Cocktail culture through the decades Larry salk,"Summer cocktail party with
english butler,"1961. (Credit:Jean s.And frederic a.Sharf collection, museum of
fine arts, boston)View the slide show As visitors to the norton museum of art
new exhibition, culture, are aptly informed, christian dior once called the
cocktail symbol par excellence of the american way of life.The norton exhibition
modeled on a similar show put on last year at the rhode island school of design
seeks to point out, through such diverse media as fashion, photography and film,
all the ways in which dior statement has proved true over the course of the past
century. Over the phone, curator michelle finamore explained the history behind
america cocktail romance and described some of the more distinctive objects in
the exhibition.Take a peek at cocktail culture historical accouterments in the
slide show that follows. What was the inspiration for this exhibition? Well, the
real inspiration came from an exhibition that was done at the rhode island
school of design museum.They did a version of this last year, and it was
supposed to travel to the norton.Something fell through, so what they decided to
do at the norton was basically to re-Create the exhibition from scratch.They
hired me to do that.I a fashion historian, and i very interested in food history
as well, so this was just the perfect fusion of everything i love.And the timing
is so perfect for an exhibition like this;There such a big revival of interest
in classic cocktail culture. How is cocktail culture regarded by historians and
art historians?There does seem to be revived interest in cocktails in pop
culture but is there a lot of scholarship devoted to this subject? [The study of
cocktail culture] is kind of a new thing, I think, in many ways.One thing i
tried to do with the exhibit was touch upon all sorts of different media.I think
that is what unique about our concept;It hasn been done from this perspective.We
have everything from clothes and film clips and photography and fashion
illustration to a little sketch by a contemporary surrealist painter.What i
tried to do was to break down the boundaries between all of those things.That
what made it appealing:The chance to think about it much more broadly.And then
the more you dig, and the more you look, the more you realize that there a huge
diversity you can incorporate. One of the challenges i had with this exhibit was
that i only had about a six-Month time frame to pull it all together, which is
unusual;Usually, for museum exhibitions, you planning two or three years out.If
i had had a little more time, i might have started it slightly earlier.As it
was, i started in the 1920s, because when i think about how clothing reflects
the social position of women, it really does start in the '20s that when they
start actively participating in cocktail Culture.There were things called teas
in the 1910s, where women would actually go out pre-Dinner-Hour and dance the
tango and drink tea, and sometimes alcohol was served.But by the '20s, for
instance, you have the prototypical flapper.They gained the right to vote, they
very independent;It very much a youth-Culture-Oriented era, and they out there
drinking, they dancing, they smoking, they starting to get into cars.I think
that a good starting point for the show, especially in terms of the history of
the cocktail dress. What the newest item in the show? Let see.We actually have a
whole platform of contemporary dresses;I would say the most modern thing is a
miu miu dress from this season. The alexander mcqueen show at the met earlier
this year was so popular did that inspire you to incorporate a lot of clothing
in this show? Originally, as it was conceived at risd, this really was a fashion
exhibition that encompassed other things.I been working in [fashion history] for
a long time now, and i really think [fashion] reflects so much of what is
happening culturally and socially and aesthetically.[Still, ] you cannot deny
the fact that that Alexander McQueen show helps the field immensely.It helps
fashion exhibitions immensely.That was a phenomenal success and it will affect
what happens in the future with museum exhibitions and fashion, certainly. What
would you say is the most unusual or distinctive piece in Tiffany
Necklaces the exhibition? That a tough call.There a little sterling
silver tiffany vermouth dropper, which looks like an oil can.It really kind of a
sweet little thing;It one of these objects that i wouldn have known too much
about if i hadn pulled this show together.We have a lot of material from the
tiffany archive;This vermouth dropper actually happened to come from a private
lender.It a wonderful bar accessory that also a beautiful object.That probably
from the '50s or '60s. Then we have some really wonderful cocktail shakers from
the '30s.Around that time, you see a virtual explosion sell at a
discount of all these different fun yet functional forms of
cocktail shakers.We have one that a monoplane, with two flasks that are the
wings and inside are little cups and spoons that sit under the wheels.It a very
compact, streamlined, wonderful and functional!Thing. We also have the cocktail
shaker signed by charlie lindbergh that was used when he did a reconnaissance
mission in central america.It was signed by him and anne morrow, as well as the
two archaeologists who were also present on the mission. Finally, i have a
little cocktail napkin from the prohibition era that says beer, less taxes.
(Income tax is directly related to prohibition [since during prohibition no
revenue could be drawn from alcohol tax]. ) Culture is on display at the norton
museum of art in west palm beach, fla., through March 11, 2012. View the slide
tiffany
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