Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2007. We took Mattie to a fall festival, in which there was a slide surrounded by hay. I remember when Mattie was much smaller, and he first saw these slides. He was scared and did not want to even try them. However, with each successive year he became more adventuresome, and began to slide down these slides in Peter's lap. As you can see by age 5, Mattie was an independent fellow, and loved the thrill of it all. Despite his independence though, he always kept track of Peter and I, and made sure he could always see me and I could see him. I was the one running around with the camera, so I was hard to miss!
Quote of the day: Sweet miracle, to see how the largest burdens are carried by the smallest children. ~ Ardith James
Tonight's quote is dedicated to Mattie and all the brave and courageous children fighting cancer each and every day! I am in awe of their strength, their ability to love, laugh, and be children in the face of such adversity! On the 58th week of Mattie's passing, this quote seems most appropriate.
It was another cool and rainy day in Los Angeles. My mom and I decided to spend the day at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). While going to high school in Los Angeles, I gained a great appreciation for LACMA. I loved my high school art teacher and she took us on many art excursions to LACMA and other fine museums. My mom and I decided to see Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700-1915. This exhibit celebrates the museum's groundbreaking acquisition of a major collection of European men's, women's, and children's garments and accessories. The exhibition tells the story of fashion's aesthetic and technical development from the Age of Enlightenment to World War I. It examines sweeping changes in fashionable dress spanning a period of over two hundred years, and evolutions in luxurious textiles, exacting tailoring techniques, and lush trimmings.
We spent several hours touring this exhibit and read each description and chatted about what we saw. I would like to share some highlights with you!
This gown was worn only on formal occasions. I AM SURE YOU CAN IMAGINE WHY!!!!! This dress is shaped to fit the wide, rectangular hooped petticoat. The width of this dress extended over five feet!
The French Revolution revived and reinterpreted the fashions and hairstyles of ancient Greece and Rome, transforming the female silhouette. Under Napoleon, this dress style, with its thin muslin white sheaths, low necklines, short sleeves, and high waistlines was named the Empire style. A style that is still a classic today!
The three piece suit emerged in the seventeenth century and quickly established itself as a male uniform for the ages. There were false waist coat cuffs protruding from the coat's sleeves to create the illusion that more of the richly textured velvet had been used.
My mom and I noticed several things about the men's and little boy's outfits. Though I did not capture it in these pictures for you, many of the male outfits looked very feminine. Men wore bright colors such as pinks, purples, yellows, etc. In addition, many of the patterns in their clothes had floral prints. Also we noted that the societal norm for men back then featured, men who were slender, short in stature, and feet the size of a child's. Also many of the men's shoes had bows on them.
In this picture, this model is wearing a crinolette. A crinolette is a type of crinoline. A crinoline is a flexible steel wire armature to replace the bulk of having to wear several petticoats (imagine layer upon layer of petticoats under your dress, in order to get the desired shape and look?!). This lightweight steel skeleton allowed skirts to widen to excessive proportions. A crinolette is a crinoline with a bustle attached to it!
So note, she is wearing a chemise (a linen weave with cotton), a corset (around her waist, tied very tight), a crinoline, and a bustle! I can only imagine how much all this weighed much less felt like!
Tennis ANYONE???!!!!!! Yes this is a tennis outfit from 1885! This dress makes small concessions to the physical rigors of playing tennis. It is made of light weight, washable cotton, with an ankle length skirt and a deep pocket for holding tennis balls. This dress had a built in bustle, so a separate understructure wasn't needed.
The fashionable dresses obscured women's legs completely. Feet and ankles were charged with eroticism and contemporary accounts often convey a men's excitement when they caught a furtive glance. A peek at these stockings below the knee was said to be a titillating sight!
At the museum, we ate at a cafe called Pentimento. As I was staring at this name while eating, I asked my mom what it translated to or meant. We both weren't sure, so I whipped out my trusty blackberry and googled it. Pentimento (plural pentimenti) is an alteration in a painting, evidenced by traces of previous work, showing that the artist has changed his mind as to the composition during the process of painting. The word derives from the Italian pentirsi, meaning to repent. I should have figured the terminology applied to art, being at an art museum, but learning by doing is about one of my most favorite ways to take in information.
Some of you may recall that I will be working with Donna, one of the wonderful kindergarten teachers at Mattie's school this semester on a Matisse and Picasso three part series for the children. Though Donna was not Mattie's teacher, she has been incredibly supportive of Mattie and I during his battle and death. I naturally do not get the chance to work and educate young minds anymore, and I appreciate Donna giving me this opportunity. When I saw this Matisse "cut out" I stopped in my tracks. Mainly because I had NEVER seen a Matisse cut out, and I remember Mattie's head of the lower school, Magic Man (Bob Weiman), telling me about these masterpieces. Needless to say, this piece inspired me today, it got my mom and I talking about my three part series, and I later emailed Donna about the ideas generated. I learned tonight, after doing some research, why Matisse chose this art form later in his life. He chose it because he had CANCER and could no longer stand on his feet and work with paint brushes. Matisse's creativity and passion shows us that with age our talents only evolve, they DO NOT die.
In 1941 Matisse was diagnosed with cancer and, following surgery, he started using a wheelchair. However, Matisse's extraordinary creativity was not be dampened for long. “Une seconde vie,” a second life, was what he called the last fourteen years of his life. Following an operation he found renewed and unexpected energies. Vast in scale (though not always in size), lush and rigorous in color, his cutouts are among the most admired and influential works of Matisse's entire career. Matisse generally cut the shapes out freehand, using a small pair of scissors and saving both the item cut out and remaining scraps of paper. With the help of Lydia Delectorskaya (his assistant) he would arrange and rearrange the colored cutouts until he was completely satisfied that the results. It took two years to complete the twenty collages and, after years of trial and error, a practical and appropriate method was agreed upon for bringing the collages to life as two-dimensional works. After having cut of the shapes, the second part of the creative process entailed pinning the cut pieces of paper to the walls of his studio, which created a paradisaical, garden-like world of organic shapes that resembled algae, leaves, seaweed, and coral, shapes recalling patterns that appeared in many of Matisse's earliest works, which floated atop brilliantly colored grounds. When the desired balance of form and color was achieved, the finished composition was glued to some type of support such as paper, canvas, or board.
I would like to end tonight's posting with a message from Mattie's oncologist and our friend, Kristen. A friend who thinks of us each and every Tuesday! Kristen wrote, "I hope you enjoyed (and Vicki are continuing to enjoy) your trip out west. The pictures on the blog are amazing! And...as usual, Vicki, you get us all thinking about what is truly important in life. What is the definition of "struggle", "courage", "importance", "sacrifice"? Today is Tuesday. Today I reflect on the two of you and Mattie and your journey. I think of you on this Tuesday and every day."
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