Reynolda House Museum of American Art

Winston-Salem, NC

336-725-5325

http://www.ols.net/users/rh/index.htm

Reading Portraits through Buttons and Bows

The clothing that people wear during the painting of a portrait can reveal a range of information beyond the obvious information of the person's likeness. Reynolda House announces its new exhibit, Reading Portraits through Buttons and Bows, which will look at the details that can be obtained from a seemingly simple portrait. Opening February 22, 2001 and continuing through June 3, 2001, this special exhibition will focus on a group of American portraits from the eighteenth through the twentieth century, exploring and interpreting the fashions in which people chose to be memorialized.

Featuring works by artists such as Frank W. Benson, Robert Vonnoh, Ammi Phillips, John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, Gilbert Charles Stuart, Thomas Sully, and Thomas Eakins, the exhibit will examine closely the clothing elements worn by the sitter, as well as other objects included in the image, that might be able to give an idea about the person's status or personality. These clues aid in determining something about the style and taste of that moment in time or about the past. (left: Robert William Vonnoh, Portrait of Albert Sprague Coolidge in a sailor suit, 1898)

About Joyce K. Schiller, PhD, Curator of American Art at Reynolda House, Museum of American Art

Joyce Schiller received her doctorate from Washington University. She taught 19th century American art there after completing her dissertation on the Artistic Collaboration of Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Stanford White. She has been a lecturer at the St. Louis Art Museum, and worked in consulting and research roles at the University of Illinois, Northwestern University and Wayne State University. She has conducted numerous lectures and written articles on various topics in American art history. Dr. Schiller lives in University City, MO. (left: Joyce K. Schiller, PhD, Curator of American Art at Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, photo courtesy of Reynolda House, Museum of American Art)

rev. 11/26/00

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