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 the homepage here
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 Tiffany Necklaces 2014 Sale
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 2014 Tiffany Store
distinctive piece in 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 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 show South
korean army soldiers patrol along a barbed-Wire fence at the imjingak
pavilion near the border village of panmunjom, which has separated the
two koreas since the korean war.Into a"Sea of fire. " Credit:Ap/lee
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