous plain sewing (the curator's description). Lots of discarded shoes in the pictures, which the curators firmly interpret as being icons of the women's realm being domestic, rather than anything naughty, even in the two Steen's of Women Undressing. Anyway, don't take my poor review as the last word, go and see for yourself if you can. I'll be going back again. Louise In cloudy Cambridge, please send us some rain soon! - 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
[lace] Re: Vermeer's Lacemaker on Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum
Laurie Waters wrote: I strongly disagree with the characterization of the model - this was probably Vermeer's daughter, and the family lived under the patronage of the middle class. His few buyers often dug him out of deep debt. In fact he probably had only one real patron, Pieter Van Ruijven, and without that support, it would have gone very badly for him. He married well, and eventually moved into his mother-in-law's place with his 10 surviving children. I'm not sure what the evidence is that the model is Vermeer's daughter, but the fact that as an artist Vermeer held an ambiguous position in society, and that he was financially imprudent does not negate the fact that he and his family were part of the middle classes. Class is not equivalent ot wealth - an impoverished aristocrat is still an aristocrat. Anyway, this seems to me irrelevant. We - or the contemporary audience - look at the picture without knowing anything about who the model was and what her father's financial circumstances might be, and her dress and environs clearly place her. Here is a more pertinent question, then, for those who know about the social history of lacemaking in the Netherlands in this period. Why would a young woman of this class be making lace? Would it be to decorate her own clothing or that of her sisters (she appears to have a lace collar), or what? David - 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
Re: [lace] Re: Vermeer's Lacemaker on Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum
For her hope chest? (or that period equivalent). Narrow lace inserts were used to join pieces of cotton fabric for bed sheets, and modest trim was made for clothing. On 10/17/11, David Leader lacema...@q7design.demon.co.uk wrote: Here is a more pertinent question, then, for those who know about the social history of lacemaking in the Netherlands in this period. Why would a young woman of this class be making lace? Would it be to decorate her own clothing or that of her sisters (she appears to have a lace collar), or what? -- Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada - 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
Re: [lace] Re: Vermeer's Lacemaker on Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum
oops I meant linen fabric, but cotton maybe. On 10/17/11, David Leader lacema...@q7design.demon.co.uk wrote: -- Bev in Shirley BC, near Sooke on beautiful Vancouver Island, west coast of Canada - 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
[lace] Re: Vermeer's Lacemaker on Exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum
It is certainly the strength of a timeless work like the Lacemaker that one can look at it from many views. If I have managed to find some 'Arts and Crafts' in the Art, well, that's a point never investigated before, and I'm proud of the contribution. Plus it is a valuable record of the equipment of the time (afterall, I'm even interested in the chairs that lacemakers sit on). I do not believe the impact would be the same if she were sewing on that cushion. It is part of the mystery of the painting that she is doing something that virtually no one today understands. There are plenty of Dutch paintings of sewers, and none of them have risen to the level that this lacemaker has. I strongly disagree with the characterization of the model - this was probably Vermeer's daughter, and the family lived under the patronage of the middle class. His few buyers often dug him out of deep debt. In fact he probably had only one real patron, Pieter Van Ruijven, and without that support, it would have gone very badly for him. He married well, and eventually moved into his mother-in-law's place with his 10 surviving children. Imagine Elizabeth or Maria sitting for her father for 2 years with that painful hairstyle. She may or may not have been a lacemaker, but her concentration certainly shows that she is trying. What I see when I look at this painting is someone trying to look rich, and treating lacemaking as a a little bit of a painful hobby. But who knows? She could have made the collar she is wearing. Art is for everyone, and no one knows what one person will see. The distinguished critics can bring their learned opinions. But lacemakers have something to say too. All you have to do is look. Laurie http://lacenews.net Laurie Waters wrote: I just published an announcement of the Lacemaker exhibition on LaceNews, along with some extensive comments. Art historians rarely know anything about lacemaking, and so like to expound on the color and delicacy of the work. Take another look, from a lacemaker's perspective. http://tinyurl.com/42b6qhl. I had contemplated posting on this topic (using Jean's account as she is still in Australia) but had decided against it as it always seemed to me that Vermeer's masterpiece had almost nothing to do with lace - you can't actually see the lace, and for the purposes of the picture the girl could just have well been engaged in, say, embroidery. Anyway, looking at Vermeer from the point of view of art appreciation or criticism, there is an article on the exhibition in this weekend's Financial Times by the excellent art critic Jackie Wullschlager. If you can still obtain a copy, I suggest you do so (the international edition almost certainly carries the same reviews). Otherwise you could try downloading the FT's iPhone, iPad or android app - you need to register, but get ten articles a month free. It's on that at the moment. David (in autumnal Glasgow) PS Anyway, I think the focus on the peripherals of lacemaking in the LaceNews critique is misplaced. It would seem to me that the attraction of this painting to contemporary lacemakers (who might not be familiar with any other of Vermeer's works) is the lacemaker herself. This is not a peasant sitting outside her cottage working for a ptitance, but a member of the middle class elite running the newly powerful independant Dutch state (to quote JW). - 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
