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Fashion Professions Word Cloud - Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg

7/12/2018

At the show Luxury in Silk (Luxus in Seide) in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg, the subject of yesterday's post as well, this wall caught my eye. Clearly the arrangement of words is based on the word clouds now used on websites to visualize the most frequent search terms and clicks. But here the cloud serves to show the plethora of jobs in the 18th century that had to do with creating clothing, shoes, and jewelry ("Mode-Metiers im 18. Jahrhundert"). It's interesting to see such an aesthetic transition from an online space to a physical one.

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Salon and Black Box - Painting and Photography at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg

7/11/2018

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The second stunning exhibition I got to see recently at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg concerns painting and the birth of photography. Light and Canvas. Photography and Painting in the 19th Century does a wonderful job of presenting a complex subject: how did the invention of photography change painting, and how did the long tradition of painting influence early photography? The display underscores the dual protagonists of the story: the paintings are hung on vaguely kohlrabi-green walls, while the photographs inhabit black-walled chambers separated off from the main gallery space. The walls framing the entrance to the chambers are reflective silver overlain with black images, recalling early silver prints (visible above left). This is a genius conception for several reasons:

It makes the duality of painting/photography immediately visually perceptible, even unconsciously.
The black-walled chambers recall the process of creating photographs in a dark room.
Because the photographs are usually smaller than the paintings, the intimate chamber space fits them much better than a large gallery space would. It encourages you to get up close to the sometimes minuscule photos. (Imagine the photographs simply hanging on a wall next to the much larger paintings: both genres would look out of place!)
This intimate way of viewing the photos, especially the early portraits, imitates the way some of them at least were seen in their heyday—as tiny precious objects.

Overall I was hugely impressed by the effective presentation of such a complex subject and such a challenge in terms of display. You're in for a treat if you get a chance to go; it's open through September 9, 2018.

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Luxury in Silk and Perfume - Germanisches nationalmuseum Nürnberg

7/11/2018

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Over the weekend I got to visit two beautiful exhibitions in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg. The one about painting and the birth of photography will be the subject of a future post; today it's all about silk dresses! The show Luxury in Silk (Luxus in Seide, through Jan. 6) centers on a newly acquired silk dress from the 18th century. It is displayed in a chamber of its own in the center of the square exhibition room, with the "supporting actors" surrounding it: brooches and other period jewelry, old books and caricatures documenting fashion trends, and several pieces of clothing and shoes in unfinished form.

My favorite aspect of the show was the innovative decision to pipe a light fragrance into the display area around the silk dress. It's a wonderful multisensory experience! (At right, a detail photo of the righthand wall shown above.) Subtle enough that you might not notice it at first, the perfume emanates through a small panel with a label above it. This "Flora grand poudre" scent was specially commissioned from a Parisian parfumeur who based her creation on the perfumes of the 18th century—a combination of lillies and other flowers, sandalwood, and musk. Aptly named, it smells like a delectable cosmetic powder in a precious gold-and-abalone toilette box. Not usually one for powdery scents, I was enraptured all the same; how can we bring smell into visual exhibitions more often?

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Fashion Professions Word Cloud - Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg

Salon and Black Box - Painting and Photography at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg

Luxury in Silk and Perfume - Germanisches nationalmuseum Nürnberg

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