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Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Hours: Monday-Thursday 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m.; Friday 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Closed July 4. July 28 through October 18 Tarot cards designed by a painter, a lapel button celebrating the NAACP’s Josephine Baker Day in 1951, photos of Katharine Hepburn in a production of The Philadelphia Story, a pink plumed hat worn by a 1930s style columnist: In these disparate objects and many others, Nancy Kuhl, assistant curator of the Yale Collection of American Literature, sees the growth of art. “The exhibition hopes to develop a kind of history of American women in the arts in the early 20th century,” Kuhl says, “that reveals the ways in which networks of women contributing to the artistic movements of the period helped to shape and define those movements.” The networks included professional associations, close personal friendships, and even lifelong romances. “Some of the relationships are defined by artistic influence, political affiliation, financial arrangements, or family connections,” Kuhl explains. The exhibition includes manuscripts from the Gertrude Stein and Edith Wharton collections, paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe, and photographs, books, plays, and other printed materials. In a related exhibit titled Extravagant Crowd: Carl Van Vechten’s Portraits of Women, curator Kuhl examines the work of Van Vechten, who took thousands of photographs in the early 20th century of dancers, actresses, writers, artists, activists, photographers, social critics, educators, and journalists—some famous, others lesser known. Studying them, says Kuhl, gives researchers “a context and foundation for a more complete understanding of our history.” Center for British Art Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday 1-5 p.m. Closed July 4. Through September 7 An exhibition of marine art and poetry spanning four centuries explores themes such as trade and colonization, naval power, and storms and shipwrecks. Works by Willem van de Velde the Elder (17th century), Richard Parkes Bonington (19th century), and C. R. W. Nevinson (20th century) frame the exhibit stylistically and chronologically. But the highlight may well be J.M.W. Turner’s Channel Sketchbook, an 1840s watercolor study of light and weather effects on the English Channel; the book will be opened to a new page every other week. University Art Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday 1-6 p.m. Closed July 4. August 5 through January 4, 2004 Today, folding stools are the chairs of last resort. But in ancient Rome, when most seats were reserved for the ruling class, the sella curulis, or folding stool, was a symbol of authority. “In the ancient world there was not a lot of furniture at all,” says David L. Barquist, associate curator of American decorative arts. “And prior to the 17th century, furniture for sitting was usually portable. It wasn’t until Victorian times that fixed pieces became commonplace.” Barquist, along with graduate research assistant Ethan Lasser, has prepared an exhibition of early 19th-century American curule chairs and settees (and one stool) to explore the probable sources of inspiration for these designs. The display also includes examples of Roman coins. “The sella curulis was often depicted on coins of the Roman Republican period,” Barquist says. “It’s very likely that Roman coins directly influenced the American designers in the 19th century.” |
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