One of the most reputable museum's in Miami is the Wolfsonian, which conveniently happens to be strongly affiliated with FIU and gets me a free ticket in. On this particular day of my tour I was with my American Art class focusing on the pieces made by you guessed it, American artists. I thought that some of the pieces were extremely striking and interesting enough to share with you all. Above you is a fountain at the entrance of the museum with a detailed photo of the fountain's carved details flashing on top of it.
Above you on the left is the cover of Harper's Bazaar 1895 illustrated by Bill Brandy (my apologies for the shitty photos, the images were overlaid with plastic which made it very difficult to not get a glare). I'm not sure who the artist is on the right but both of these illustrations reflect the high opulence focused designs and lifestyle seen during Art Nouveau. There was also a great influence of nature in the work as seen with the foilage surrounding the figures and printed on the clothing. Below is a detail picture of more Art Nouveau illustration's by Madeline Lemaire for the cover of the book Lucile by Owen Meredith.
The curators showed us many books in the back rooms of the museum and what caught my attention in particular was the dramatic emotion displayed in some of the illustrations. Below is an illustration from Cinderella with Cinderella in the background and the 2 step-sisters and step mother in the front. I wanted to provide a close-up on the faces of these characters and a full perspective of the image to show the immense detail that went into this.
Though there were many things within the museum that are definitely worth talking about this stained glass piece is the last thing I would like to share for today. I am unsure who it is by and even after finding pictures of it on the museums website nowhere can I find the name of it's maker or it's title. What really blew me away with this piece outside of it's amazing structure, detail, color scheme, and narrative was it's clothing choices. Sheer organza type fabrics are seen draped over women and accentuating their natural bodies much like the ancient Greeks did. Then on the other side of the panel you see women and men dressed in Victorian opulence with rich embellishment and royal colors. You will even notice that the men and women are wearing full finger rings, earrings, gem-ed head wear, brooches and collar clips.
To limit the number of inspirations I found in this stained glass piece to a number in general would be impossible. I have found myself staring at these photos for long periods of time getting lost in their patterns, spectrum's of color, mysterious locations and even more mysterious narratives. Why do that guy and girl laying together look so eerily similar? Why does that man have fairies or sirens demonically climbing into his ear? Why does the woman in the world's most amazing floor length gown look so effing cool especially by dissing those boys behind her?
If you'd like to visit the Wolfsonian yourself just click here to get more information.