Exhibition | Living Rooms: The Period Room Initiative
Providence Parlour, ca. 1760–70; painted pine
(Minneapolis Institute of Art)
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I’m glad to note that former Enfilade intern Mattie Koppendrayer contributed portions of the research for the room on ‘Science and Sociability’. Along with these fascinating installations of Mia’s period rooms, the museum’s eighteenth-century offerings for the fall will include the exhibition Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe, which recently closed at The Getty and opens in Minneapolis on September 10. –CH
Now on view at Mia:
With Living Rooms, a multi-year initiative, Mia is reinvigorating its period rooms for today’s visitors, placing the past in dialogue with the present, while simultaneously broadening the conversation to include other histories—of marginalized people, of the senses, and even of time itself.
Just Imported: Global Trade in 1700s New England
Minneapolis Institute of Art, 22 April 2017 — 15 April 2018
The Providence Parlor once occupied prime real estate on a wharf in 1700s Providence, Rhode Island. Its owners, brothers Joseph and William Russell, operated a prosperous merchant business that imported and exported goods by sea. Their store, The Sign of the Golden Eagle, offered a resplendent selection of imported fabrics, exotic spices, fine housewares, and hogsheads of rum, among other goods. Their market was the world, and the world, their market, made possible by trade winds, war profiteering, and the labor of enslaved people. With their wealth, the Russell Brothers built the first three-story home in Providence, with views of the harbor. Originally installed at Mia in 1923, the parlor, along with its original inhabitants and harborside location, is brought back to life through a naturalistic soundscape, multi-sensory discovery cabinet of mercantile curios, and animated shadow puppets.
Read more here»
Charleston Drawing Room, ca. 1772; cyprus
(Minneapolis Institute of Art)
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The Many Voices of Colonial America
Minneapolis Institute of Art, 22 April 2017 — 15 April 2018
The Charleston Dining and Drawing Rooms came from the 1772 home of Colonel John Stuart, who served as Superintendent of Indian Affairs for Britain’s southern colonies and was also an owner of enslaved Africans. For over 80 years, the rooms have been interpreted as late-1700s interiors featuring high-style Chippendale and Federal-style American and English furniture and objects. This new temporary exhibition replaces a stylistic approach by reinserting African and Native American presence in these spaces. In the Charleston Drawing Room, Cherokee art of the Colonial era and contemporary Cherokee art that responds to this moment of history reveal stories of diplomatic relations and travel between the Cherokee Nation and the British Crown. In the Charleston Dining Room, West African and African American objects tell important stories of Charleston’s dependence on enslaved West Africans’ indigenous knowledge of rice cultivation for commercial gain and as a source of nourishment during this time—foreshadowing the legacy of African cuisine in contemporary America.
Read more here»
In addition, see this Mia blog posting by Alex Bortolot (Content Strategist at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and a specialist in the arts of Africa), “Who Is an American? Here’s one way museums can ask—and answer,” available here»
Grand Salon from the Hôtel de la Bouëxière, 1733–37; painted and gilt wood, plaster, marble and iron
(Minneapolis Institute of Art)
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Up All Night in the 18th Century
Minneapolis Institute of Art, 22 April 2017 — 15 April 2018
In the 1700s, European cities witnessed a gradual but profound shift in daily life: people stayed up later and partied harder into the night. Many of their nocturnal soirees were private affairs, hosted in elite homes by invitation only. The Grand Salon from the Hôtel de la Bouëxière will be prepped for one of these exclusive parties with a games table for card-playing (the night-loving aristocrat’s favorite diversion), candlesticks, and the required stimulants: coffee and chocolate. Of course, staying up late meant burning the midnight oil, so artificial lighting with candles and fire increased in importance during this time. New lighting in the Salon will simulate the effects of flickering flames, revealing the warm glow of gilded paneling and metalwork in a ‘nighttime’ setting.
Read more here»
Additional information on the Grand Salon is available here»
Georgian Drawing Room, ca. 1740; painted pine
(Minneapolis Institute of Art)
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Science and Sociability in 1700s England
Minneapolis Institute of Art, 22 April 2017 — 15 April 2018
In 1700s England, the home was a place where genteel men and women studied and conversed about natural history; only later did science move exclusively to the laboratory, where it became a predominantly male profession. This temporary exhibition presents Mia’s British rooms as places for the pursuit of science. Women often engaged with scientific discoveries and cultivated observational skills through embroidery and drawing—common pursuits for women of leisure. The c. 1730 Queen Anne Room will feature works on paper and textiles made by women. The adjoining c. 1740 Georgian Drawing Room will be arranged for a ‘scientific party’ where curious men and women socialized amidst telescopes, microscopes, an electrostatic generator—an experimental instrument that generated an electric charge—and, of course, tea.
Read more here»
In addition, see this Mia blog posting by Nicole LaBouff (Assistant Curator, Textiles Department of Decorative Arts, Textiles and Sculpture), “Science Is for Lovers: Why the planet needs scientists and passionate amateurs to work together,” available here»
and this posting by Peter Heering (Professor of Physics at the Europa Universität Flensburg in Germany and the former president of the International History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching Group), “Social Science: How to recreate an Enlightenment-era ‘science party,” available here»
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