February Issue 2001
Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC, Offers Exhibition of Miniatures From Yale University
by P.R. Vallee
Blushing, virginal brides to be. Rare, intimate depictions of our nation's heroes. A behind-the-scenes look at formal society. Martha Washington in widowhood. Lonely wives of ship captains. A young bride on her deathbed. Children separated from their parents...
Intimate stories behind love, life and death and mourning are expressed through artistic detail in a landmark exhibition of portrait miniatures on view at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC, from Feb. 10 - Apr. 8.
Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, the miniature stands apart from any other art form because of its highly personal associations. Revealing people's private selves and secrets, these treasures portrayed loved ones and were commissioned on the occasions of births, engagements, marriages, deaths, and other personal events. These tiny objects are weighted with meaning, illustrating how art represented joy or bereavement in the mid-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Uniquely combining painting and decorative arts, most portraits are painted in watercolor on ivory housed under glass in finely worked gold lockets. The reverse side sometimes incorporates a decoratively arranged lock of the sitter's hair. Due to its imperviousness to time, hair is used to represent love and loss in rituals the world over.
This major exhibition from the Yale University Art Gallery, organized by Robin Jaffee Frank, examines the intimate and rich role of miniatures in America through 100 exceptional works of art. The artists included read like a Who's Who of American miniature painting from around 1760 to 1830. The exhibition is unusual in that it includes artists' tools, microscopes and magnifying glasses, and support materials that illuminate the complex processes used to create them.
Promotion for this project is funded in part by Bell South (www.bellsouth.com). Exhibition sponsors included the South Carolina Humanities Council, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and numerous individual and corporate donors.
A variety of public programs are planned to focus and study Love and Loss.
For more info check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call the museum at 843/722-2706 or at (http://www.gibbes.com).
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