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Introduction

Dress, Art, and Society

1750-1890
September 13, 1996 - January 5, 1997

Historians look at the history of dress in many ways. Costume historians focus on details of construction and silhouette. Clothing as a form of non-verbal communication or sign language is the interest of semioticians and linguists. While most recently, social, cultural, and even economic historians have looked at how clothing provides insight into the everyday lives of people of the past. As this list indicates, dress, because it stands between the naked individual and the outside world, reflects our relationship to chat world in many different ways. Like other examples of material culture, clothing is a mirror of society.

This is the premise behind the way in which costume history is taught to the students of the Rhode Island School of Design. Lorraine Howes, Head of the Apparel Design Department, presents the history of costume in the context of changes in social, political, economic, and cultural history. In collaboration with Professor Howes, we have tried to do the same here and have exhibited costumes from the Museum's collection with contemporary painting, decorative arts, and works on paper. We have also included documentary evidence to show that, when combined with the traditional resources of historians, the study of dress can provide new and tangible links with the past.

The exhibition has been divided into a series of seven vignettes illustrating the changes in European and American dress, from a period when fashion was controlled by an aristocratic class, often for political reasons, to a period when couturiers, such as we know them today, ruled supreme. Each vignette is accompanied by a focused discussion on a particular aspect of culture during the period under discussion to provide a more in-depth look at the past.

Selected Objects

Attributed to Amariah T. Prouty, cabinetmaker

Work Table, ca. 1820 - 1830

Pierre Jean David d'Angers

Portrait of Alexandre Brongniart, 1842

Jean-Démosthène Dugourc, designer

The Pheasants, ca. 1785

Edward William Godwin, designer

Octagonal Center Table, ca. 1875
No Image Available

Unknown artist

Pair of epaulets, 1836-1886

French

Man's Court Suit, ca. 1810

American

Dress, ca. 1820

Morris & Co.

Borage (furnishing textile), 1883

John Robins

Tea Urn, 1784
No Image Available

American

Dress, ca. 1859

William Henry Brooke

Rolleston, Staffordshire (Seat of Sir Oswald Mosely Baronet), 1816
No Image Available

American

Man's suit, 1856
No Image Available

Unknown artist

Dress, ca. 1864-1865

John Dun

Maria Annunciata (Caroline Bonaparte Murat), Queen of Naples (?), ca. 1812

Unknown artist

Dress, ca. 1830-1832
No Image Available

Unknown artist

Dress, 1825-1900

English, England

Mirror, ca. 1740

American

Tea gown, ca. 1890

William Powell Frith

Feeding Time (My Lady's Pets), 1860

French, France

Console Table, ca. 1740

John Singer Sargent

A Boating Party, ca. 1889

American

Waistcoat, ca. 1830

French, France Lyons

Man's suit, ca. 1760

European American

Dress, ca. 1807
No Image Available

French, France

Settee, ca. 1900

In the style of Jean-Antoine Houdon

Portrait of a Young Man, ca. 1774?

American, United States of America

Astral Lamp, ca. 1850

American

Dress, ca. 1800

English

Two-piece suit, ca. 1765

American

Vest, 1890's

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Young Woman Reading an Illustrated Journal, ca. 1880

Unknown artist

Evening dress, 1735-1785

Guillaume Beneman, cabinetmaker

Drop-Front Secretary (Secrétaire à Abattant), ca. 1800-1810
No Image Available

Attributed to John Henry Belter

Meridienne (small sofa), ca. 1863
No Image Available

Unknown artist

Dress, 1840-1855

Joseph Chinard

Bust of Madame Récamier, after 1801

Jacquemart et Bénard, manufacturer

An Offering to Cupid, 1800

William Merritt Chase

Portrait of a Lady in Pink, ca. 1888–1889

Aimé Jules Dalou

Maternal Joy, 1875

John Sell Cotman

Kirby Cane Hall, Norfolk (The Seat of Reverend Mr. Wilson), 1818

French

The Coronation of Napoleon/Le Sacre De S. M. L'Empereur Napoléon, 1804

Thomas Cole

Landscape (Landscape with Tree Trunks), 1828

Attributed to Léon Cogniet

Portrait of a Gentleman, ca. 1820

Manufacture du Porcelaine du Nast et cie, foundry or carver

Napoleon Bonaparte Bust, ca. 1797

Eastman Johnson

Sugaring Off, ca. 1864-1865

American

Waistcoat, 1830-1860

François Louis Prieur, designer

Arabesques, ca. 1780

Thomas Lawrence

Lady Grace Carteret, late 1700s-mid 1800s

French, Paris

Vase, 1775-1799

French, Paris

Vase, 1775-1799

Jean Marie DeGault, decorator

Dessert Plate, 1811-1815

American

Pantaloons worn by a member of the Giles Lodge family, ca. 1815
No Image Available

Manufacture du Porcelaine du Nast et cie, manufacturer

Cup and saucer, early 1800s

William Daniell

Goodwood

American

Dress, ca. 1857-1858

French

Mantel, ca. 1817

Edward Greene Malbone

Portrait of Lydia Allen, 1803

Sir Copplestone Wawick Bampfylde

Stourhead:The Lake, looking towards the Temple of Flora with the Church and Market Cross, ca. 1750-1770
No Image Available

American

Chair, ca. 1840

American

Mantle, 1880s

Hans Johan Fredrik Berg

Man Reclining in a Turkish Robe, 1848

Asher Brown Durand

Chocorua Peak, 1855

English

Cellaret, ca. 1790

Aimé Jules Dalou

Woman Reading, 1873
No Image Available

James Sullivan Lincoln

Portrait of Anna Hawkes Man, 1800s

English

Dress, ca. 1790

Joseph Nollekens

Ideal Portrait (Georgiana Spencer, The Duchess of Devonshire?), ca. 1780

American

Man's suit coat, ca. 1820

William E. Orme, engraver, printer

The Crystal Palace (commemorative textile length), ca. 1851

Alexandre Roux, cabinetmaker

Cabinet, ca. 1866

French, Creil

Teapot, 1830
No Image Available

American, Rhode Island

Carpet, 1830-1840

French

Man's vest, ca. 1785

French

Man's suit coat, ca. 1790

American

Dress, ca. 1805

American

Dress, 1825 - 1840

Peter De Wint

Haddon Hall, Derbyshire, late 1700s - mid 1800s

Guillaume Guillon, called Lethière

The Death of Camilla, 1785

Jean-Michel Moreau le jeune, printmaker

Le Bal Masqué (The Masked Ball), 1782

Pierre Jean David d'Angers

Portrait Medallion of General Bertrand, ca. 1814

Jean-Michel Moreau le jeune, printmaker

The Royal Feast (Le Festin Royal), 1782

Herter Brothers

Side Chair, 1877-1879

G.W. Simmons & Co., manufacturer

Civil War jacket of a major in the Rhode Island 1st Volunteers, ca. 1861

American

Riding habit, 1850

More objects +

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