Decorative Arts Calendar of Events: February

With all this snow and cold, we have all been cooped up inside for way to long. Hopefully these new and exciting exhibition and events will give us all a reason to leave the house.

See 

“Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels” Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. February 18-June 5, 2011. Since its opening on the place Vendôme in Paris in 1906, Van Cleef & Arpels has played a leading role in style and design innovation in the world of jewelry. Its timeless pieces have been worn by style icons such as the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Grace, and Elizabeth Taylor. Set in Style: The Jewelry of Van Cleef & Arpels explores the historical significance of the firm’s contributions to design over the past century and beyond. On view will be more than 350 jewels, timepieces, fashion accessories, and objets d’art by Van Cleef & Arpels, many of which were created exclusively for the American market. The exhibition will examine VC&A’s work and influence through the lenses of innovation, transformation, nature as inspiration, exoticism, fashion, and personalities, and will include design drawings from the Van Cleef & Arpels archives.

“Birth of the Modern: Style and Identity in Vienna 1900” Neue Galerie New York, February 24-June 27, 2011. The exhibition aims to reveal a common thread running through the fine and decorative arts in turn-of-the-century Vienna: the redefinition of individual identity in the modern age. This show will be curated by Christian Witt-Dörring and Jill Lloyd.

“Fashion Independent: The Original Style of Ann Bonfoey Taylor” Phoenix Art Museum, February 27 through May 29, 2011.The Phoenix Art Museum opens the largest exhibition space and the closet of an acclaimed American tastemaker to reveal an extraordinary wardrobe of custom-made, couture and personally designed sporting ensembles. A prestigious acquisition, it is a rich archive of works by the most masterful fashion designers of the 1940s through 1960s including Charles James, Madame Grès, Balenciaga, Givenchy and Fortuny. The exhibition is a showcase of Taylor’s wardrobe, style and vision and a comprehensive look at the artistic process of these legendary fashion designers. The exhibit is the result of a 2008 gift to the Museum by Ann Bonfoey Taylor’s son Vernon Taylor, Jr.

“Plywood: Material, Process, Form” MoMA, Architecture and Design Galleries, third floor. February 2, 2011–Ongoing.  “Plywood,” explained Popular Science in 1948, “is a layercake of lumber and glue.” In the history of design, plywood is also an important modern material that has given 20th-century designers of everyday objects, furniture, and even architecture greater flexibility in shaping modern forms at an industrial scale. This installation features examples, drawn from MoMA’s collection, of modern designs that take advantage of the formal and aesthetic possibilities offered by plywood, from around 1930 through the 1950s. Archival photographs illuminate the process of design and manufacture in plywood. Iconic furniture by Alvar Aalto, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, and Arne Jacobsen appear alongside organic platters by Tapio Wirkkala (1951), Sori Yanagi’s Butterfly Stool (1956), an architectural model for a prefabricated house by Marcel Breuer (1943), and experimental designs for plywood in the aeronautics industry.

Hear

“FashionEast: The Spectre That Haunted Socialism: A Lecture and Book Signing by Djurdja Bartlett.” Fashion Institute of Technology, Seventh Avenue at 27th Street. Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, first floor. Friday, February 4, 6 pmJoin Djurdja Bartlett, author and research fellow at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, as she discusses her new book, FashionEast: The Spectre That Haunted Socialism, which explores the rich history of fashion under communism in the 20th century. Bartlett examined more than 70 years of fashion in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to create this fascinating study. Her current research, funded by the British Academy, is on the relationship of East European to Western fashion throughout the 20th century, up to today.

“Tokyo Fashion Festa NY: Part 2: Cosplay” Fashion Institute of Technology, Seventh Avenue at 27th Street. Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, first floor. Thursday, February 17, 6-8 pm.The museum will hose a cosplay fashion show, featuring costumes inspired by favorite characters from manga and anime. The fashion show will be followed by a make-up demonstration showing how to create the latest cosplay and subcultural styles. After the event, MFIT will host another tea party reception—because the one last fall was so much fun!—where you can mingle, model, and learn more about cosplay!

“Balenciaga and Spanish Art” a gallery talk by Daniel A. Silva.  Queen Sofía Spanish Institute 684 Park Avenue, Saturday, February 5, 2011, 11:00 a.m. Please R.S.V.P. onlineor to 212-628-042The Hispanic Society of America is delighted to offer this gallery talk at Queen Sofía Spanish Institute elucidating its participation in the groundbreaking exhibition BALENCIAGA: Spanish Master. Several pieces from The Hispanic Society of America’s collection, many of which have never been on view to the public, including a traje de luces (bullfighting costume) and a mantón de Manila (shawl), illustrate the couturier’s reinterpretation of iconic Spanish costumes. Daniel A. Silva is the Museum Department Registrar at The Hispanic Society of America

“Across the Pond: Icons of English Arts and Crafts and American Interpretations” Lecture at The New York New Church (Swedenborgian), 114 E. 35th St., Tuesday, February 8th, 6PM. Admission is FREE; no reservations required

American International Fine Art Fair, Palm Beach County Convention Center (650 Okeechobee Blvd. West Palm Beach, Florida). February 5-13, 2011. American International Fine Art Fair features international dealers representing disciplines of fine art from classical antiquity to contemporary, and the world’s finest collection of haute and period jewelry.

Palm Beach Jewelry, Art& Antiques Show, Palm Beach County Convention Center (650 Okeechobee Blvd. West Palm Beach, Florida). February 18-22, 2011. The second of two shows taking place in South Florida. This show has over two hundred international exhibitors.