Fireworks? Check. Bar-B-Q? Check. One-of-a-kind decorations? … Don’t worry, we got you covered.
A Night For Our Nation, honoring Thomas M. Hatfield, inaugural recipient of the Award for Distinction in Patriotic Service presented by The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Texas Monday, November 12th, 2018 6:00 p.m. Cocktails & Dinner
In 1861, John Wilkes Booth was an admired touring actor. Four years later he will become one of America’s most detested villains. Using Booth’s original promptbook and 19th century original practices, the Hidden Room Theatre will resuscitate the ghost of his infamous Richard, and examine the dangers of division, reckless rhetoric, and radicalization.
FAN, noun [Latin vannus.]
Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 edition
What is a fan? The word sparks immediate associations – blades that, when in motion, provide a cooling breeze. In that moment, the moment when you first thought “fan,” you likely didn’t think of courtship or etiquette. Or fashion. Or social or economic status. All of these uses take the folding fan far beyond the utilitarian and practical function of a cooling breeze. But step back in time to read Noah Webster’s 1828 definition, and all of those associations come to life.
The fan first came to Europe in the 16th century. Europeans had fanned themselves before then, but the introduction of Eastern handscreens and folding fans elevated the fan as an object to something beyond the practical. Within a century, fans had become necessary accessories for royalty and wealthy Europeans.
At the same time, folding fans were objects of great monetary value. Beautiful, intricately carved ivory, tortoise shell, and bone sticks were imported to Europe by the East India Company and others and combined with beautifully painted vellum or silk leaves. Often silver and gold paint adorned the leaves, and sometimes gems were inset into the guard sticks.
As time passed, fans became more eclectic. Painted vellum and paper leaves were joined by silk and lace leaves studded with sequins, and into the 20th century dramatic floral fans designed to make a statement across the room joined more art nouveau restrained designs.
Returning to our original question – what is a fan? While its function may define it, after viewing this exhibit you may believe that function is only the beginning.
What’s cooler than cool? Making and decorating your own folding fan, of course.
On June 28, 1914, a Serbian terrorist assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, along with his pregnant wife Sophie, in Sarajevo. This single, albeit horrific, event over 5,000 miles away from Austin, Texas reverberated across the world as much of Europe became embroiled in war. Americans watched from the sidelines for over two years as hundreds of thousands died, hoping to avoid military engagement while providing supplies to the Allied forces of France, Britain, and Belgium.
When this all changed in early 1917, Texas found itself at the heart of the United State’s decision to go to war. In January 1917, German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmerman sent an encoded telegram to the President of Mexico in which he encouraged Mexico to join the Central Powers in exchange for support in the reconquest of parts of the United States once claimed by Mexico (Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona). Intercepted and decoded by British cryptographers, the “Zimmermann Telegram” was the fuse that compelled Congress to declare war on Germany on April 6, 1917.
Over the eighteen short months the United States was at war, 4.7 million Americans served. 53,402 soldiers were killed in action, while even more (63,114) died of disease or other causes, the vast majority from the Spanish Flu epidemic. Here in Texas, 198,000 were in the armed forces along with 450 women who served as nurses. Over 5,000 Texans died, more than one-third succumbing to Spanish Flu without ever deploying to Europe.
This exhibit takes us back in time 100 years to life as experienced by Texans during World War I. The war was disruptive to family life in many ways. Enlistments certainly separated families, but everyday life was also impacted in many ways, from pressure to purchase war bonds, to the impact of the Spanish Flu, to a certain level of militarization of society, and food rationing. Finally, the image of the “dough-boy” that has come down to us today is of a white American soldier. Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, and German-Americans in many ways struggled to prove their Americanness while the country was at war, a struggle that was as acute in Texas as in the rest of the country.
The Cochran family lived in our historic house throughout the war era. Thomas B. Cochran had died in 1913, but his wife and five children (three daughters and two sons) all participated in the war effort in some way. Using their experience as well as the experiences of other Austinites as a guide, we explore the impact of the Great War on the lives of the people who remained on the home front and the relationships they maintained with soldiers who served elsewhere and abroad.
Presented in partnership with the Texas Quilt Museum and Quilts, Inc., our annual quilt exhibit brings 19th- and early 20th-century quilts into our historically installed rooms.
“Though these are but the faces of dolls, I am entranced with their unique expressions, and the secrets and mystery they suggest. It is left to the imagination to flesh out each one more fully and hear her poetry from across the centuries.”
– Pat Brown
Is Now the Dream? Hina-ningyō Portraits + Landscapes, on display in our downstairs gallery from January 17th through May 6th, features the work of Pat Brown, a local Austin photographer, who explores the cultural aesthetic of Japan, both past and present.
Hina-ningyō—hand-crafted Japanese dolls collected by the photographer—represent members of the Japanese imperial courts. The photographer’s work brings out the unique expressiveness in each doll, revealing the human and poetic dimensions of their unchanging and timeless expressions.
The title of the exhibit is taken from a poem written by a woman who served in the court of Empress Tokoku, who lived in the 12th century. Describing the decline of her court and thus her way of life, she writes:
Is now the dream?
or was long ago the dream?
I wander on, lost—
unable to convince myself
that this is reality.
Landscape and architectural photographs of Japan round out the exhibit, suggesting what one might have seen during the Edo period prior to Commodore Perry’s opening of Japan to the West in the 1850s, and thus, at the same time Abner Cook was completing our historic house in a young Austin, Texas.
Printed, dyed, woven, spun, embroidered–the list goes on: what you wear depends on what you can do to turn cotton, wool, silk, linen, and synthetics into finished fabric.
Why do we collect? What do we collect? What does it mean to have a collection? In an age defined by consumerism and the easy availability of things, how do we determine which objects we will carry with us through life?
Consider it from our perspective: the only reason that the objects in our collection (whether they date from the nineteenth century or before) have survived is because they were prized for their beauty, their inherent monetary value, their utility, or because of their owners’ sentimental attachments. In most cases, objects fit into more than one category and serve to show us the human dimensions of their particular histories.
The Sonnenberg collection, on display in our gallery from September 2nd through December 17th, presents a century of one family’s collecting, and explores the ways in which the objects we hold on to document our interests and our journeys through life. Throughout their lives, the objects the Sonnenbergs have prized are not simply things, they are signposts for meaning in both relationships and experiences. An eclectic collection that features fine art, folk art, and ephemera, Experience’s Treasures will challenge viewers to consider our relationship to the objects that surround us in our own lives.
