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One of my favorite perks of doing a short-term contract in NYC is getting to check out exhibits at the various museums and galleries in the city. Of course there's cool stuff going on at my stand-bys like the Museum at FIT and the Met, but i stumbled upon a small exhibition at a historic home which turned out to be fantastic.
I'm staying in a sublet up in Washington Heights, and when i moved in, i did a little looking into neighborhood attractions and came across the Morris-Jumel Mansion http://www.morrisjumel.org/, a home built in 1765 in which George Washington once slept. They've got an exhibit running by an artist/historian named Camilla Huey entitled "The Loves of Aaron Burr: Portraits in Corsetry and Binding."
Huey takes her inspiration from the lives of eight women whose lives entertwined with the statesman Burr--wives, daughters, wards, and lovers. She clearly did a great deal of research about the womens' lives, reading their correspondence and novels and memoirs and diaries, and the exhibit's two program booklets are fascinating peeks into the lives of an impressive range of women. Huey created art installation pieces within the context of the rooms of the mansion itself which incorporate corsetry and the written word, to evoke the lives of these women.
Upon entering the mansion, visitors encounter an enormous glowing resin coffin stuffed with onionskin, cotton fabric, and corset elements, representing the loss of Burr's daughter in a shipwreck. The spiraling open staircase is filled with a torrent of letters and documents, suspended from the bright red pannier-cage of Burr's last wife, Eliza Jumel, a woman born in a brothel who escaped prostitution, got an education, and became one of the wealthiest and most ruthless women in the late 18th century America.
Every installation in the exhibit is visually thought-provoking, and to see these pieces within the mansion itself in which Jumel and Burr once lived, 200 years ago, is incredibly moving. If you find yourself in NYC before the exhibit closes in September, it's only $5 admission. And, if you happen to go on a Sunday and wind up scooting in with a big tour bus group, it's only $2!
Here are a few images...
( Read more... )
I'm staying in a sublet up in Washington Heights, and when i moved in, i did a little looking into neighborhood attractions and came across the Morris-Jumel Mansion http://www.morrisjumel.org/, a home built in 1765 in which George Washington once slept. They've got an exhibit running by an artist/historian named Camilla Huey entitled "The Loves of Aaron Burr: Portraits in Corsetry and Binding."
Huey takes her inspiration from the lives of eight women whose lives entertwined with the statesman Burr--wives, daughters, wards, and lovers. She clearly did a great deal of research about the womens' lives, reading their correspondence and novels and memoirs and diaries, and the exhibit's two program booklets are fascinating peeks into the lives of an impressive range of women. Huey created art installation pieces within the context of the rooms of the mansion itself which incorporate corsetry and the written word, to evoke the lives of these women.
Upon entering the mansion, visitors encounter an enormous glowing resin coffin stuffed with onionskin, cotton fabric, and corset elements, representing the loss of Burr's daughter in a shipwreck. The spiraling open staircase is filled with a torrent of letters and documents, suspended from the bright red pannier-cage of Burr's last wife, Eliza Jumel, a woman born in a brothel who escaped prostitution, got an education, and became one of the wealthiest and most ruthless women in the late 18th century America.
Every installation in the exhibit is visually thought-provoking, and to see these pieces within the mansion itself in which Jumel and Burr once lived, 200 years ago, is incredibly moving. If you find yourself in NYC before the exhibit closes in September, it's only $5 admission. And, if you happen to go on a Sunday and wind up scooting in with a big tour bus group, it's only $2!
Here are a few images...
( Read more... )
