This course explores the ways in which objects and material culture embody personal narrative. Moving back and forth from ephemeral traces of events and experiences to the culturally invested luxury goods that create legacy to the objects that facilitate daily life, this class will use, as its primary references, examples that draw from queer and African American cultures to underscore the potential of objects to tell the stories that not only reflect majority traditions and experiences but those of the disenfranchised, the details of whose lives are often obscured. In addition to readings that will provide background for class discussion, student will be asked to play the roles of detectives, archeologists, and curators at various sites around New York City. Each student will also be asked to create an annotated material record that reveals the public and private lives of one individual. That record may consist of texts, objects or any variety of media chosen or designed by the student. This blogs serves as an archive for the work done in the context of this course and related materials that become relevant to this exploration.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Nation's History in a Family's Heirlooms

Here is a article in new york times talking about an artifact also as a family's heirloom. Also it is interesting that there are many small objects can reflect to some important events.  


ARTS/ARTIFACTS; A Nation's History in a Family's Heirlooms

By RITA REIF
Published: July 16, 1995
  • EMAI
EVERY FAMILY COVETS heirlooms and mementos -- from baby shoes to silver punch bowls. But for families like the Vanderbilts, their faded snapshots and gilded memorabilia often shed light on larger historical events.
Five generations of Vanderbilts are recalled in two summerlong exhibitions of portraits and memorabilia in Newport, R.I. The shows mark the 100th anniversary of the Breakers, the sumptuously furnished mansion built there by Cornelius Vanderbilt 2d. He was a grandson of the family patriarch Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, who made his fortune in steamships and railroads.
Family members lent scores of possessions, including those shown here, to the exhibitions, which were organized by the Preservation Society of Newport County and are being held at the Breakers stable and the Newport Art Museum. William H. Vanderbilt's gift to Central Park is recalled in a bronze model of Cleopatra's Needle, for example, and Gloria Vanderbilt's design wizardry shows up in tableware (but not jeans).
The centennial observance turns festive on Saturday with cannon fire and Gypsy music at the Breakers Centennial Ball. RITA REIF
Photos: A portrait of Cornelius Vanderbilt 2d, at right, painted by Benjamin Curtis Porter shortly before the financier's death in 1899. (David Bohl/Preservation Society of Newport County); Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, at right, in a 1913 self-portrait in gilt bronze, was the founder of the Whitney Museum of Art. ; An 1860's lithograph, at right, depicts the C. Vanderbilt, a Hudson River steamship. (Ali Elai/Preservation Society of Newport County); The Breakers, at left, built in Newport, R.I., in 1895 by Cornelius Vanderbilt 2d, houses part of a show of family memorabilia. (John T. Hopf/Preservation Society of Newport County); Gold medal with Commodore Vanderbilt's likeness, above (Andrew Kent/Preservation Society of Newport County), was given to him in 1864 by Congress after he donated a $1 million steamship to the Union. Below, toy modeled on 1910 New York Central train. (John Corbett/Preservation Society of Newport County); A three-inch-tall gold model of the birthplace of Cornelius Vanderbilt 2d on Staten Island in 1794, below, given to him by his wife on their 50th wedding anniversary. (Andrew Kent/Preservation Society of Newport County)





post by Reven
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)