"Embroidery: The Thread Of History" At Winterthur Explores Needlework As A Document Of Record
In Addition To Exhibition, Winterthur Will Host A Conference On Oct. 19 And 20
Needlework is a crucially important area of study, said Linda Eaton, John L. and Marjorie P. McGraw director of collections and senior curator of textiles. Samplers and silkwork pictures often document the lives of their makers by celebrating their families or providing evidence of the places and times they lived in, so needlework can provide evidence of lives of women who might otherwise have remained unknown.
Needlework can document the world of the maker, such as A View of New York, a watercolor and silk-on-silk piece dated 1807 and worked by Mary Bowen while she was a student at Haerlem Boarding School in Harlem, N.Y., a quiet country village at the time. It depicts lower Manhattan as seen from Brooklyn, near where the famous bridge now stands. A sampler worked by Sarah Ann Major Harris from 1822 through 1828 documents the importance of embroidery as part of the education of young African-American girls. Harris, an important figure in the movement to abolish slavery, was the first African-American student at Prudence Crandalls school in Canterbury, Conn., a circumstance that led to the enactment of Connecticuts infamous Black Law against educating black children from out of state. The future of needlework is represented by a magnificent embroidered casket and toys by Janet Carija Brandt. Her Once Upon a Time: The World of Possibilities, inspired by beautiful embroidered boxes from the 1600s, incorporates ideas, motifs, materials, and techniques from that time to make something totally new. It is a tour de force of both design and technique.
Among the works, visitors will also see packets of needles made in the famous needle-making capital of Redditch, England, and a beautiful sampler made in Delaware in 1807 that has been carefully conserved by one of the students in the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation.
In addition to the exhibition, Winterthur will host a conference, also titled Embroidery: The Thread of History on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 19 and 20. Lectures will cover such topics as the materials used in accurate historic reproductions, the use of historic samplers as legal documents, the rise and fall of Scotlands famed Ayrshire whitework of the 19th century, and more. Lectures include Material Witness: Evidence in Embroideries by Virginia Whelan, a textile conservator from Filaments Conservation Studio in Merion Station, Pa., and The Price of Beauty: Embroidery in Louis XIVs Versailles, by Joan DeJean, Trustee Professor from the University of Pennsylvania, who will explain the lavish tastes of the Sun King, the enormous sums he paid to decorate his palace, and the result: some of the greatest embroidery of all time. Another highlight will be a lecture by Dr. Susan Kay-Williams, chief executive of the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Palace in the United Kingdom. Her Fine and Beautiful: Historic Commissions from the RSN Studio will illustrate a variety of historic commissions, from wall-sized hangings to ecclesiastical vestments to sumptuous gowns worn for coronations and recent royal weddings. Stitchers of all abilities will enjoy workshops, where they can work both history and contemporary designs and learn a range of different techniques, tour Winterthurs outstanding needlework collection, or take a field trip to the Delaware Historical Society.
Admission to the exhibition Embroidery: The Thread of History is free of charge with regular Winterthur admission. Advance registration is required for the conference. The fee is $400 for Winterthur members and nonprofit professionals, $455 for nonmembers, and $200 for graduate students with ID and beginning professionals. The cost of workshop kits is not included. For information, call 302-888-3883, or visit www.winterthur.org/conferences.
An accompanying booklet, Embroidery: The Thread of History by Linda Eaton, is available at the Winterthur Bookstore and at www.winterthurstore.com.
Winterthur is located on Route 52, six miles northwest of Wilmington, Del., and five miles south of U.S. Route 1.
For information, including special services, call either 800-448-3883 or 302-888-4600.