By Erica Lome, Ph. D. Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) The Horse Fair, 1852–55, Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art If you took a stroll through the European Paintings galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you’d undoubtedly encounter Rosa Bonheur’s Le Marché aux Chevaux, or The Horse Fair, one of the finest achievements of […]
Category Archives: Features
06
Oct
Oct
by Maxine Carter-Lome, Publisher “A woman who revolutionized contemporary jewelry” is how Cartier describes jewelry designer Jeanne Toussaint in the 2019 film series, entitled L’Odysée de Cartier. Born in 1887, Jeanne Toussaint (1887-1978) was the daughter of lacemakers from the south of Belgium in the city of Charleroi. She grew up with handmade goods surrounding […]
21
Sep
Sep
by Melody Amsel-Arieli Simple magnification devices, like water-filled spheres and rock crystal (quartz) “burning glasses” were known around the Mediterranean and across the Middle East in ancient times. These evidently served not only to light kindling but also to cauterize wounds and enlarge texts. According to Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, Nero viewed gladiator […]
07
Sep
Sep
by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher “The Boston Advertiser prints an interesting account of an experiment in carrying out a conversation by word of mouth over a telegraph wire, made by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson. … In a distance of two miles, with Mr. Bell in Boston and Mr. Watson in Cambridge, conversation was […]
31
Aug
Aug
An essay from Quiltindex.org by Merikay Waldvogel The Sears National Quilt Contest organized by Sears Roebuck & Co. in connection with the Chicago World’s Fair (known officially as “The Century of Progress” Exposition) was announced in the January 1933 Sears Roebuck Catalog. They offered $7,500 in prizes – including a grand prize of $1000. […]
24
Aug
Aug
by Melody Amsel-Arieli Samplers are pieces of fabric worked to demonstrate mastery of ornamental embroidery stitches and motifs. This fine art arose in the late Middle Ages when English nuns and needlework professionals created exquisite, gold and silver-gilt embroidered ecclesiastical and secular textiles. From about 1350, however, their quality declined. Materials became less lavish, […]
17
Aug
Aug
Graveyard Quilts for Mourning By Judy Anne Breneman, womenfolk.com Before modern medicine the loss of beloved friends and family members was all too familiar. Childbirth was dangerous and it was a rare mother who didn’t lose one or more children. Husbands were lost through war or accident. Bereavement was a part of everyday life. Ways […]
10
Aug
Aug
by Maxine Carter-Lome, Publisher In the summer of 1854, inside an enormous four-story brick house at the corner of Main and Andover in Ludlow, Vermont, Ella-Elizabeth Spaulding joyously prepared for her approaching wedding and move west. Ellen, as she was called by all her friends and family, thought back to those exciting spring days several […]
03
Aug
Aug
By Linda EatonJohn L. & Marjorie P. McGraw Director of Collections and the Senior Curator of Textiles at Winterthur Museum Until relatively recently, scholarship on women’s needlework has focused on the 17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries. Susan Burrows Swan, whose book, Plain & Fancy, was first published in 1977 and reissued in 1995, […]
23
Jul
Jul
by Pat Raynock, Biologist and Audubon Collector As a career biologist, I have spent a lifetime looking at the beauty and beastliness of the natural world. I have benefited in my quest for understanding by the work of scientists who have gone before me and recorded their careful observations of nature as they have […]