Developing Neoclassicism in Mexico
by Rebecca Yuste In 1791, the Valencian sculptor Manuel Tolsá arrived in Mexico City, bringing with him books, instruments, and over 60 crates of plaster casts (figures 1 and 2) destined for the newly founded Royal Academy of San Carlos. The casts, the focus of my...
Needlework at the Turn of the Century: Technology’s Effects on 1880s–1900s Labor and Practices
by Anna Flinchbaugh Thanks to a generous Research Grant from the Decorative Arts Trust, I was able to complete two study trips in support of my dissertation at the University of Southern California, titled “Replication, Repetition, and Historical Revisionism: Art...
Functional Fashions: Designing for Disability with Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman
by Natalie E. Wright Walking into the Kent State University Museum or the attached School of Fashion Design and Merchandising, it is hard to miss the many references to Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman—on a clock leading into the building, in the entryway, in...
Framing My Research: Mary Lizzie Macomber and the British Pre-Raphaelites
by Fiona Owens When I first examined Saint Catharine (1896, figure 1) by Mary Lizzie Macomber (1861–1916) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA Boston), I was struck not only by the beauty of the painting, but by its frame, how the water gilding, applied directly...
Journey Into Medium: Mother-of-Pearl and the Hidden European Enlightenment
by Emma Piercy-Wright As vibrant as the multi-hued windfalls of a New England autumn, mother-of-pearl (or nacre) is the concealed, autonomously generated inner layer of some bivalve molluscs and snails, whose shimmering, shifting beams simultaneously perplex and...
About The Decorative Arts Trust Bulletin
Formerly known as the "blog,” the Bulletin features new research and scholarship, travelogues, book reviews, and museum and gallery exhibitions. The Bulletin complements The Magazine of the Decorative Arts Trust, our biannual members publication.