Director’s Corner

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Julia Cinquegrani

Dr. Eliza Reilly

The Language of Objects

In the course “Museum Mysteries” students study objects in the Phillips Museum’s collection with the goal of identifying and interpreting them for the general public. My colleague, Professor Zimmerman, and I like to engage in a bit of personification and say that the goal of the course is to help the objects “tell their stories.” But the more I think about this process, the more I have come to understand the idea of objects “telling” stories less as a metaphor and more as a literal description of the complicated exchange that is taking place between the researcher and the subject, and more generally, between people and things.

The eminent psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has noted:

“Man is not only homo sapiens or homo ludens, he is also homo faber, the maker and user of objects, his self to a large extent a reflection of things with which he interacts. Thus objects also make and use their makers and users. To understand what people are and what they might become, one must understand what goes on between people and things.”

What exactly goes on, and how can we better understand this profound and reciprocal relationship we have with the things of this world? In my last post I suggested that while things don’t “talk,” the way people do, they definitely communicate, especially if you make an effort to learn at least the rudiments of their language, which is conveyed not in words, but through vision and touch.

In the class we begin by exploring a basic grammar and vocabulary that allows for an “introduction”—materials (what is the object made of), construction (how was it made), design (a clue to when and where was it made), and function (what does it do?) Once these preliminaries are out of the way, our researchers can get to know their objects better and find ways to ask more subtle (personal?) questions: Was the object rare and expensive, or fairly common? What social networks did it circulate in? Does it show evidence of an easy life, or is it scarred by use? Did its status or function change over time? The answers to these questions will tell us as much about ourselves as about the things we are deciphering.

Most intriguing, and most difficult to discern, is the question of how objects shaped and organized the lives and behaviors of the people who encountered them. Forks, knives, and spoons have influenced the way people in the Americas prepare and eat their food, but we should remember that the vast majority of humans are in the habit of using other tools for the same purpose, like chopsticks or fingers, and they have developed a completely different set of etiquette and rituals as a result. Europeans came to prefer sitting on chairs to dine, write, relax, and socialize, while other cultures preferred cushions, mats, or stools for these activities—how did these preferences evolve, and what is the role of objects themselves in producing them?

Next blog: What do objects want?

Lancaster’s First Museum: Extinct

Posted on August 1, 2012 by bbaksa

Modern society’s knowledge of natural science, geology, ethnography, archeology and so forth, is the result of human curiosity first unlocked with the development of the “cabinets of curiosity.” Often housed in small rooms, these “cabinets” were filled with a large assortment of exotic oddities that first begun across Europe in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Early museums built on the original cabinet of curiosity idea but refined it by dividing collections based on subject and theme.

Perhaps better known as the Landis Museum, Lancaster’s first museum once stood on our very own Penn Square during the early 1800s. Established by John Landis, an innkeeper of Lancaster City, who opened the building on December 4, 1819 charging a fixed rate of 25 cents for admission with the operating hours of “9 o’ clock in the morning until sunset” Monday through Saturday. The principal attraction at the Landis Museum was its wax statuary. Among these statues were forms crafted in the likeness of Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, George IV, King of England, and Catharine I, Empress of Russia. In addition to the wax figures, were curious works of art and mechanical genius, historical relics, specimens of natural history, minerals, fossils and shells.

: Etching of N. Queen and Chestnut Streets 1838 (possibly the Rohrer House location)

According to local records, the Landis Museum had moved around from place to place throughout downtown Lancaster between the years of 1819 and 1837. A circus theatre (which held dramatic exhibitions) was opened by Landis and a relative of his first wife, and was located on the corner of Prince and Orange streets, opposite of where the museum was located. Sometime afterward the collection was removed to a building that formerly stood as the Examiner Printing Office, which today exists as Fulton Bank and then onto the Penn Square location where the museum gained popularity and flourished during its residence. Around 1836, John S. Gable erected a building on the corner of West Chestnut and North Queen Streets to be named the Rohrer House. It was at this time that Mr. Landis decided to move the collection. Not long before the collection had settled would it be moved again as it was sold to J.M. Westhaeffer in 1838. One year later, Mr. Westhaeffer sold half of the collection to Charles S. Getz and it was managed under the firm of Westhaeffer & Getz until 1842. Mr. Getz then sold the collection to Mr. Noah Smith who conducted it until 1849. That same year it was sold to Wood & Peale of Cincinnati who unfortunately owned it for only one year before the entire collection was lost in a fire.

Although very little information is available about this short-lived assortment of rarities that once sparked interest in the patrons of Lancaster city, I am comforted in knowing that this individual had the ambition to make available these “curiosities” so that others may take part in contemplating the mysteries of art and science.

Learning the Art of Connoisseurship

Posted on June 5, 2012 by mlane

Historia Naturalis, hand-colored engraving, 1657

Each year, The Phillips Museum of Art collaborates with faculty to provide hands-on object based learning experiences to students across the curriculum. When Professor Michael Clapper of the Art Department approached the museum with an idea for a new take on object-based learning for his ART 249 History of Printmaking Class, Museum Director Eliza Reilly saw it as an opportunity to advance the idea of the museum as a “laboratory for learning.” The students became active contributors to the museum, overseeing the purchase of new works for the collection that will be studied by future generations of students for many years to come. The class was given a $1,000 budget to purchase prints of the students’ choosing to add to the museum’s permanent collection. The purchase project allowed students to apply their connoisseur skills to the real world, taught them how to make intelligent decisions when making purchases on the web, and inspired the next generation of art collectors proving that young collectors can start a substantive collection of quality historical and aesthetically interesting works of art on a modest budget. The staff was thrilled when we saw their purchases and we are very excited to have these prints as part of our collection. The prints were on view as part of the class’ exhibition Studying Human Nature and the World: Prints of the Seventeenth Century.

Professor Clapper summarizes their purchases:

Jacques Callot, The Strappado, plate 10 of The Miseries and Misfortunes of War, etching, 1633. This is the first work by this important printmaker to enter the college’s collection. Callot is known for his technical innovations in etching and ambiguity and complexity of his portrayal of human nature. He invented new tools and techniques so that he was able to make etchings in the style of engravings. The refinement and grandeur of his style contrasts with his often farcical or tragic subject matter. The Miseries and Misfortunes of War, a series of eighteen images that portrays the pageantry and the savagery of war, is his most renowned work. This image features the strappado, a torture device with which a person is suspended by their arms tied behind their back and then sometimes dropped and stopped short of the ground, causing intense pain an injury to the arms and shoulders. The artistic and social import of this print turn on the contrast between this gruesome practice and military orderliness elegantly portrayed. Bought over the web from Christopher Mendez, a London dealer in old master prints.

Matthaus Merian, Butterflies and Moths, from Historia Naturalis, hand-colored engraving, 1657. This is a fine example of a natural history print. Since its invention, printmaking had been used as a means of making exactly repeatable images for purposes of scientific cataloguing. Publications such as the one from which this page comes organized and transmitted knowledge about the natural world. Natural history prints are now appreciated primarily for their decorative effect, but they are historically important as documents of an attempt at orderly, comprehensive understanding of the world. The fact that such works are as much science as art makes them under-represented in many art collections, including ours, while the scarcity and high value of the entire volumes from which such images are taken makes them rare even in special collections libraries and liable to be disassembled and sold as separate leaves. Bought through EBay from Daniel Good, a major UK rare book dealer.

View of the southern Italian city of Tricarico, from Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg, Civitates Orbis Terrarum, volume 6, engraving, 1617. This engraving comes from a six-volume city atlas that was a landmark publication in that its city views portray the actual features of particular cities, rather than fantasies or generic images. The first volume first appeared in 1572, shortly after the 1570 publication of Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first true atlas, for which Hogenberg had engraved the maps. This engraving comes from the sixth volume of the Civitates, first published in Latin in 1617. In addition to their technical and aesthetic merits, early city views like this demonstrate a new commitment to understanding the world through accurate, specific topographical representations. Bought on EBay.

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: World War II Souvenir Flag

Posted on May 4, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Rob Hasller an F&M American Studies and Art History major ’12 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

World Wart II souvenir flag or "hinomaru yosegaki", Japan, 1941-45, ink on silk

On November 1, 1945, an American soldier named Earl (last name unknown) sent two letters from his post in Manila Bay, the Philippines, to family members in Florida. Earl, stationed at Manila Bay in the Philippines and hoping to return to America to vote in his first election, enclosed this Japanese flag as a souvenir of the American enemy. The flag, known as a hinomaru yosegaki (“to write sideways around the red sun”), was a talisman given to a Japanese soldier bearing signatures and the wishes of good fortune of family and friends. The characters, written on the silk flag with brush and ink, usually flowed outward in a rayed pattern. In this example, crowded with well-wishes, the messages overlap the sun.

As American soldiers carried photographs of their family and loved ones, Japanese soldiers carried their hinomaru yosegaki as reminders to return home safely from the battlefield. Nothing further is known of the fallen Japanese soldier who carried this flag.

-Rob Hassler ’12-

Student researchers are exploring some of the mysteries behind museum objects to reveal hidden histories. Objects from the Museum Mysteries seminar course will be on view in The Nissley Gallery at The Phillips Museum through May 11, 2012.

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Pocket Bottle

Posted on April 27, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Karen Thomson, an F&M Anthropology and Spanish major ’12 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

Pocket Bottle Attributed to the Henry William Stiegel glassworks (1764-75), Manheim, Pennsylvania, Nonlead glass

Pocket bottles held medicines, alcohol, or other liquids. This amethyst-colored example stands out for its visually appealing color and design. The combination of deep purple color (created by adding manganese oxide to the molten colorless glass batch), rounded shape, and particular diamond-daisy pattern characterizes bottles manufactured by German-American Henry William Stiegel (1729-85), who constructed and operated a glasshouse in Manheim, Pennsylvania, from 1764 to 1775. Glass historians have not found evidence that any other makers used the distinctive diamond-daisy pattern in the late 18th or early 19th century, which allows confident attribution to Stiegel.

To make this bottle, the glassblower blew his “gather” of glass into a partial-size or “dip” mold that imparted the diamond-daisy pattern. Next, the glassblower blew the bottle to its full size and flattened the sides to create its final form, a process that distorted the molded design. -Karen Thomson ’12-

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Coffee Grinder

Posted on April 25, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Deena Gittle an F&M Art History major ’12 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

Coffee grinder, The Imperial Arcade Manufacturing Company (est. 1885), Freeport, Illinois, 1930s, iron, wood, and plastic

Coffee lovers agree that any device used to savor the flavor and aroma of coffee beans is useful. This coffee grinder was one of numerous designs produced by The Imperial Arcade Manufacturing Company over many decades. The company molded its name into the gold-colored cast iron and printed it along with the model and patent number on a label now missing from the front. This 1930s model has a distinctive S shaped handle that incorporates a knob made of an early type of plastic, which was an upgrade to wood.

“Burr grinders,” as these coffee grinders were sometimes called, were known for their innovative design that made them quieter, less messy, and less likely to clog. The distance between the two grinding wheels inside the grain-painted wood box was adjustable, allowing the user to select a finer or coarser grind, thereby enhancing the distinct flavor of the coffee beans. Ground coffee fell into the drawer below. -Deena Gittle ’12-

From the Collection: Caroline Peart

Posted on April 20, 2012 by mlane

Today’s guest blogger is F&M Art History Major, Megan Cohen ’12. Megan has been researching works by Caroline Peart (American Painter 1870-1963), from the permanent collection of The Phillips Museum of Art, which is the primary repository for the artist who resided in Lancaster County through various periods of her life. Megan has designed an exhibition of small works from the museum’s permanent collection, on view through May 12, 2012:

These small oil sketches were made by Caroline Peart (1870- 1963), a Philadelphia artist who studied with Cecilia Beaux at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. At the age of 18 Peart traveled to Italy, Spain, and France. During her travels she made dozens of small paintings on “academy boards,” which were an economical and lightweight alternative to traditional canvases. Originally designed for use by art students, academy boards were adopted by professional artists to make oil sketches while traveling. Many of the boards displayed here were purchased by Peart in Paris at the art supplier G. Sennelier, 3, quai Voltaire, 3 that still exists today.

Caroline Peart was one of 25 students chosen by noted American painter Cecilia Beaux for her advanced portraiture class. Beaux was the first woman to have a regular teaching position at PAFA (Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts).

This 1890′s oil is believed to be a portrait of Cecilia Beaux. Peart used an academy board to first paint a rough sketch of the full-scale portrait displayed here.

Sketch for Woman with Violet Corsage

Peart became interested in a professional career around the same time that Beaux began teaching at the Academy. In Peart’s diary entries she writes that Beaux, her mentor, advised her not to pursue a career as a professional painter because of the hardships placed on women artists at the time. -Megan Cohen ’12-

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Tiara

Posted on April 18, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Emily Felber an F&M American Studies major ’12 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

Tiara, probably United States, 1930-60, stamped brass

Today, a tiara may be used for many occasions: from playtime dress-up to formal weddings, from Halloween costumes to proms. To the wearer it denotes a sense of being special: regality, individuality, and perhaps an attention-demanding presence. This tiara, however, was not manufactured for twenty-first century aspiring princesses. Although nothing is known of its history, this stamped brass tiara has pseudo gemstones of modest quality and an adjustable strap to fit the user’s head. This cheaply constructed and inexpensive hair accessory likely mimicked fashions of some high-style elites of the 1920s and 1930s. -Emily Felber ’12-

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Salt Spoons

Posted on April 13, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Marissa Sobel, a History major ’13 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

: Set of 6 salt servers and spoons, Probably Czechoslovakia, Lead glass

“According to several etiquette books written from the 1920′s on, salt spoons were used at formal and informal dinner parties. Diners might share a set of salt and pepper dispensers with their dinner partners or use their own salt spoons to take salt from a communal dish or from individual salt dishes, such as the glass examples in the boxed set. This particular set came with its own glass salt spoons.

Set of 12 salt spoons in a linen case, Probably Norway, after 1920, Sterling silver with colored enamel inlay

This set of silver salt spoons, with unusual leaf-shaped bowls, has inlaid enamel on the fronts and backs, a decorative feature suggesting Norwegian manufacture. The number “925” impressed into one side of the spoon handle indicates sterling silver. Historically, English silver makers used the 925 mark for 92.5% pure silver. tarting in 1920, Norwegian silver makers adopted the 92.5% standard in addition to their 83% silver standard. A maker’s mark stamped into the other side of the handle has not been identified. Salt residue has discolored the bowls.” -Marissa Sobel ’13-

Student researchers are exploring some of the mysteries behind musuem objects to reveal hidden histories. Objects from the Museum Mysteries seminar course will be on view in The Nissley Gallery at The Phillips Museum through May 11, 2012.

Uncovering Museum Mysteries: Binnacle Lamp

Posted on April 11, 2012 by mlane

Today’s Guest Blogger is Cat Serpe an F&M History major ’12 who is part of the Museum Mysteries Seminar Course:

Binnacle lamp, probably northeastern United States, c. 1920, copper, brass, and glass

This unusual lighting device was most likely used on a ship to illuminate the binnacle, a stand designed to hold and protect a navigational compass for viewing by the helmsman. For nighttime navigation, a binnacle lamp was used to illuminate the compass. The binnacle lamp materials were specifically rust resistant and nonmagnetic, so as not to interfere with performance of the compass. The heavy collar at the top of the lamp suggests that it was securely held in place for use; the swinging handle suggests that it was removed for safekeeping in the daytime. A trapezoidal glass window directs light to the compass. A hinged door opens for access to a kerosene oil burner. Holes along the bottom edge of the lamp and a screw-off domed chimney provide proper airflow.

The tag attached to the lamp handle notes that the lamp belonged to the USS Tulsa, a United States Navy gunboat used from 1923 to 1946. How this lamp became part of The Phillips Museum collection is unrecorded. -Cat Serpe ’12-

The Phillips Museum of Art, Frames & Mountings

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